- The Saudi Ministry of Interior announced that there is no list of specifically prohibited names, but that there are certain criteria “that must be taken into account when choosing the names of children,” providing as examples of prohibited names those that violate Islamic law such as Abd al-Rasool and Abd al-Lat.
- Bitcoin Association Ambassador for Malaysia, Masumi Hamahira, described the Bitcoin blockchain system as easily adaptable to the dictates of Islamic law, likening it to the Islamic murābaḥa, whereby the buyer and seller agree upon both the cost and the price for the item being sold, which profits the seller without having to resort to interest proceeds that are prohibited in Islam.
- The Central Bank of Bahrain recently authorized the English FinTech firm, Fasset, to move forward with the tokenization of hard assets in the country, as the firm announced that it would further expand its operations in the area more broadly.
- Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, said among his priorities was to “elevate” the jurisdiction of the Islamic law courts (known as the syariah courts) of the country, and possibly, to appoint more judges to these courts.
- Nigeria attracted international criticism as the country’s religious courts recently sentenced a thirteen-year-old boy to 120 months and a twenty-two-year old musician to death for having committed blasphemy.
- Nigeria’s Islamic sukuk bond, which operates free of interest, attracted $2.1 billion, far exceeding the initial target of $533 million, despite simultaneously garnering criticism from incensed Christian groups in the country.
- Moody’s, the credit rating agency, announced that Saudi Arabia surpassed Malaysia in terms of investment in Islamic sukuk bonds.