Individual Forex Trading Online: Shariah Issues

Abstract

Forex trading, or also known as online individual currency trading, is one of the hot issues involving public awareness of the Islamic financial and economic system, and whether its implementation is Shariah-compliant or otherwise. Thus, this study aims to highlight Shariah issues related to individual Forex trading so that the public is not easily deceived by the luxurious offers that are often advertised by certain platforms or brokers. This qualitative research used the document analysis method involving journal articles, theses, magazines, newspapers, videos and slides to collect data, which were then analysed using the descriptive method. Findings show that there are several significant Shariah issues related to Forex trading, such as the absence of qabd, the existence of usury, gambling and qard. Findings also show that these issues could outrightly prohibit individual Forex trading despite there being tirades and guidelines adduced by various parties, such as academicians, traders or brokers, to legalize it. One implication of this study is that it is able to provide an understanding to the Muslim community so that they are not easily influenced by individual Forex trading in the name of profit. This study can augment the existing corpus of literature on the topic of foreign exchange.