A Mosque in Dalston, East London, has made crypto-headlines this week, after religious advisers at the mosque spoke out about the legalities of cryptocurrencies and their standings within the Islamic Faith. It is reported that this mosque, is the first to make a statement of this nature, highlighting that there is a level of inquisition into cryptocurrencies within members of community. Moreover, this has huge implications for the Islamic community across the United Kingdom, given that going forward, more mosque’s may step forward to clarify their take on the issues surrounding cryptocurrencies. According to The Daily Telegraph:
“The mosque has declared that Muslims can use it for their Ramadan donation, known as zakat. Muslims are meant to give away 2.5 per cent of their wealth to charity during Ramadan, an annual donation which is compulsory for all but the poorest Muslims. The mosque, also known as Shacklewell Lane Mosque, will accept donations in two different cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum.”
This stems from advice by Zayd al Khair, a religious adviser at the mosque whom according to The Daily Telegraph has said:
“Any money or currency is neither halal – permissible – nor haram – impermissible. Guidance is about the value which it represents. If money is transacted in a lawful manner, then it is halal.”
You can see the full article by The Daily Telegraph, for yourself, here- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/22/bitcoin-can-halal-mosque-declares-becomes-first-uk-accept-cryptocurrency/ In essence, Zayd al Khair is stating that provided the use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is within both Islamic and common law, there is no reason for cryptocurrencies to not be treated the same as FIAT currencies. With the state of cryptocurrencies constantly called to question, this acts as a great piece of confirmation and as a great reference for cryptocurrencies, on the premise that they are not always linked to devious activity and that actually, cryptocurrencies, like FIAT currencies can be useful, safe to use formats for exchange. This news has been welcomed by the entire cryptocurrency community and hopefully, we hear more stories like this one span the religious spectrum soon. The most people we see being the cryptocurrency movement, the sooner we will see the real potential for adoption, across the planet.
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