Speculation Is Haram? Then Define Speculation Properly
Another slogan repeatedly circulating is: “Speculation is haram.”
Fine.
Define it.
A farmer stores wheat because he expects a higher price next month. A property investor buys land because he expects infrastructure development. A PSX investor purchases shares expecting earnings growth. A central bank holds foreign assets based upon projected reserve needs. Every future-directed commercial decision contains uncertainty.
Islam does not ban the existence of an uncertain future.
The jurisprudential concern is excessive gharar, deception, qimar, unlawful subject matter and contractual defects.
This is why saying “Bitcoin is volatile, therefore haram” creates an incomplete argument. Volatility may contribute to risk analysis, and extreme uncertainty may become jurisprudentially relevant, but normal commercial risk and prohibited excessive gharar are not automatically synonyms.
The Malaysian SAC’s regulatory position is instructive precisely because it screens digital assets rather than presuming every token has an identical Shariah character. Its current digital-assets framework even lists specific Shariah-compliant digital currencies, and from March 30, 2026, operators seeking to offer Shariah-compliant digital currencies are required to obtain SAC endorsement.
That is a fundamentally different methodology.
Screen the asset. Screen the rights. Screen the underlying activity. Screen the trading mechanism.
I find that approach intellectually more convincing than placing Bitcoin, USDT and “ElonDogTrumpMoonInu” into one digital bucket and closing the file.
That remains my opinion.
It is not a fatwa.
