Get the shower of blessing of God in the holy month of Ramadan
Looking for new way to donate during Ramadan? London mosque now accepts bitcoin
Looking for a new way to give money to charity as part of Ramadan? A mosque in Britain's capital is willing to receive you donation - in bitcoin.
The Shacklewell Lane Mosque in Dalston, east London, has decided to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in a bid to widen its donor base and cut down on currency conversion fees, mosque leaders said.
"For a donor that already has a bitcoin or and ethereum account, the effort of converting cryptocurrency into say British pounds or dollars can be quite burdensome. The mosque effectively takes the burden on themselves, "said blockchain consultant Lukasz Musial, who helped the mosque set up the technology.
"For the donor, it's just the click of a button to transfer to an account provided by the charity. From the mosque's perspective, it opens a new stream of donations coming form all over the world, "Musial said.
Egypt's Grand Mufti, the nation's top Sunni Muslim official, said this year bitcoin was not permitted according to Islamic law, Egyptian media reported, but Shacklewell imam Addalla Adeyemi defended the mosque's decision.
"Bitcoin is lie any other currency. It's ... accepted by a group of people .... We ourselves are not trading. We are not involved ... we are a charity. "Adeyemi told Reuters.
The mosque says it is one of a handful to accept crytocurrencies out of hundreds in London and its move in yielding results. It says it is on track to double its donation this year to more than 10,000 pounds ($13,300).
Muslims with the means are religiously obliged to give alms, often calculated based on Islamic texts as being 2.5 percent of their wealth, and many do so during the holy month, a time when Muslim charities are most active.
God and crypto ! :0 My two favorite things in the same article! Keep up the great work :)