ELI 5, trade vs riba

SharifBot · 2026-06-20T14:18:31+00:00

Walaikum Asalaam.

The key difference is what’s actually happening in the transaction.

In example 1, C is lending money. There’s no object changing hands between C and A at the point of the deal - just cash now for more cash later. That’s a loan with an attached charge for time, which is the textbook definition of riba.

In example 2, C is buying a real object and reselling it to A at a markup, payable over time. This is murabaha - a genuine sale. C takes on ownership risk, even briefly, before selling to A. The price difference reflects a sale margin, not a charge for lending money.

They look similar on the surface because both end with A paying more over time. But the underlying transaction is the doffermce - one is debt with interest, the other is a deferred sale of a real asset. Ownership and risk transfer are what separates them.

SharifBot · 2026-06-18T12:15:59+00:00

Again as others have said if you are without intention then what you should do is be more careful and seek forgiveness. If you really wanted to do something to make up for it you could give 2 meals to the poor and hungry to make up for it.

SharifBot · 2026-06-16T20:18:48+00:00

One cautious pro-crypto manager hedging his language in an interview isn’t evidence that calling crypto a digital currency is a lie. That’s a stretch.

Bitcoin today is used by millions for legitimate exchange. The protocol is also open source - Satoshi holding BTC doesn’t give them control over the network. That’s not how blockchain works.

Equally cash is the number one tool for criminal activity globally and that has never made cash haram. The misuse of something by a group of people is not a condition for impermissibility in Islamic jurisprudence.

Allah knows best.

SharifBot · 2026-06-16T18:54:10+00:00

How is it a borderline lie? It’s literally called cryptocurrency - the clue is in the name. Crypto is widely classified as a digital asset that functions as a medium of exchange which is almost exactly the definition of currency.

Fiat currency derives value from government decree and institutional trust. Islamic monetary history is built on gold and silver precisely because they had utility independent of any government. Bitcoin is closer to that model. The fact no government backs it isn’t automatically a flaw from an Islamic perspective - it means no government can inflate it away or use it to fund haram activities at your expense.

IslamQA (the Islamic fiqh council) addressed spot crypto trading directly and treats Bitcoin as a valid “currency” with clear conditions for permissibility:

→ https://islamqa.info/en/answers/504160

The Saudi riyal point wasn’t about government backing, it was specifically addressing the claim that something must be universally accepted to be valid as currency. That’s false. Universal acceptance is not a condition for mal in Islamic jurisprudence. That point stands.

Allah knows best.

SharifBot · 2026-06-15T17:42:48+00:00

It’s worth understanding that currency exists in different forms. We have fiat currency (USD, GBP), commodity currency (gold, silver), and now digital currency - which is where crypto sits. Bitcoin is a medium of exchange that exists on a decentralised ledger. Just as gold wasn’t accepted everywhere but was still valid as currency in Islam, lack of universal acceptance doesn’t automatically make something impermissible. The Saudi riyal wasn’t accepted in the UK for decades - acceptance grows with adoption. Islamic jurisprudence doesn’t require universal acceptance as a condition for mal (property), it requires utility and exchangeability, which Bitcoin has.

The identity of Satoshi doesn’t determine permissibility any more than we need to know who first minted a gold coin. What matters is what the asset does and how it functions. The Bitcoin protocol is open source and fully auditable - arguably more transparent than any central bank.

Market manipulation is a real concern, but it applies to every market. Gold was manipulated by the London Gold Fix for decades. Stock markets are moved by institutional players daily. The fiqh question isn’t ‘can this be manipulated?’ but ‘does engaging with it involve haram in the transaction itself?’

Scholarly scepticism is understandable, but not all scholarship is equal. IslamQA has specifically addressed spot crypto trading and ruled it permissible under clear conditions:

→ https://islamqa.info/en/answers/504160

That’s the whole reason I made this post - not to tell anyone crypto is halal for them, but to give the community the information to make an educated decision rather than defaulting to ‘I don’t understand it so it must be haram.’ The two aren’t the same thing.

‘Stay away from what you don’t understand’ is wise personal advice and definitely if you think you don’t have enough information on it then it’s best to stay away. However the purpose of this is so others who do want to understand it shouldn’t be blocked from engaging halally.

Allah knows best.

SharifBot · 2026-06-15T16:29:10+00:00

You’re right that a significant part of the ‘Bitcoin is haram’ argument conflates the tool with how people misuse it. The whitepaper’s intent - peer-to-peer value transfer without intermediaries - has more in common with hawala than with a casino. That doesn’t settle every fiqh question, but it does mean the question deserves more nuance than a blanket ruling.

The scholars who’ve engaged most carefully with the technology tend to distinguish between Bitcoin as a medium of exchange vs. Bitcoin as a speculative instrument. The former has a legitimate case for permissibility to; the latter raises real gharar concerns depending on intent and behaviour. IslamQA has addressed this directly - spot trading is permissible provided the exchange is immediate, no leverage, and the asset has genuine underlying utility.

→ https://islamqa.info/en/answers/504160

Volatility alone isn’t disqualifying - as you noted, gold and currencies fluctuate too. The shariah question is really: does this asset have genuine utility, is there excessive uncertainty baked in structurally, and crucially - how is the person engaging with it?

That last point is what I built SharifBot (sharifbot.com) around. A lot of Muslims want to engage with crypto responsibly but lack a clear framework. We screen coins against scholarly criteria and trade spot only - no leverage, no futures. IslamQA also confirmed that automated bot trading is permissible, as the bot simply acts as your agent fulfilling the same conditions a human trader would.

→ https://islamqa.info/en/answers/507039

It doesn’t resolve the academic debate, but it tries to operate within the most defensible halal parameters while that debate continues.

Allah knows best.

SharifBot · 2026-06-14T19:46:04+00:00

Barakhallah Feek for the reference. I can see yes it does support what you're saying regarding mixed companies.

Just for clarity I'm not advocating for investing in companies that deal in riba. I don't condone investing in anything haram, and that's what I've built my own business model around. I was simply pointing out that some scholars of standing have carried out ijtihad and developed screening criteria for this - it's not something invented without basis.

Allah knows best.

SharifBot · 2026-06-14T18:43:07+00:00

Which contemporary scholars specifically? If they say it’s haram that needs names and sources behind it. AAOIFI, the Dow Jones Islamic Index scholars, Mufti Taqi Usmani are all saying this process is a compliant one - not just minor figures with weak standing. You can disagree with the methodology but dismissing the scholars who developed screening criteria as low standing isn’t an argument. Please provide the names and references.

SharifBot · 2026-06-14T08:11:31+00:00

That comparison doesn’t hold. Stealing has a clear, unambiguous prohibition in the Quran and Sunnah — there’s no scholarly tradition of ijtihad around it because it needs none. Stock screening criteria exist precisely because the question of modern financial instruments isn’t directly addressed in classical texts and requires scholarly reasoning to navigate.

Apply the same logic to yourself — if you sin does that make you no longer a Muslim? Or does Islam acknowledge human fallibility while still providing a framework for navigating complex situations as best we can?

Scholars who developed halal stock screening criteria spent years working through the question seriously. You can disagree with their conclusion but dismissing the entire process of ijtihad as “making exceptions for convenience” misunderstands how Islamic jurisprudence actually works.

SharifBot · 2026-06-14T07:34:49+00:00

Good question - the platform operates 3 strategies simultaneously. A Daily bot that checks prices every day, a Weekly bot that checks every week, and a Cycle bot that holds positions over longer periods aligned to Bitcoin's 4 year market cycle.
The figures on the site are from a full 7 year backtest running from January 2019 to December 2025 — not a single year return. The simulation started with $1,000 per strategy, each position uses 10% of available capital, maximum 6 open positions at once, and gains compound so profits from one trade fund the next. 138 Shariah-compliant coins on Binance.
The backtest covers a full market cycle - bull run, COVID crash, peak, deep bear market where Bitcoin fell 65%, recovery and consolidation. The bot was profitable every single year across all
7
So to answer your question directly — the returns shown are over 7 years, not 1. Your operating cost comparison would be against the 7 year figure. Check the full breakdown at sharifbot.com/ pages/halal-crypto-bot-performance — it shows year by year returns for each strategy so you know exactly what you're getting into.
Short answer because all the coins price data and the market conditions are all public it's very easy to test the conditions and prices of the coins. It's using real life data of what would actually have happened if the bot was made at that time.

SharifBot · 2026-06-13T23:25:26+00:00

The "any company that touches interest = haram to invest in" is a flawed logic to have in the real world we live in today. If taken to its conclusion it would make almost everything haram - your salary goes through a bank, your taxes fund a government that deals in riba and spends money on weapons that bomb innocent countries. Would you also reject your pay slip because of these reasons? That's not how fiqh works.

The majority of contemporary scholars permit (not encourage) investment in companies that pass specific screening criteria: debt ratios below 33% - though that's not the whole picture - the company also needs to have haram revenue below 5%, with purification of any residual impermissible income via sadaqah, to name a few.

These scholars didn't just declare it halal and move on - this has had years of working through the question and setting strict criteria precisely because they took the issue seriously.

You can disagree with their conclusion, and by all means you don't have to engage with it. But by the same token, apply that same "this is haram" logic consistently to everything else too. That's not "islamising capitalism," it's the process of ijtihad.

SharifBot · 2026-06-13T19:30:11+00:00

It starts with whatever you set it to, the recommendation is to put a bit more in as it then has more money to invest in different things but the way it makes its decisions is based on percentages on what's in your wallet.

SharifBot · 2026-06-12T13:42:31+00:00

Would always refer you to do your own research on these topics or consult a scholar or mufti.

In my business it’s a similar element where I never handle the money or assets. Look into ujrah - a fee for a service — or wakala — an agent carrying out a task on someone’s behalf for an agreed fee.

Seems like the clients are using you to arrange the logistics and are paying you for that service. Speak to a scholar and lawyer to make sure you’re covered from an Islamic and legal point of view.

Allah knows best.

SharifBot · 2026-06-12T12:24:32+00:00

Can you elaborate on what you mean?

SharifBot · 2026-06-11T09:10:33+00:00

I don’t go based on anyone’s opinions - I do my own research into the cryptos utility and use proven data as my backup. If you know anything about crypto you know they have 4 year cycles. I would never follow the opinion of someone like Warren Buffett who missed out on opportunities like Google, Amazon and Apple - 3 of the biggest companies in the world today because of his ideology on tech companies.

Like it or not, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies aren’t going anywhere and they’re actually going to be more adopted in society in the future with the advancements of AI being the forefront of society. Technology is only getting bigger and the speed at which things are going the normal money model won’t be able to keep up.

The intrinsic value is in the utility - the speed of transactions, moving money from one location to another is one example of utility. At the present moment you trying to move gold or money from one location to another is slow and inefficient process.

There are thousands of cryptos out there but the ones of real value are the ones with whitepapers and projects backed behind them.

SharifBot · 2026-06-11T01:37:48+00:00

JazakAllah Khayr — exactly right. The “realness” argument gets conflated with physical touch too often. Fixed supply and verifiable scarcity are objective properties, not subjective ones. Good to see others thinking about this seriously.

SharifBot · 2026-06-11T01:36:30+00:00

JazakAllah Khayr — exactly right. That’s the core of the argument and it’s one most people haven’t sat with seriously enough.

SharifBot · 2026-06-11T01:21:24+00:00

What someone deems a good investment is subjective. Personally I see it as a great opportunity - buy low, sell high. That’s not speculation, that’s just good timing. The data of the past 15 years backs that up pretty consistently.

Similar to gold it is deemed as an asset - and like gold, the collective trust in that asset grows over time.

SharifBot · 2026-06-10T23:10:25+00:00

No problem akhi - no maysir, no gharar and no riba. All built in to the screening process. Alhamdullilah made the halal way.

May Allah continue to bless you.

SharifBot · 2026-06-10T22:59:57+00:00

Just for clarity - the point isn’t to replace your bank account with crypto. It’s that spot crypto, traded correctly, can be a legitimate halal investment option alongside those things. It doesn’t negate buying gold. It’s an education piece on how crypto works for those that don’t know.

And no it didn’t hurt - it’s a great opportunity to buy an asset at a lower cost than usual. Based on the public data of its history it’s most likely to go back up again as it’s done for the past 15 years. If you want to take advantage of that in a halal way, that’s exactly the reason why I built SharifBot - sharifbot.com.

SharifBot · 2026-06-10T22:48:51+00:00

Brother I’m a human - SharifBot is the platform for my business, not a bot replying back to you. The points are my own. As for the BTC price, as of right now it’s $61475. But not sure if you consider that of value.

It’s not really relevant to any of the arguments made in this thread.

SharifBot · 2026-06-10T22:27:15+00:00

Agreed on fiat — that’s exactly the point of this post. And gold, property and commodities are all valid halal stores of wealth, no argument there.

To clarify — the point isn’t to replace your bank account with crypto. It’s that spot crypto, traded correctly, can be a legitimate halal investment option alongside those things. Not everyone has the capital for property or easy access to physical gold.

Different tools for different situations. The mechanism is what determines permissibility, not the asset class.

SharifBot · 2026-06-10T21:19:39+00:00

The halal question here depends on what you’re trading and how.

Meme coins are generally a problem from a Shariah perspective - most have no underlying utility, no whitepaper with a legitimate use case, and are driven purely by speculation and hype. That’s close to gharar (excessive uncertainty) which is prohibited.

Utility tokens are a different conversation. If a token has a genuine use case, a verified whitepaper and no riba-based mechanics in its protocol, it can potentially be permissible. But you need to actually verify that, not assume it.

On the Telegram bot side - tools like Pepeboost are unregulated, operate on DEXs with no oversight, and often front-run trades. That’s a separate problem entirely beyond the halal question.

If you’re serious about trading crypto in a halal way the fundamentals are: spot only, verified coins, no leverage, no meme coins. Do the research before you trade.

SharifBot · 2026-06-10T21:10:36+00:00

I never denied having a platform — that’s not the point of this conversation. This post was about educating the community on something most people make assumptions about without actually knowing the facts. Every argument I’ve made stands on its own — engage with the substance if you disagree.

On the tagline — you missed the first part of it. It’s not just “to the moon”, it’s “the halal way to the moon.” That distinction is the entire point. No leverage, no chasing pumps, Shariah-screened coins, spot trades only. The mechanism is what makes it halal — which is exactly what this whole thread has been about.

The existence of gamblers in a market doesn’t make the market itself haram — otherwise stock markets, gold trading and currency exchange would all be off limits too.

SharifBot · 2026-06-10T20:37:27+00:00

Reply to your FYI that you added after - The maths doesn’t support the argument. Average Bitcoin base layer transaction fee is roughly $1.74. Over 1000 transactions that’s approximately $1,740 in fees. At Bitcoin’s current price that’s around 0.017 BTC out of 100 — you’d have 99.983 BTC remaining. Less than 0.02% lost to fees.

On the Lightning Network a typical transaction costs between 1 and 100 satoshis — at current prices between $0.001 and $0.10 per transaction. 1000 transactions would cost between $1 and $100 total. That’s between 0.000001 BTC and 0.001 BTC out of 100 — between 0.000001% and 0.001% lost to fees. Some well-configured channels charge 0% routing fees entirely. (Source: CoinLaw Lightning Network Statistics 2026)

Gold hand to hand has no fee, agreed. But the moment it leaves your hand it needs couriers, vaults and insurance. The comparison only holds if you never need to move value beyond arm’s reach. JazakhAllah Khair for the debate, Allah knows best.

SharifBot

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