—are neither mild nor gradual; they are not determined merely by the ordinary play of supply and demand. Instead, they are driven by other, fabricated factors. The monetary and fiscal policies of the governments whose currencies dominate world transactions—such as the dollar and the pound sterling—policies enforced through their central banks and monetary institutions, exert a powerful influence on exchange-rate fluctuations between nations and on their economies. Add to this the ability of those governments and their banks to create money and to adopt measures that generate inflation or deflation in a given currency, an effect that then spreads to other currencies through the massive international exchange of goods and services.

From this it is clear that the various branches of the bourse are permeated with gross gharar (excessive uncertainty), extreme risk, and grave harm—so much so that ordinary traders, and others like them, who plunge into its depths may find themselves bankrupt. Such practices are neither endorsed nor accepted by Islamic law, for it is a law of justice, mercy, and benevolence.

Third: Much of what has been mentioned regarding bourse speculation in commodities and securities involves bayʿ kāliʾ bi kāliʾ (selling a deferred item for another deferred item), that is, debt for debt, or currency exchange in which one of the two counter-values is deferred. Both forms—debt for debt and currency exchange with deferred settlement—are explicitly forbidden by the sacred texts and by unanimous scholarly consensus.

Fourth: A great deal of the commodity speculation conducted on the bourse consists of selling an item before taking possession of it, and that is prohibited.

Fifth: Because these markets are located in Western countries, investing in them inevitably transfers wealth from the investor’s homeland to those Western states, even though the investor’s own country may be in far greater need of that capital. The result may well be that Muslims’ savings are moved and invested in non-Muslim lands, a course fraught with considerable harm and danger.