Welcome to the Islam and Bitcoin Podcast

Video Transcript

The Goal of Islam and Bitcoin

As-salamu alaykum, may peace be upon you. Happy Ramadan 2016, Ramadan Mubarak and welcome to episode number one of the Islam and Bitcoin Podcast. My name is Andre Rishi and I will be accompanying you on this journey of Bitcoin in the realm of digital currencies.

This podcast has been a long time in the making ladies and gents, and we are finally here, episode number one. And this episode is really meant to be just a simple introduction as to what the website and podcast will be about.

Islam and Bitcoin pretty much came to fruition because I, as a Muslim, was not able to find anywhere out there where I can learn about Bitcoin and digital currencies as it relates to Islam. So, I figured, hey, why not take it upon myself to start something that I hope would not only be beneficial to myself, but to others out there.

So, here I am presenting this to all of you and I pray that Allah blesses it and some barakah (excess in goodness beyond what is expected that is sustaining) and some benefit comes out of this for all of us.

Now, my hope, my desire is that this website be a hub where we can all learn about digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Onecoin. There’s a whole lot of digital currencies out there and I’m hoping that we can discuss those as you know, and see how they all relate to Islam and not just Islam but also the technology behind Bitcoin in and of itself.

I’m also looking to get into what I call Bitcoin 2.0, applications such as Ethereum. I think any of you out there if you’re really into the whole cryptocurrency space then you are more than familiar with Ethereum so I’m looking to jump into that as well.

And also, I’m just looking for this to be a website where scholars can, hop on board then we can get them to come on here and come on the Podcast and they can– we can talk and they can let us know about Islamic Finance and how Bitcoin relates to the sharia and the Qur’an and sunnah.

I mean, I have so many people reaching out to me, asking me, “Hey brother, is Islam, I’m sorry, is Bitcoin halal or haram?” So, God-willing we can get some scholars on here that can clarify that for us. I’m also looking for this to be a website where, both Muslims and non-Muslims, we can come together and, share, we can share knowledge in regards to this new currency and talk about how we can explore ways in which we can all benefit from this in a holistic and halal manner.

A Platform to Explore Opportunities

I’m also looking for this to be a platform really for you, really for the listener, for you. I would love to find ways to help you explore your own ideas with Bitcoin and the technology behind it.

I would love for this to be a website where I can show you or the users of this show, all of us, we can show you how to use Bitcoin for your own personal and professional benefit. I would love to show you how to earn income from Bitcoin.

I would love to see about exploring the possibilities of how we can build a community of Bitcoin users that can trade between each other. I mean how cool would that be for Muslims to build a halal economy around digital currencies. And that’s a real possibility that can happen.

I would also love for this website to be a vehicle or a platform that would allow you to introduce your own products and services that revolve [around] or incorporate Bitcoin; a platform that can help you build and market your own business.

Maybe you’re a sister who has a hijab clothing line, or maybe you’re a brother who owns a web design business, or you’re a graphic artist, or maybe you’re a husband and wife team who you have your own restaurant and you accept Bitcoin or maybe you’re this genius inventor who is finding ways to utilize Bitcoin for the betterment of humanity.

I mean, if you fit into any of those categories, I would love to have you on the show and I would love to help you promote, again, your own products, your own services, your own projects. I would this to be a platform for you. And also, I just hope to get people on here that can also maybe even show you how to actually incorporate the technology behind Bitcoin into your own business model.

Maybe you’re that person- and you see some possible benefits of the blockchain technology and you would like to learn how to incorporate that into your own business; maybe with the hopes of having your business be more, run more efficient or maybe be more productive so I would love to explore that as well.

True Halal Finance

And in time, one of my really big goals and dreams of this website is I would love for us to learn how we can all shift away from fiat riba based currencies in order to truly embrace halal finance. And for some of you, if you’re a, don’t know what riba is, it really means usury or increase, it’s an Arabic word.

I would say right now, I throw out a whole lot of Arabic when I talk so please bear with me. And I would do my best so that when I use an Arabic word, I would try to give you its counterpart in English. But if I do not, please forgive me.

But again, I would love to explore that. One of the things that I noticed in the realm of Islamic finance is that it’s really curious to me, is how we talk so much about Islamic finance but we never talk about the fact that within the model of Islamic finance, we use these riba-based currencies.

So, I think that’s kind of odd that we don’t really talk about that which to me seems to be, you know, just in your face like you can’t ignore it. But maybe we’ll have a scholar on here and maybe he or she, they will be able to enlighten us on that.

But that’s so, these are some of the things I would love to explore and share with you. And those of you who are visiting this site and listening to the podcast, many of you have already reached out to me and I want to give a big-ups to all of you, a big thank you to everyone that has contacted me. My apologies for not being able to get back to everyone, I am a one-man crew, so I do apologize if I haven’t gotten back to you yet. But rest assured that insha’Allah I would do my best to respond to everyone who has contacted me.

I Am not a Scholar and Future Podcast Episodes

With that being said, and I mentioned it earlier, but again, the number one question that I am asked is, “Hey brother, is Bitcoin halal or haram?” Let me just say, I am not a scholar, so I’m not in a place where I can issue a fatwa or give any type of Islamic ruling on the permissibility of Bitcoin.

I am a student of knowledge like I am sure some of you out there are, but again, the goal is to get some Islamic scholars on the podcast; have them on here where they can clarify that for us so insha’Allah, we will have them on here in future episodes.

And speaking of episodes, I’m looking to produce 23 episodes, so as of now I’m looking to produce 23 episodes and you may be asking why 23? Well, I want to be able to start off with something that’s manageable and if I see that there is really an audience out there for it, and so far, it really does seem like there is. But if I really see that there’s really support for the podcast, support for the site and insha’Allah I will go beyond the 23 episodes. So that’s one reason.

The second reason is because of our beloved Muhammad, our beloved Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. As we Muslims know, he was sent here, we believe that he was sent here, as a messenger to all of mankind to deliver the beautiful message of Islam and he came here and shared that message for 23 years.

So, in honor of our beloved Prophet, may peace be upon him, I am aiming to record at least 23 episodes insha’Allah, may God give me tawfiq, which means success. There I go again with the Arabic.

Anyway, in regards to the episodes, I’m looking for the episodes to be anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour in length. I’m looking to record about one episode a month, at least maybe for, maybe for the first three months only when I have more people that I can have on the podcast and I can really feel the rhythm of it, get into the rhythm and God-willing, eventually, I would like to shift to one episode every other week. So that’s the goal when it comes to the episodes.

Starting off, what I would like to do is, the next episode after this, I would like to start off with the basics of Bitcoin. Now I know that many of you listening to this podcast right now, you already know the basics of Bitcoin but there are lot of Muslims out there who don’t, a lot of Muslims and non-Muslims.

I know many who are completely oblivious to Bitcoin so I think it would be helpful to have an episode that just covers the basics of what is Bitcoin, what is Mining, what is a wallet, what is a blockchain, you know these simple things in order to lay a basic foundation that we could jump off from.

And then after that, again, insha’Allah we can bring on some guests that I hope that you’ll all enjoy and that you find of some benefit. So, there you have it. That’s what we’re looking to do here on this site and that should do for this episode.

I hope that you will return for future episodes. Again, I would love to thank everyone who has dropped by and shown interest. Again, kudos to you, big-ups to you and yes, I will most certainly try to respond to all of you that have reached out to me.

And before I go, let me just say, wrapping things up here, we are in the final days of Ramadan, the countdown to the closing of this beautiful month. I really do hope it has been beneficial to all of you. I encourage myself, first and foremost, and everyone listening to the podcast to let’s make the most of it.

Make the most of these last couple of days of Ramadan. Please do keep me in your duas (prayers). Please share this website with others on Facebook, Twitter or wherever it is that you frequent and for every person you share this website with, I pray that Allah counts it as a good deed for you, and multiplies that reward for you due to everyone who listens and benefits from the website and podcast. It’s an easy way to get ajer (reward) insha’Allah, so please share the website.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please sign up to our mailing list so that way I can keep you updated on new episodes that come out or any other resources that we upload to the site that may be of benefit to you.

So again, there you have it, thank you for listening to episode one of the Islam and Bitcoin Podcast. My name is Andre Rishi, As-salamu alaykum, may peace be upon you. I – am – out.