CAIRO: Stock market employees now live in a state of anxiety about the future if Islamists ruled and applied the Islamic Sharia law, who might cancel the stock market, considering it a type of gambling. Youm7 asked the Egyptian Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and previous Grand Mufti Nasr Farid Wasel about this matter. Both agreed the stock market is religiously permissible but with certain conditions. Gomaa said the stock market is religiously permissible if it is for trade but the company's activity has to be permissible and has known and constant assets. He added the stock market is a kind of fundraising and not a gambling market; it's a market for stock exchanges and trade transactions. On the other hand, Nasr Farid Wasel said the stock market is religiously permissible and not prohibited. It's permissible when the transaction is through investment and fundraising for companies. It is prohibited however and considered gambling if it adds into companies without production or investment.
