Egypt’s Dar Al Ifta: Using Bitcoin and Other Virtual Currencies Are Forbidden in Islam

Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, the Egyptian state-run Islamic institution assigned to issuing religious edicts, said on Thursday that egg freezing is permissible in Islam.

In a live video broadcast on Dar al-Ifta’s official Facebook page , Sheikh Awaida Othman, director of Fatwa administration, and the Secretary of the Fatwa in the Egyptian Ifta House, answered one of the questions posted during the live stream asking about Bitcoin, and if it’s allowed in Islam. The Sheikh answered question, saying: “It is not permissible in Islam to use Bitcoin, and we have issued a detailed fatwa before regarding this”.

Last year, Egypt’s Counselor of the Republican’s Mufti, Dr. Magdy Ashour, proclaimed that Bitcoin is pretty much a no-go as far as Sharia is involved, on the basis that its dealings might not be very Halal, given that you don’t know the morality behind any of the transactions involved with Bitcoin, and even going so far as to claim its use a tool to fund terrorism.

This is by no means the first time Bitcoin has received notable backlash in the country, hearkening back to the Head of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) Mohamed Omran’s in 2017 statement that Bitcoin is pretty much illegal in Egypt and urging interested individuals to keep a distance from the cryptocurrency.