Islamic Law

Spanish Rice Paella - Photo by Young Shih on Unsplash

Cooking Rice, Not Engineering It: Al-Shatibi’s Guidance on relevance in Usul al-Fiqh Studies

Consider the process of teaching someone to cook rice. You wouldn’t initially throw them into a deep discussion about the variations among Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin, right? That would be like tossing them into a whirlpool of confusion. Instead, the initial focus should be on the essentials: how to proportion the rice and water, when to adjust the heat to a simmer, and the signs of perfectly cooked rice. The intricate understanding of temperature scales is a knowledge layer that can be added later once the basic practicalities are mastered.

Along these lines, Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi, in the fourth introduction of Al-Muwafaqat, stated:

Photo by Abdulmeilk Aldawsari: https://www.pexels.com/photo/monochrome-photo-of-opened-quran-36704/

Is it Forbidden to Pay Riba? Or is it only forbidden to charge it?

Recently someone presented to me the opinion or the assumption that it’s not forbidden to pay interest, it’s only forbidden to take interest claiming that there’s nothing in the Quran. That would indicate that it’s forbidden to pay interest. I wanted to take a moment and address this issue because I think it’s something that all of you should be concerned about.

NFTs: Non-Fungible Tokens – A Very Simple Explanation

NFTs give you something that can’t be copied. Not a picture itself (anyone can take a screenshot). Here we’re going to use art as an example, because its most common nowadays, but NFTs can be used for real estate, contracts, and a number of other things. NFTs are a digital means for proving the ownership of an asset, like your car’s title proves you own it. Add to that with an NFT, you can also track who has owned that digital asset in the past and what was done with it, just like getting a Carfax tells you the history of your car’s sale and repair.

What makes a crypto coin Shariah Compliant?

For those of you concerned with the Shariah compliance of the coins you are buying, Asking yourself these 5 questions will help guide your coin selection:
#1 – It is a store of value.
#2 – It is a medium of exchange.
#3 – Transparency about recourse.
#4 – Tokenomics are not ponzi-esque.
#5 – It has an established or projected, permissible real world use case.

Does Islamic Law take a Position on Slave Reparations?

Princeton theological seminary recently announced that it would be awarding 27 million dollars in scholarships as reparation for its involvement in the history of slavery, although it – as an institution – was not involved in the slave trade itself. The PTSEM was founded in 1812. While it did not own slaves, it did benefit from the slave economy through investment.  By doing business with Southern banks and accepting donations from those who profited directly and indirectly from slavery. Its founding faculty and leaders used slave labor during their lifetime.

Debt vs. Partnership vs. Revenue Sharing: Which One is Best for My Business?

The mantra of Islamic Finance has been “Islamic Finance prefers partnership over debt.” Hammering this idea into the minds of the masses has resulted in many people using less than optimal structures for their business needs. At times its better to finance through debt, at times through partnership, and at times through revenue sharing. In this short article, I discuss a few of the pros and cons of each and when to use them.