The three prohibitions: riba, gharar and maysir
After this lesson you can spot riba, gharar and maysir inside real market products, whatever name the app gives them.
Teen mamnu cheezein: riba, gharar aur maysir
Riba har woh izafa hai jo qarz par pehle se tay ho, chahe app us ko interest kahe, APR, yield ya reward. Naam se farq nahi parta, dhancha dekhein. Agar aap ne paisa ya coins udhaar diye aur wapsi par fixed izafa milta hai, to yeh riba hai. Margin trading aur woh 'Earn' products jo aap ke coins margin traders ko udhaar dete hain, is ki aam misaalein hain.
Gharar ka matlab price ka risk nahi. Share ya coin khareed kar us ka girna tijarat ka hissa hai. Gharar yeh hai ke soday mein hi andhera ho: pata nahi kya khareed rahe hain, woh maujood hai ya nahi, ya asal qeemat kya hai. Maysir jua hai: paisa de kar khel mein dakhil hon, faisla qismat kare, aur jeetne wale ko haarne walon ka paisa mile. Mystery box aur '60 second mein up ya down' wali apps isi qism ki hain.
Quran ne tijarat ko halal aur riba ko haram kaha (2:275), Nabi (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) ne gharar wali bay se mana farmaya (Sahih Muslim 1513), aur jue ko shaitani kaam kaha gaya (5:90). Ulama in usoolon par muttafiq hain, lekin kuch naye products par un ki raaye mukhtalif hai. Jab samajh na aaye ke munafa kahan se aa raha hai, to wahin ruk jana behtar hai.
- Riba qarz par har pehle se tay izafa hai, app us ko jo bhi naam de.
- Gharar soday ke andar ki be-yaqeeni hai, price ka normal utaar chadhao nahi.
- Maysir woh khel hai jahan jeetne wale ko haarne walon ka paisa qismat se milta hai.
Poora sabaq neeche English mein hai. Quiz English mein hai; asaan alfaaz mein.
Ayesha runs a home bakery in Karachi. Last month she turned Rs 180,000 of savings into USDT through P2P, planning to buy a few coins slowly. Now the app's home screen offers her three things at once: 'Flexible Earn: 12% APR on USDT', a 'Mystery Box: win up to 1 BTC for $10', and a new token 'listing soon, price to be announced'. Her brother says all three are fine because 'it is crypto, not a bank'. Ayesha is not convinced, and she cannot tell which of the three, if any, she should touch.
Riba: a fixed increase on a loan
Riba is any increase agreed in advance on a loan or debt, whatever it is called: interest, profit, APR, yield or reward. The label does not matter; the structure does. If you hand over money or coins as a loan and the return is set in advance, that is riba. In markets it hides in margin trading, where you borrow and pay interest or funding, in 'Earn' accounts that lend your coins to margin traders, and in conventional bonds and savings accounts.
Riba can also appear when like items are exchanged. Gold for gold must be equal and hand to hand, and when currencies are swapped the exchange must be completed on the spot. Delay or unequal amounts in these swaps fall under riba too.
Gharar: uncertainty in the contract itself
All trade carries price risk: you buy a share and it may fall. That is not gharar. Gharar is excessive uncertainty or hidden terms in the deal itself: you do not know exactly what you are buying, whether it exists, whether it can be delivered, or what the price really is. A token with no working product, no fixed supply and no published price comes close to gharar. So does a mystery box, or selling something you do not own yet.
Maysir: gain by chance at someone else's loss
Maysir is gambling: you pay to enter, chance decides the outcome, and winners are paid from what losers put in. Paid lucky draws, mystery boxes, 'up or down in 60 seconds' apps and very high leverage all share this shape. The quick test below catches most products in under a minute.
- Is there a loan with a fixed increase? That points to riba.
- Do I know exactly what I own, and that it exists? If not, suspect gharar.
- Can I win only because someone else loses by chance? That is maysir.
- Can I withdraw the actual asset? If not, ask what I really own.
Two of Ayesha's three offers, in numbers
Earn: 640 USDT at a fixed 12% APR becomes 640 x 1.12 = 716.8 USDT after a year. The extra 76.8 USDT is a set return on coins she lends to the platform, which lends them on to margin traders. That is a loan with a fixed increase.
Mystery box: 10,000 boxes at $10 bring in $100,000. Prizes: 1 box worth $60,000 (1 BTC at an illustrative price), 100 boxes of $50 ($5,000), and 9,899 boxes with items worth $1 ($9,899). Total paid out: $74,899, or $7.49 per box.
So every buyer loses $2.51 per box on average, about 25%. The seller wins by design, and one lucky winner's photo sells the other 9,999 boxes.
The Quran is direct: Allah has permitted trade and forbidden riba (Quran 2:275), and those who do not give up what remains of riba are warned of war from Allah and His Messenger (Quran 2:278-279). The Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade the gharar sale (Sahih Muslim 1513). Gambling is called filth from Satan's work, to be avoided (Quran 5:90). Scholars agree on these three principles. They differ on how some new products fit them, for example certain staking or token structures. When you cannot tell how a product earns, that doubt is itself a reason to step back.
Education, not a fatwa. Where scholars differ, we say so. See what scholars say.
Judging a product by its label instead of its mechanics. 'Earn', 'yield', 'rewards', 'profit share' and 'bonus' can all hide a fixed return on a loan, and 'game', 'lucky spin' or 'box' can hide gambling. Ask where the extra money comes from. If the app cannot explain it clearly, treat it as a problem until shown otherwise.
Open the Halal coin screening list. Find two coins that fail or are flagged by the screen and read the reason for each. Write which prohibition the reason touches: riba (lending or fixed yield), gharar (unclear what you own) or maysir (gain by chance). Then find one coin that passes and note the real use it serves. You are training your eye to read mechanics, not names.
Open the screening list →Key takeaways
- Riba is any fixed increase on a loan, whatever the app calls it.
- Gharar is uncertainty in the contract itself, not the normal risk that a price moves.
- Maysir is paying to enter a game where winners are paid from losers' stakes by chance.
Check yourself
Pass with 2 of 3 to complete the lesson. Answers are checked on our server, so the certificate means something.
Barqish is an educational platform. Nothing here is financial advice or an instruction to buy or sell, and screening is not a fatwa. Spot ownership only: no leverage, no short selling. Updated 30 September 2026.