Gold and Islam

A Golden History

Islam has always had an intimate relationship with gold. It is mentioned in the Quran 10 times and in over 50 ahadith cementing its position as an important resource.

Gold has been successfully used at the centre of trade throughout Islamic history. At the time of the Prophet ﷺ
gold was used as a currency and hence formed the basis
for calculating zakat.

More recently the ottomans, during their successful 600+ year reign, serve as an excellent reminder to us of how a global Islamic empire can be built upon a gold-based economy.

Your alternative to unethical modern practice

It’s incumbent upon Muslims to ensure their money is stored and invested in a halal way. Not in a way that contributes to an interest-based society or to the detriment of their fellow brothers and sisters around the world.

Unfortunately, banks work on a fractional reserve system, for each pound we place in an account (whether that be a savings or current account), the government has given license for the bank to create £10 on its balance sheet. This additional £9 has been created out of nothing (the very definition of riba). This is then used as bank loans and mortgages, opening the door to an interest and inflation-based society, benefiting a small group of people at the top whilst plunging large volumes of the population into financial difficulty.

Furthermore the money is used by banks to invest in unethical industries such as weapons (much of which is used against our brothers and sisters), alcohol, impure food stocks and more.

Sadly Islamic banking, much like conventional banking is also usually based on a fractional reserve system. As a result, although part of the process may be considered halal, the foundations of the structure are often not, thereby sugar coating a non-Islamic model.

GIGI therefore seeks to provide an alternative to these unethical modern practices and return us to a pure, ethical, Islamic way of storing and growing our wealth, following in the footsteps of our pious predecessors.