Egypt Mufti declares ban on Bitcoin
The recent news coming out of Egypt, that the Grand Mufti, a key religious figure in the country, has declared that Bitcoin is forbidden in Islam, needs to have a bit of context provided that those that are not familiar with the situation in Egypt.
Needless to say, I think anything that this guy says should be taken with a massive grain of salt. He is just a mouthpiece for an overly corrupt and incapable government. And we all know how much governments like cryptocurrency.
Egypt's government in particular is losing grip of the country. People that bought the bullshit that Abdel-Fatah Sisi sold them, now see him for what he is. There will likely be another uprising in the coming years.
People in Egypt are generally losing confidence in the local economy and banks, and the country is being divided into two classes. The haves, and have nots. Those that have, are looking for places to park their funds as the Egyptian currency is volatile and weak, and moving money abroad is not that easy. As a result, a lot invest in property, which is seen to be safer.
Egypt is ripe for the picking for a cryptocurrency, be it Bitcoin, or any other, to take their economy by storm, and generally should have good benefits in a country that has been rife with corruption for decades.
I'll just leave these two articles below - one describing the recent Bitcoin decision, and one analytical piece from over a year ago that describes the influence that this so called grand Mufti has succumbed to. Make your own call.
https://www.rt.com/business/414903-egypt-mufti-ban-bitcoin/
The Egyptian Grand Mufti has issued an official fatwa, banning bitcoin which soared in value over the $20,000 mark in December. Trade in cryptocurrency is similar to gambling, which is forbidden in Islam, he said.
The fatwa was issued after consultations with several economic experts, Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam said on Monday, as cited by Ahram newspaper. Egypt’s legitimate bodies do not consider trading a virtual currency like bitcoin to be acceptable, he said, and the use of cryptocurrencies “impinges on the state's authority in preserving currency exchange.”
The mufti compared cryptocurrency’s trade exchange to gambling, which is banned in Islam “due to its direct responsibility in financial ruin for individuals.” The cleric said that bitcoin could negatively affect the legal safety of those who trade it, and lead to an “ease in money laundering and contrabands trade.”
Allam’s statement came as the value of bitcoin continues to fluctuate unpredictably. As of January 3, its price stands at $15,000.
Egypt’s Grand Mufti is not the first Muslim cleric to criticize the now-famous cryptocurrency, which has skyrocketed in value over recent months. In December, popular Saudi cleric Assim Al-Hakeem ruled that digital currencies are banned under Islamic law because they are "ambiguous."
“We know that bitcoin remains anonymous when you deal with it… which means that it's an open gate for money laundering, drug money and haram [forbidden] money,” Hakeem said at that time.
In November, Turkey’s highest religious authority – the Directorate of Religious Affairs, also known as the Diyanet – declared that buying and selling of digital currencies is at odds with its religion due to its lack of regulation and close connection to criminal activities.
Last year saw cryptocurrencies steal the headlines and take retail investors on a rollercoaster ride. Despite declines in December, bitcoin has seen a remarkable rise over the course of 2017, during which its price increased by over 1,300 percent.
And now read this
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160923-when-the-grand-mufti-becomes-a-dictators-puppet/
The volatile political climate in Egypt has been quick to sift out those people who are easily influenced by power. Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, apparently, is one of them.
Ola Alaa, an 18-year-old Egyptian medical student, along with 20 other young women and girls, was initially jailed and sentenced to 11 years in prison for staging a peaceful street protest three years ago. Gamal Eid, a human rights activist, said that the sentences against the female protesters were politically motivated. “There is no independent judiciary in Egypt,” he claimed.
After the 2013 ousting of the first democratic and freely elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, this is a common scenario among ordinary citizens. The abuse of power has seen the authorities imprisoning tens of thousands of citizens, banning protests across the country, outlawing opposition groups, sentencing hundreds of people to death in unfair trials, and massacring thousands of civilians. This conjures up the image of a nation in desperate need of intervention; a nation crumbling under authoritarian rule and a ruthless dictator. The West, though, would have us believe that Egypt is flourishing under General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, whereas the fact of the matter is that Egypt is in crisis under his iron fist.
In its report released in May 2015, the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) stated that violence in the country since the 2013 coup had resulted in about 2,600 deaths. The authorities had detained, charged and sentenced at least 41,000 people, often on fabricated charges and accusations. More than 1,800 death sentences have been meted out in just 3 years by a farcical judicial system. The Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, an independent group, has documented 256 deaths in custody since Sisi took office in June 2014, with 209 detainees having died due to medical negligence. At the time of writing, no government official or member of the security forces has been charged for the killing of at least 817 protesters in Cairo’s Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square on 14 August, 2013, even though it was very likely a crime against humanity. It has also been reported that Egyptian police officers use torture regularly in their investigations.
With a track record that has abolished all the rights and freedoms that the Egyptian people won through the 2011 revolution, Sisi has proven to be far worse than the dictator the people fought so valiantly to overthrow, Hosni Mubarak. The democratically-elected party belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned, and its leadership, including Morsi, is languishing in jail. Sisi’s government, meanwhile, is legitimised by Western powers and the Egyptian population is being left to the far from tender mercies of yet another tyrant.
While popular opinion would have us believe that Morsi was overthrown in the military coup of 2013 supported by an overwhelming majority in the country, scientific polling data provides better indications of the popular mindset. According to the only credible data available on the topic, by Pew Research, Morsi had more than 50 per cent support amongst Egyptians before the coup and has maintained a support rating of more than 40 per cent ever since, despite being in prison. On 16 June, a criminal court sentenced Morsi and 114 others to death. Human Rights Watch found that prosecutors presented no evidence to substantiate the security officials’ testimony and that the case appeared to be politically motivated. However, this was largely ignored and there has been little international outcry at the grotesque injustice of the sentence.
Within Egypt’s own borders, however, the volatile political climate has been quick to sift out those who are easily influenced by power, and Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam has fallen prey to temptation. In a move that has served to expose his desperate attempt to be approved by Sisi’s dictatorial regime, Allam passed a fatwa (ruling) recently declaring Morsi’s death sentence to be lawful. Out of 50 death sentences presented to him for ratification, Allam approved 45, including the one against Morsi. Basing his ruling on trials that were deemed “grossly unfair” by Amnesty International, the mufti forewent not only his religious obligations and duties, but also his ethics, morals and principles; any credibility he might have had has been compromised in one single move. He has been exposed to be a hypocrite and unfit to hold the prestigious position of Grand Mufti.
It has been communicated to us that Allam is scheduled to visit South Africa soon, in response to which there has been a clear and unapologetic proclamation that dictators and all their cowardly supporters can expect no welcome in a country like ours. Under international criminal law and the Nuremburg principles, judges who abuse their offices and juridical authority and became instruments for the perpetuation of war crimes and crimes against humanity are also guilty of those crimes and may be tried and convicted. Just as Sisi was forced to postpone his trip to South Africa last year when lawyers working with the Muslim Lawyers Association filed an official legal request for his arrest on charges of countless crimes against humanity, so too will Allam face a similarly hostile reception. South Africans do not entertain leaders who insist on violating the basic human rights and freedoms of their citizens, nor those who endorse such injustice.
Egypt is in dire need of solidarity against the disease that is corruption, gross injustice and unlawful dictatorship. We have a legal and moral obligation to provide that support. The moves to indict Grand Mufti Shawki Allam will demonstrate that the people of South Africa mean business when it comes to challenging those who treat human rights and international law with contempt. He will learn what it means when the Grand Mufti becomes a dictator’s puppet.
That coin is so cashy