Assalaamualaikum,
I could not successfully submit questions via the website, so I’m using this medium as an alternative.
Can you advise if the transaction described in the attached PowerPoint presentation and links below is permissible.
(Regarding permissibility of FOREX Trading)
Faheed Mohammed.
Trinidad & Tobago
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
In basic terms, Forex trading is the buying and selling of currencies via the internet world-wide. In the Forex market all trades result in the simultaneous buying of one currency and the selling of another. The objective when trading currencies is to exchange one currency for another in the expectation that the market price will change so that the currency you bought has increased its value relative to the one you sold.[1]
According to our research, regarding Forex Trading there are numerous problematic aspects which contravene the laws of Shari’ah. Hereunder are some of these aspects;
Selling a commodity that one does not possess or own,
It is agreed that the trader owns none of the commodities or currencies he buys and sells. In fact, not even the Forex Company owns these currencies. This company only facilitates the movement of these currencies between two parties, be those parties individuals or companies. The objection of non-ownership in relation to the seller does not apply because the seller being one of the major financial institutes or banks certainly owns the currency being sold by it to a private trader via the broker. However, this objection holds valid in relation to the private trader, when he sells a currency. As stated above, when buying the currency, the lot of currency or the amount purchased is credited to the account of the trader. However, unlike other normal electronic transfers or bank deposits, the funds are not freely and randomly accessible to the account holder. This signifies that qabdha or possession is not complete. In a normal bank transfer, which happens daily between buyers and sellers, the funds transferred are accessible to the account holder either the same day or a day or two thereafter. The account holder may then do what he wishes with those funds. They are truly and legally his, for qabdha or possession is complete and total. When this happens the deal has been validly concluded. However in Forex trading the currency one purchases is never accessible to the trader, and consequently, never becomes his to keep. Obviously, the nature of the Forex trade is such that Forex Trading Companies will never allow this to happen since a private trader is purchasing a large amount of currency for only one percent of its value, so how can he walk away with such a large amount of funds. It is thus well and truly established that the idea in Forex trading is never to allow a private trader to own or possess the lot of currency that he buys. Instead, the whole purpose of this exercise is to set into motion a cycle of currency trade from which all benefit. The brokers make their cut, the private trader earns profit on the deal, and the banks or financial companies whose currencies are bring sold obviously benefit through such large volumes of forex business. Hence the purchase that the private trader makes is just a conduit through which he generates profit. This is one of the glaring discrepancies in Forex Trading under discussion here. The lot of currency purchased is sold again before the seller has actually taken possession. This is in violation of the Shar’ee rule that one must possess movable property before re-selling or executing any transaction related to it. [2]
A second Shar’ee violation is that one is selling an item that has not been owned. Remember that, as mentioned earlier, though the trader’s account reflects a credit of 100,000 dollars, it does not mean that he owns that money. When he sells those dollars he is selling a commodity that he does not own. It is clear that selling property that one does not own, or that one will own in the near future is neither permissible nor valid.[3], [4]
A further discrepancy in the Forex game is that both buyer and seller exchange commodities on the basis of credit, a practice that has been categorically prohibited by Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam.
The trader bought dollars which were not paid for; he then simultaneously sold yen which he did not deliver immediately. He thus bought a commodity without paying for it immediately, and sold another without immediate delivery. This is the precise definition of bay’ud dayn bid-dayn, exchanging one debt for another. The Fiqah books quite clearly prohibit such a transaction. In the sale of fuloos or currency, it is stipulated that at least one of the two currencies being exchanged must be taken possession of for the transaction to be valid. [5][6]
The issue of online Forex trading was also discussed in the Jameeatul Muftieen (is a board comprising of 12 Muftis of South Africa). After analysing the details provided, Forex trading was ruled impermissible, as many of its aspects did not conform to the laws of Shariah. This is also the opinion of many prominent contemporary Ulama, including Mufit Taqi Usmani.[7]
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Arshad Ali
http://fatwa-tt.com
Trinidad
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.