Sorry, I am late, today’s piece took a lot as I touched on a topic that requires a bit of diligence and consciousness so that I don’t find myself misleading anyone.
One of the popular questions I receive is about the permissibility of owning crypto in Islam. The questioners often ask expecting a straight yes or no response. It is instructive to state that I am not a scholar and wouldn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s action or inaction.
However, here is the caveat: I am crypto-biased, thus, this article might seem like I am making a case in support of crypto opportunities. You can stop reading this piece from here if you feel like I might end up convincing you [against your desire].
Amongst the things that I worry about is the number of people who wait for someone to give them the blanket white and black answer on issues. I often find myself asking, what is your personal viewpoint? From which lens do you view issues and how grounded are you on the topic? Don’t get me wrong, as Muslims, we are obligated to follow the dictates of the Quran and the tradition of the Prophet (PBUH). That is sacrosanct. Yet, this requires tact as I found out many of us today are quite lazy to read and have the context of topics. We want to be spoon-fed by a religious scholar without consulting real experts in the field or doing our primary research.
Why is this important?
Rulings have context, and many a time, the answers to our questions can often be attributed to the socio-cultural viewpoint of the responder. It is also not strange that people weaponize knowledge, and for those who don’t know better, this can have severe consequences on their experience with the deen. A few weeks ago, we had a discussion about Hijrah and migration in the context of “Japa”. However, someone made a case for migrating to the land of the Muslims. It is fine if you want to but moving to a Muslim nation would not necessarily have a significant impact on your practice of the deen. So there is no need to make it out as some sort of Hijrah.
Respecting Industry Expert
There is no doubt that people who have studied sharia and memorized the Quran are in a privileged position in the context of the deen. It can however be fallacious to ascribe knowledge of domain-specific expertise, especially on emerging technology, to religious scholars. A blockchain developer will have a uniquely different insight and viewpoint compared to an economist looking at the topic of Crypto.
Back to Crypto (Read as Blockchain technology)
Cryptocurrencies are a subject worthy of rigorous study. It is an area of emerging technology that is changing the future of property ownership, economy, creativity, data right, and finance. Even those in the industry that crypto is currently disrupting admits limited knowledge. Seeking an explicit verdict on it from scholars who also are likely to be in the same shoes as you might be insufficient.
While I have been following web 3.0 discussions, the depth is both fascinating and stimulating. There are layers that go over my head no matter how many times I read them. As a tech product manager and investor in tech startups, I may have the privilege of a fair understanding of the blockchain space. This is why I find it simplistic when the case for whether it is haram hinged on its usage for nefarious activities (a claim that has been several times disputed with evidence) or for the volatility in price movement which is a feature. As long as the participants are clear about it and no one is at the risk of FOMOing into ambiguity. And as with every technology, it is still very nascent to be rigid in our viewpoint.
As a friend pointed out, the decision to wait out until there is a clear verdict from scholars doesn’t mean those who are not embracing crypto are fundamentalists. Neither should we take scorn at those who have embraced it in as much as they are clear about the potential risk associated with it. There is no doubt that some components may not be compatible with our religious definition of halal activities such as futures trading, margin trading, and for many people chasing get quick rich scheme with it, etc. Making a moral stand from either party is too polarising.
Understanding value creation is important as trade and commerce change. Incentives are now programmable for contribution to the knowledge and development of the human race. This is such a fascinating development and one of those things that have the capacity to change the history of mankind in decades to come. Resources can be galvanized for any goal with fairness encoded as a smart contract. Programmable trust is changing the face of business transactions. While we talk about Muslims of the past in their knowledge contribution to mankind, our curiosity should lead us. Verdicts change with the passing of time and in many instances, it is not much about the tools as much as those who wield the tool. Healthy engagement with the space and the possibilities should not be discarded on the basis of a blanket verdict.
The development of crypto is moving from the initial fringe-nerdy-individual adopters to institutional adoption and countries seeking expertise because its ubiquity is undeniable. It would be great to find deep expertise in tech amongst our scholars so our engagement and verdict can come from a clear understanding.
Serial entrepreneurs and technology investors look beyond the financial market value of cryptocurrency and focus on the underlying value proposition inherent to its core technology: blockchain. Blockchain has the capacity to re-create digital systems such that self-executing software can operate without human interference in an open and permissionless manner. These recreated digital systems that are self-executing have the potential to not only handle data as currently used on the internet, but also data from other emerging technologies such as sensors, satellites, drones, and autonomous and artificially-intelligent machines.
Excerpt from the investment theses of Near Protocol
Finally, everything I’ve written today is my basic rant to provoke discussions, research, and critical thinking around emerging opportunities rather than staying aloof till someone passes a verdict on it for us or castigating those on the opposite side of your standpoint.
If you got here reading this, thank you for reading. I will love to read your comments and feedback
For more readings specifically on Blockchain, Decentralisation, and Crypto, the links below are easier to read for anyone.
https://onezero.medium.com/why-decentralization-matters-5e3f79f7638e
https://a16z.com/2019/11/12/the-end-of-centralization-and-the-future-of-trust/
https://vijayboyapati.medium.com/the-bullish-case-for-bitcoin-6ecc8bdecc1
This topic is a necessity for Muslims, we shy away from talking about finance(money) , exploring new opportunities. While it is important to know the Islamic rulings before venturing, there are things (like crypto) that challenge the very limit of our imagination.
Thank you for writing this.
Also a shameless plug, I wrote on the Islamic perspective
here:
https://iamuhammadtahir.com/cryptocurrency-halal-or-haram/
Thank you for spicing our appetite to research more on it.
It appears as though the issue of verdict is on the permisibility of investments in cryptocurrencies as a legal tender and not against the technology
I believe that the blockchain technology is here to stay and we all need to learn more on its usage.
Well done!