A recent interest rate hike by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has sparked a public debate about whether returns on bank deposits are halal (lawful) or not, according to Islamic sharia law. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, the country’s authority for issuing fatwas (religious edicts based on sharia), has reiterated that yields on certificates of deposits (CDs) are halal.
The repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the supply chain crisis have driven the religious authorities to issue another fatwa on March 22 clearly declaring that monopoly of food items and supplies for profiteering is prohibited according to sharia.
