Money and Work

A mortgage for a family home is permitted where needed, as the European Council for Fatwa and Research ruled in 1999. Islamic home finance is also an option.

Is crypto haram? Owning and trading crypto as a lawful digital asset is halal in principle. Fraud, gambling-style speculation and leveraged bets are haram.

Is bank interest haram? The Quran forbids exploitative riba. Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy ruled in 2002 that fixed bank returns are permissible.

Investing in stocks is halal when the company's business is lawful. How Shariah screening works, which stocks to avoid, and how to purify impure income.

Betting on Polymarket, Kalshi, and other prediction markets is gambling (maysir) and haram. A trading screen and a federal license do not change the ruling.

Insurance is halal. Health, car, home, and life cover are a form of mutual aid; Mustafa al-Zarqa and Egypt's Dar al-Ifta permit it, and takaful is an option.

Gambling and the lottery are haram by the Quran (5:90–91). Free prize draws and sponsored competitions are halal. What to do if you win, and where to find help.

Credit cards are halal to use. Paying the balance in full each month means no interest is ever paid, and the Prophet himself bought food on credit.

Working in a bank is halal on the view that regulated bank interest is not the riba of the Quran, as al-Azhar ruled in 2002. Lawful, useful work is praised.

Student loans are halal where they are needed to study. Seeking knowledge is a path to Paradise, and need is treated like necessity in Islamic law.

Muslims may work in supermarkets, restaurants, and hotels that sell alcohol or pork. Abu Hanifa held a wage for carrying wine for a non-Muslim lawful.

Buying a car on installments and leasing a car are halal. A bank car loan is permitted where there is real need, by the reasoning applied to mortgages.

Day trading real shares of lawful companies is halal. Margin, short selling, and options used as bets on price swings are where the scholars urge caution.

Muslims may serve in the army or police of a non-Muslim country. Protecting life and upholding justice are honored work, and no one may be obeyed in sin.

Card games and poker with no money at stake are halal. Gambling for real money, online or at a table, is haram; the Quran forbids the wager (maysir).