Researcher Abd Alrahman Bassam Abu Rub, a student in the Master’s program in Applied Islamic Finance, defended his thesis entitled: “Crypto-currencies from an Islamic Perspective.”
The study dealt with the concept of currency and virtual digital cash, how to trade it electronically, the consequences of its issuance and the economic impacts it produces, and determining the religious controls in terms of its disbursement and circulation in a consistent manner with Islamic Sharia. This study is a qualitative, descriptive and analytical study of the opinions of Islamic economic scholars, as it shed light and focused on the extent of the recent interest of Islamic Sharia in digital currencies and technological development with specific controls to preserve one of the purposes of Sharia, which is money and what is reflected on people in terms of their rights and money. The study also addressed the specific controls that allow the issuance and trading of digital currencies from the perspective of Islamic law.
The thesis concluded that the Islamic Sharia did not require a specific form of money, but rather focused on fully achieving its functions. It was found that digital currency in its various types did not reach the conditions of monetary efficiency. The also study concluded that the opinion of the legislator and the jurisprudential position do not prevent the creation of encrypted digital cash that fulfills the conditions of monetary efficiency and cash exchange contracts in the Islamic religion. The study recommended the necessity of having digital currencies issued by central authorities with legitimate and legal controls, and that the State of Palestine adopt the issuance of digital currency in accordance with the legal determinants and laws, due to the inability to issue paper currencies due to the policies of the occupation.
The thesis was supervised by Dr. Mohammad Abusharbeh. The committee of examiners included Dr. Hamza Ismail and Dr. Sharif Abukarsh.