Is Bitcoin halal?

[Imran232]

With Muslims making up a quarter of the world's population, a clear consensus on the Islamic view of Bitcoin has global implications.

In brief

• The use of Bitcoin under Islamic law has been a topic of discussion in recent years, as many Muslims worry that Bitcoin investments may be haram.
• According to recent scholarly interpretations, most general uses for Bitcoin are considered to be permitted in Islam.
• However, gambling, lending, and some kinds of trading with cryptocurrency are almost certainly forbidden.

Whether or not Bitcoin is halal has been a point of contention for many Muslims, as well as several Islamic banks and financial authorities in recent years.

This has left many Muslims worried about investing in cryptocurrencies—particularly during times of extreme growth—since they couldn't be sure whether the appreciation of their investment would be considered haram (forbidden) or halal (permissible) under Islamic law.

With around 1.9 billion Muslims in the world, equivalent to almost a quarter of the world's population, a clear consensus on the Islamic view of Bitcoin could be a major boon for adoption.


Bitcoin is (mostly) halal, say scholars

According to Islamic Law, there are a number of criteria that individuals must adhere to, in order to ensure their investment or other income is considered halal. For one, income obtained through unethical or exploitative means such as bribery, extortion, and profiteering is considered haram. It would be challenging to argue that simply using Bitcoin as a standard payment method would violate this tenet.

As of yet, there are still no clear official guidelines on whether Muslims should or shouldn't invest in Bitcoin. This task would fall on the legislators that codified the religious precepts of Islam, but such an undertaking has yet to be completed. Despite this, a number of Islamic scholars have offered their interpretation of the Islamic Canonical Law and how it applies to Bitcoin.

For more detailed information about this topic visit below the link source

https://decrypt.co/37286/is-bitcoin-halal

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[Terrell]

In Shariah, there is no valid reason to accept Bitcoin or other Cryptocurrencies as a currency. It is just an imaginary number, which is generated through a complex mathematical process. It is purchased for Gambling or Speculations, and used in illegal or unlawful transactions”.

[bekti3]

In my opinion, your topic is the area of syara, which is about certain religious laws. I will not be able to say halal or haram, because this is not my area that we legally control based on religion. and your questions must be answered by religious leaders. whereas here we are not.

so for legal matters in religion, I'd better keep it. and I'm ready to listen carefully.

[RapTarX]

You are taking risk when you are investing in BTC; what's the wrong or arguement there? Did anyone say it's not Halal? If they do, what about stock? That certainly can't be Haram.

It is purchased for Gambling or Speculations, and used in illegal or unlawful transactions”.

Have you ever been forced by anyone to buy bitcoin and gamble with that? Well, I can use BTC to buy a tshirt; I can use fiat as well to buy a tshirt. Did it make any sense to you?

[NeuroticFish]

In Shariah, there is no valid reason to accept Bitcoin or other Cryptocurrencies as a currency. It is just an imaginary number, which is generated through a complex mathematical process. It is purchased for Gambling or Speculations, and used in illegal or unlawful transactions”.

You should have posted the source for this.
I'll be doing this for you: https://aims.education/is-bitcoin-halal-or-bitcoin-haram/
It's an older news, and back then more were telling that Bitcoin is haram.
But their logic is flawed, they clearly don't understand Bitcoin and were misled by how media was presenting Bitcoin, hence I expect that this view is bound to change over time.

As in quite a number of dilemmas related to religion, this too depends a lot by who are you asking (and it doesn't matter how big authority he is) and when (people's understanding usually evolves in time).

[BITCOIN4X]

In my opinion, we have heard about this discussion quite often among religious communities, quite a lot of research on the issue of halal or haram using bitcoin. If you are a Muslim, then you have to trust the views of your religious leaders because they may have different views from the bitcoin community.
But basically bitcoin has never forced anyone to use it as a means of payment, investment and trading asset, etc. Everything is up to the user, but on several occasion I have also read that some Islamic countries allow the use of this bitcoin.

Is this thread worthy of being passed on to the section on Politics & Society?

[bob123]

With Muslims making up a quarter of the world's population, a clear consensus on the Islamic view of Bitcoin has global implications.

I heavily doubt this.

Do you have any numbers to support this claim? Or is it just your gut feeling?

Bitcoin is based on cryptography, mathematics and physics. Not on religion. No religion has any impact on Bitcoin.

[Findingnemo]

Money has no religion and people from each and every religion running everyday to make that money.

People who don't have any jobs are confusing the people because they talk controversial about thinks which are at the trend in the world.IIRC banking with interest rates are also haram as per Shariah law but how many people from that 1.9 Billion in this world having no interest bank account or loans.

If bitcoin is imaginary created using mathematical codes then fiat money too because it was created with paper and promised that it has some value by governments.

[zasad@]

I have heard from  Christian, Judaist and  Buddhist  religious scholars that credit is a sin.
It is not only Islam that forbids giving money at interest.
People have forgotten their religion.

If they do, what about stock? That certainly can't be Haram.

The issue of stock has been resolved for a long time. The Shariah Commission publishes listings of companies to invest in.
Write a request to google "halal stock".

[RapTarX]

The issue of stock has been resolved for a long time. The Shariah Commission publishes listings of companies to invest in.
Write a request to google "halal stock".

Yeah, stock of companies that deal with interest, alcohol, or other harams, are haram as well while investing in other stocks have no issue. Then why would Bitcoin be haram? Does bitcoin deal with interest? No. It's just another currency; people may use it for any purpose, same goes with fiat as well.

[Indymoney]

The issue of stock has been resolved for a long time. The Shariah Commission publishes listings of companies to invest in.
Write a request to google "halal stock".

Yeah, stock of companies that deal with interest, alcohol, or other harams, are haram as well while investing in other stocks have no issue. Then why would Bitcoin be haram? Does bitcoin deal with interest? No. It's just another currency; people may use it for any purpose, same goes with fiat as well.

Its good that we have some good knowledge about this all but really after reading this thread I am very dissapointed with this all how technology is in halal or haram really shocking for me because this is never been haram and as you already posted few things are really bad like interest, alchohol but its never been question about technology few peoples still living in dark age and have issues with this all.

[Mpamaegbu]

Whether or not Bitcoin is halal has been a point of contention for many Muslims, as well as several Islamic banks and financial authorities in recent years.

This has left many Muslims worried about investing in cryptocurrencies—particularly during times of extreme growth—since they couldn't be sure whether the appreciation of their investment would be considered haram (forbidden) or halal (permissible) under Islamic law.

Well, the good thing about Bitcoin is that it's decentralized. No single individual, sect, religion or country can control it. Again, whether a group of people think Bitcoin is good or bad from a religious point of view is immaterial and highly inconsequential. What about situations where Moslems have thought alcohol is haram but they also enjoy proceeds of tax from alcohol manufacturing companies spent on building good roads, hospitals, social infrastructure and so on? I think religion shouldn't be a point of consideration while dealing with Bitcoin (or any other crypto at that). Perhaps those who make that allegation of Bitcoin being haram still think Bitcoin is gambling. Otherwise, they would've seen the big picture and realized that their condemnation doesn't hold waters.

[pakhitheboss]

Strange!!

No one is asking or forcing anyone to invest in Bitcoin if it against your religion then why to discuss it. Bitcoin is a choice and if you believe in the choice then you should be part of it.

Why bring religion into a technology that has disrupted the financial industry and is now questioning the existence of Fiat currency. I think this post is very irrelevant on this forum.

[zasad@]

The issue of stock has been resolved for a long time. The Shariah Commission publishes listings of companies to invest in.
Write a request to google "halal stock".

Yeah, stock of companies that deal with interest, alcohol, or other harams, are haram as well while investing in other stocks have no issue. Then why would Bitcoin be haram? Does bitcoin deal with interest? No. It's just another currency; people may use it for any purpose, same goes with fiat as well.

The most important question is what is money in Shariah law? Religious scholars say that "the legitimacy of money depends on its circulation among people and agreements."
Now look at the cryptocurrency situation and how it has changed over the past 3 years. Now bitcoin is used not only by cypherpunks and cryptocurrency lovers, but also by states and large world exchanges.
Therefore, religious scholars do not rush to conclusions.

[JeromeTash]

The use of Bitcoin under Islamic law has been a topic of discussion in recent years, as many Muslims worry that Bitcoin investments may be haram.

I am not trying to discourage people from believing in whatever religion they what but here is one of the reasons I think religions were just created to divide, manipulate and control people. Even when you have your own money, they now want to control on how you can invest it with some funny laws.

Aside from being an asset that can be invested in, Bitcoin can also act as an electronic payment alternative. Besides, what's so different from investing in Bitcoin to investing in Gold, Oil,  Real Estates or Farming?
At the end of it all, everyone is trying to look for more gains.

[pooya87]

I don't know why you bring this up now because it is kind of an old news, they made up their mind years ago. To put simply the statement is like many others we have heard from governments, experts, banks, etc. To put simply if bitcoin is treated as a currency and is received as the payment for a legal (aka halal) work it is OK and you have no problem with it but if it is used for anything illegal (aka haram) such as scamming others, gambling, etc then it is no OK.
I read this back in 2014 when I started with bitcoin, so it is indeed old news.

[UserU]

I am not trying to discourage people from believing in whatever religion they what but here is one of the reasons I think religions were just created to divide, manipulate and control people. Even when you have your own money, they now want to control on how you can invest it with some funny laws.

Aside from being an asset that can be invested in, Bitcoin can also act as an electronic payment alternative. Besides, what's so different from investing in Bitcoin to investing in Gold, Oil,  Real Estates or Farming?
At the end of it all, everyone is trying to look for more gains.

Can't agree more.

In my country, these kind of issues have been like the epitome of divide and conquer and the politicians are often using them at their disposal. Recently, a non-Muslim restaurant that was established during colonial times patronized by Muslims for delicious (no pork served) food. Should be fine, right?

Don't go there, it's not certified Halal. And that's coming out from an Islamic State Department.

And yet the non-Muslims (or kafir) are contributing tax money to the government.

[lovesmayfamilis]

I think if we talk about a real Muslim or a representative of other confessions, at the present time it is quite difficult to adhere to religion. If you live according to all the canons and postulates, then you need to go to the forest or desert and give up absolutely all technologies. Including telephone, television, loans, and more.
Therefore, you need to try to live according to religion, adhere to moral qualities, but never lose your head.

[bobby2005]

interesting first post with a very stivky keyboard.. err bitcoin seems very halal especially when you turn them into real kosher food :p
n00b

[UmerIdrees]

In Shariah, there is no valid reason to accept Bitcoin or other Cryptocurrencies as a currency. It is just an imaginary number, which is generated through a complex mathematical process. It is purchased for Gambling or Speculations, and used in illegal or unlawful transactions”.

You should increase your knowledge before declaring this. Bitcoin is used everywhere for good activities also and there is no inflation in bitcoin.
Is the fiat currency not used in gambling and speculation ?

BITCOIN BTC IS HALAL