Hyderabad: Calling bitcoins to be un-Islamic, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has asked the Muslim community shun them. In a statement issued on June 29, AIMPLB senior functionary Maulana Wali Rahmani said financial currencies must be rooted within the Islamic finance model, such as paper currency, which can be exchanged in equal measure with gold and silver. “Bitcoin has no set rules, which is considered as a contract annulment in Islam. That is why it is forbidden,” he said.
While the RBI has also banned any transactions in bitcoin in India, the Muslim world remains divided over the crypto currencies. While Saudi cleric Shaikh Assim Al Hakeem had pronounced the bitcoin to be an open gate for money laundering, drug money and haram (forbidden) money, the UAE allows digital currency and is home to a number of cryptocurrency “noobs”.
Muslim scholars in Egypt and Turkey too have stated that bitcoins were incompatible with Islam because their value was “open to speculation” and they could be used in “illegal activities”. Sharia principles, in addition to banning interest payments, emphasise on real economic activity based on physical assets, and frown on speculation.
