We still haven't started on that particular chapter. Most of it will be trying to envision Muslim life in a post usury era from different aspects. I feel so very unqualified to talk about the subject but I'm gonna try anyway.

And I'll definitely be reaching out to you if you wanna review some chapters

So I've been teasing that we'll be writing a book. Alhamdulilah we're about half way done with a first draft. Probably won't be finished until next year inshaAllah.

So in general I'm planning to structure the book in this way:

1. Muslim Primer on Economics (you can read this chapter here: https://bitcoinmajlis.org/chapter-1-a-muslims-primer-on-economics/ )

2. Low Time Preference Islamic Civilization

3. Grokking Riba

4. A History of Money, Usury, and Banking

5. The Riba is in the Money

6. The Consequences of Riba Money

7. Attempted Solutions to the Riba money problem

8. Bitcoin, the anti-Riba money

9. Bitcoin, not crypto

10. Debunking Fiat Fatwas

11. Making Financial Hijra

For sure. My brother and I were on a podcast episode with Harris Irfan. I thought it went really well!

Waking up a 2AM to do a podcast was not the smartest decision.

But it was fun though. Just not smart.

Today's gonna be a long day 😭

There's a lot Muslim Bitcoiners can learn from the Murabitun movement. They were the original Muslim Bitcoiners. A good article by nostr:nprofile1qqsvtam5rzehrxshxdffdqg920yhppm4cft4v5xzxqqg3a3yjrux6yspr9mhxue69uhkzefwwp6hyurvv4ex2mrp0yhxxmmd9uqs6amnwvaz7tmzwf3zu6t09uq3vamnwvaz7tm9v3jkutnwdaehgu3wd3skuep0znxf44 about it

https://notes-ibnmaghreb.vercel.app/collection/corrected-histories-of-digital-cash/

Nice! Thanks for doing this

Notice that blockchain, smart contracts, NFTs, web3, staking, tokenization, halal yield, Islamic FinTech, sukuks, halal mortgages do not solve the Riba problem. These may have their niche applications and use cases, but they do not address the underlying problem.

The 300 trillion dollar Riba problem occurs at the monetary layer. It's a problem concerning global economic consensus. This is layers below payment rails, financial infrastructures, banking infrastructures, even below the global political consensus layers.

To even begin to address this problem, we need a new monetary base layer that's open, neutral, digital, completely permissionless, actually decentralized, and credibly scarce.

We need a base layer that's anti-Riba that Muslims can plug into.

Crypto enthusiasts who envision a future where Bitcoin and other coins freely compete in the market misunderstand basic economics. Such a system of competing currencies cannot emerge in a truly free market. Let Hans Hermann Hoppe explain 👇

The practice of Riba is a very high time preference activity where all that matters is the destructive short-term gain at the expense of sustainable long-term growth. Zakat, on the other hand, is a very low time preference activity where the giver seeks to attain rewards over the long-term, both in this life and in the hereafter.

Zakat facilitates in advancing the "process of civilization", while Riba seeks to disrupt this process.

In the Islamic tradition, these two practices could not be any more antipodal. Indeed, if zakat can be considered “financial worship” as elucidated by Abul A'la Maududi, then Riba can be rightfully called “financial transgression”.

I think if I remember correctly in the booklet is that zakat is supposed to be handled by the state that is on a gold/silver standard, and it's supposed to be paid with the metal itself.

I didn't agree with everything in the book, but I find the quote interesting for an entirely different reason because, since we know that fiat money is basically Riba money, we're paying zakat on riba money. Now I don't want to say that it's haram as I'm not qualified to do so, but it is strangely and sadly poetic that the standard practice today to implement zakat is to pay zakat on riba money.

Fiat money, because of its usurious nature, has destroyed the institution of zakat 👇

"It is clear that the present world-dominating kafir economic system of banking capitalism has destroyed the pillar of zakat. This is partly because it has displaced the economic transactions into the arena of the haram by involving them inextricably in a usurious web which it is at present virtually impossible to escape. But it has done it more directly by redefining the nature of wealth and specifically by changing the nature of money in a way which prevents Muslims from paying their zakat in accordance with the conditions laid down by the shari’a"

I'll end up doing that, but I can't do that just yet. There are more people I need to guide out of the fiat cave

Eye opening book, especially for a newbie like me who was not around to fight in the blocksize war.

Same. I can't seem to manage juggling two different social media accounts. This is a reminder for myself to do better and try harder

nostr:nevent1qqsft83szzxg7lga67270wnnvgkdga7pe236wpvs3t4mlcrlqf3clrspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsygxfkx0le4p7df0j8v7jwyrvux0y45kl3xapqvwagctlrdv3uyyfv5psgqqqqqqs7ze40n

nostr:nprofile1qqs02f70juxwyc88gfsjzjlkzt50wkjemvvrtmt7gpfnymplvh3r9mspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduq3qamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwa5kuegpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqnjw8g6 do we have a list of Muslims on NOSTR to follow? There are a few Muslims that are now wanting to deactivate their X accounts because of Elon's support for Israel. Your guide has been helpful! But I think it would be good to have a pinned post of Muslim NOSTR users to follow to help our brothers and sisters get started on this app.

Many people claim that fiat is backed by "nothing".

While this has some truth, if you look at what actually backs the dollar (and all other fiat currencies), it's just a series of interconnected interest bearing liabilities.

Fiat money is ultimately backed by Riba.

Gonna be reading this one soon insha Allah.

It's interesting that this Shaykh was able to articulate the Riba problem in fiat so well, and well before bitcoin was a thing. There's lots we can learn from him and his teachings.

As far as I'm aware, the Shaykh did not comment on bitcoin as he passed away shortly after it was discovered. But I believe the authors, being gold bugs, don't look at Bitcoin favorably.

The following is a response to a short video on Twitter where a brother talks about the problems with Islamic Banking:

I think the problem with Islamic Banking is spot on, and analogy of the casino is great. Indeed, Muslims need to find an alternative system, but the two solutions offered don't really solve the Riba problem.

1. Islamic FinTech does not solve this, because it's still using money that's completely entrenched in Riba. Even the money itself can only be created through issuing Riba based loans. Getting a new Islamic FinTech platform cannot solve a monetary problem.

2. Crypto (altcoins) does not solve this, as all it does is recreate the Riba problem. They're all centralized and non-neutral, and they create the incentive to change the monetary protocol to benefit the founders and insiders. No altcoin is secure enough and liquid enough to build a global monetary system. Crypto suffers from the same economic, technical, and ethical problems that fiat has, especially the cryptos that are not proof-of-work.

The two actual solutions to the Riba problem are gold and Bitcoin, which falls outside of crypto.

Bringing back the gold standard has been tried many times by Muslims, see Gold Dinar movement and also Gaddafi, among other attempts. They all failed.

Bitcoin is the only viable solution to the Riba problem as it's actually neutral, permissionless, extremely secure, credibly scarce with an unchanging monetary policy, and based on proof-of-work. Bitcoin is the anti-Riba monetary protocol that has a great chance of replacing the global fiat monetary system and solving the Riba problem.