Shackwell Lane Mosque in Hackney, London, UK will ensure to receive donations in other forms outside of cash in the form of a crypto currency. It is estimated that this ruling makes the mosque in London the first to receive donations in the form of crypto currency.
The decision was made after a Muslim scholar said that crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are allowed in sharia law.
Mosque managers hope to increase donations up to 10 thousand pounds during Ramadan in the form of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
"We are trying to attract more people to donate to the new money model," said one of the leaders of the Erkin Guney mosque to The Hackney Gazette.
"The Islamic world is vast, and we have set up a platform for more prosperous Muslims outside our community to help and contribute to our mosque," he continued.
The Bitcoin wallet account used by the Shackwell Lane mosque to receive the crypto currency so far received only one donation worth around £ 100.
The founder of the Combo Innovation company who helped the mosque in making the Bitcoin purse, Gurmit Singh hopes there will be more incoming donations.
"If Muslims, who make up a quarter of the population in the world, have one percent of Bitcoin - 1.04 trillion pounds - then there should be $ 26 million donated to Zakat," Singh said.
"There may be more reality, and now there are hardly any mosques or Islamic charities that receive zakat in crypto currency, they are likely to lose millions of pounds," he said.
Muslim researchers previously studied whether Bitcoin and other crypto currencies could be defined as money in sharia law. The research conclusion allows Bitcoin as it is valued for a global trading center and accepted as a means of payment in many traders.