Is trading in paper currency permissible?
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The questioner : We heard from you a fatwa stating that it is forbidden to trade in all currencies...
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : The truth is, we bought some currency. When we heard the fatwa, we stopped buying and stopped selling. We have funds we had bought, for example, we bought the Lebanese pound when its price was low, and now the situation has truly deteriorated. So, should we keep what we have until the price rises, or should we sell and be done with it?
The Shaykh : Sell and be done with it, because you do not know what Allah will do with it. It may deteriorate further, or it may stop, or the situation may improve. You understood the idea we hold, which led us to say that trading in it is not permissible. This is because it is paper currency with no intrinsic value; its value is determined by the gold allocated to it, as they used to say in the past. Therefore, trading in it is akin—especially in this time—to gambling. You see, for example, some strong currencies like the US dollar; sometimes they lower it, sometimes they raise it. This is according to the interest of that great state. So, this is gambling. You wait, for example, at a time when you think it will rise, and then you are hit with the opposite of what you expected. This is gambling. But in reality, if there were a stable, fixed currency, it would fall under the category of selling gold for gold with a difference in amount, which is not permissible according to the explicit, well-known hadiths. For this reason, we say that currency exchange is not permissible except within the limits of need and dire necessity. As for trading in it for profit, it is not permissible.
The questioner : What is the ruling on images that enter into the need for illustration, especially if this illustration is in a scientific collection, for example, dictionaries composed of thirty or forty books? Is there harm in this, given that the intention is information?
The Shaykh : Understood. I do not see any harm in that if the images are not used as a spectacle or entertainment, but rather for the need of scientific benefit, referring to the book and then being printed like other books.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : The truth is, we bought some currency. When we heard the fatwa, we stopped buying and stopped selling. We have funds we had bought, for example, we bought the Lebanese pound when its price was low, and now the situation has truly deteriorated. So, should we keep what we have until the price rises, or should we sell and be done with it?
The Shaykh : Sell and be done with it, because you do not know what Allah will do with it. It may deteriorate further, or it may stop, or the situation may improve. You understood the idea we hold, which led us to say that trading in it is not permissible. This is because it is paper currency with no intrinsic value; its value is determined by the gold allocated to it, as they used to say in the past. Therefore, trading in it is akin—especially in this time—to gambling. You see, for example, some strong currencies like the US dollar; sometimes they lower it, sometimes they raise it. This is according to the interest of that great state. So, this is gambling. You wait, for example, at a time when you think it will rise, and then you are hit with the opposite of what you expected. This is gambling. But in reality, if there were a stable, fixed currency, it would fall under the category of selling gold for gold with a difference in amount, which is not permissible according to the explicit, well-known hadiths. For this reason, we say that currency exchange is not permissible except within the limits of need and dire necessity. As for trading in it for profit, it is not permissible.
The questioner : What is the ruling on images that enter into the need for illustration, especially if this illustration is in a scientific collection, for example, dictionaries composed of thirty or forty books? Is there harm in this, given that the intention is information?
The Shaykh : Understood. I do not see any harm in that if the images are not used as a spectacle or entertainment, but rather for the need of scientific benefit, referring to the book and then being printed like other books.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.