MuslimIntern | Goldsand

Building at the crossroads of Marketing, AI, Fintech and the Ummah.

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

A month into our private beta where we're onboarding select users from the waitlist and have just crossed the $300k threshold for amount deposited into Goldsand.

That's up to $21,000 a year in interest-free returns for our users and we haven't even launched publicly yet, alhamdulillah!

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

Our designers built Goldsand's website and app with the mindset of reviving beautiful Islamic design in the new age. The story behind it:

Horse: From the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: "Goodness is in the forelocks of horses until the Day of Judgement." He ﷺ also called horses kept for sustenance as "a shelter from poverty." George Washington famously rode an Arabian horse, the breed first gifted to America by Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II!

Cat: The Prophet ﷺ told of a woman condemned for denying her cat food and water. A reminder of our fiscal responsibility to all in our care.

Hudhud: The hoopoe bird Prophet-King Solomon. Proof that wealth and righteousness aren't opposites, and in the right hands, wealth becomes a tool for good.

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

I saw a (deleted) QT of this saying that "losing this sort of high human capital to kufr is a greater loss to the ummah than kids dying in Gaza."

Besides this just being a tasteless and offensive comparison, because who can confidently say it weighs more than the pure souls cared for in the heavens by Ibrahim AS...

It's not a big loss. I can list many Muslim Silicon Valley geniuses off the top of my head smarter than this. I studied, worked, and lived with them at Stanford and Google.

If there's one thing the Ummah has a surplus of, it's highly intelligent and devout professionals across engineering, medicine, tech etc.

What we lack are the mechanisms and the spiritual stomach to build more things for our own, at the cost of the quicker wealth we'd get if we continue to work for companies that either contribute to or watch along as the kids are dying in Gaza.

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@VirtualMirth @metal969280 @Corbonthecob6 @GlobObservatory God guarantees paradise for every believer. What is not guaranteed is that we die as believers. I could lose my faith tomorrow, and you could become a believer before you die. May God grant us both the best of guidance and the best of endings.

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

Most Muslims today go through the struggle of avoiding riba with earning returns. But it wasn't always that way.

The foundation of every great Muslim empire was a strong financial backbone.

Andalus's gold coin was stronger than the dollar today. The Franks, the second dominant European power after Andalus preferred to trade in it over their own coinage.

One of the key early innovations that allowed the Ottomans to last 600+ years was the introduction of the monetary system by Alaeddin, Orhun's brother.

Bangladesh was just one state under the Mughals (Bengal Subah) but it alone was 10-15% of the world's GDP.

For comparison, California, the largest state by GDP today is only 3-4% of the world's GDP.

"No riba" was not in conflict with returns. It powered it.

So what changed?

It was the domination of an ethical framework foreign to our own. The whole world, Muslim world included, is subjugated to central banks, insurance, treasuries with interest and more.

Islamic finance has been reduced to a bandaid solution, holding together a few pillars to keep the entire house from collapsing.

For 332 years since the Bank of England, there was no solution built "outside the system" that survived. The wave of modern financialization obliterated everything in its path.

The post-2008 blockchain wave presents the first real opportunity. If done right, it is both "outside" and familiar at the same time. It is a new wave that the world is already having to contend with. Goldsand is ensuring Muslims are at the forefront of it. Help us return our Ummah to where it belongs.

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@Mosesassawad @Guggenhe1m Does it say it will happen in the end times?

Or that the world won’t end until X happens?

It’s pretty obvious to anyone with even basic literary comprehension.

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

I’ve been waiting for this moment.

We just overhauled the design of our app. It’s finally starting to feel like a REAL alternative to savings accounts. Our early access users are loving it.

But per our bar of Islamic design, this is just getting started. We’re aiming for Alhambra levels of exquisiteness, insha Allah!

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

The world's largest annual charitable food distribution event is currently ongoing.

The Abrahamic sacrifice on Eid al-Adha feeds an estimated 700 million people a year!

Eid Mubarak!

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

Eid Mubarak!

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

The suhoor smoothie I should’ve had today

[fernvret @fernvret]

This juice looks more expensive than my liver

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

I keep coming back to how unique Hajj is among the five pillars.

Shahadah, prayer, and fasting is worship through your body.

Zakah is worship through your wealth.

Hajj is the only one that requires both.

I learned this from my teachers in Mauritania. Scholars who saved for years to make the journey. Some who sold what little they owned to afford it. Some who covered impossible distances on foot.

What stayed with me wasn't the hardship. It was how they understood the years of work leading up to Hajj.

For them, the years of earning and saving wealth with the intention of Hajj wasn't preparation for worship. They *were* the worship.

"Actions are by their intentions," the Prophet ﷺ said.

That reframed everything for me.

When you earn halal, save halal, and grow your wealth with the right intention... every paycheck, every deposit, every patient year of compounding... it becomes part of an act of worship that hasn't happened yet.

This is part of why we built Goldsand.

Hajj is only obligatory upon those with the means to go. Millions of Muslims look at the cost, look at their account, and quietly assume they're not among the obligated.

But having the means to go isn't something you wait to receive. It's something you build, halal dollar by halal dollar, with the right intention, over a couple of years, or even fifteen.

Hajj begins long before the plane ticket.

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@avpr1v You don’t need to face the qibla for sajda al-shukr.

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

"Islamic banks largely weathered the 2008 financial crisis better than conventional ones"

Now imagine if we had something that was actually closer to true Islamic finance? And not just conventional banking with extra steps?

The answer lies in our history, and our future iA

[Tariq | Goldsand @thesubmitter_]

Here's how we got to this absolutely bizarre situation.

A few months ago a Muslim builder reached out wanting to start a prediction market. He was sincere. Had consulted studied imams and worked hard to minimize "gharar." I tried my best to talk him out of it. I think it worked.

But clearly he wasn't the only one. Everyday Muslims wake up to new techno-financial realities. Today it's prediction markets, yesterday leverage trading, the day before meme stocks like Gamestop.

The haram beckons continuously. Many scholars are still debating realities from 20 years ago. Others calling for solutions that make little sense in today's world like a return to gold or a strict adherence to Bitcoin.

And some like whoever made this nonsense - try to build cheap copies of what exists.

Few are providing solutions that will move us out of the depths of riba into pure wealth. We're working on one (Goldsand). We need more.

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@MesTouEgeou I’m guessing they must’ve been assimilated into Turkey and Turkish after they were forced to leave after WW1, are there any in Turkey who still speak Greek?

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@arishs24 @McMasterU I’m a UofT guy but imma give you your flowers 🫡 #unitedagainstwaterloo

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@HallvardHolte Karen Armstrong!

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@HallvardHolte Her name escapes me but there was this female prof/PhD that would feature in a lot of documentaries on Islam/Prophet Muhammad and she would have a sort of glow when speaking about Islam positively. I think her name was Karen but I could just be imagining that because short hair

[MuslimIntern | Goldsand @MuslimIntern]

@ashebytes The Prophet Muhammad told us a story of a sinful person who was forgiven by Allah for giving water to a thirsty dog… May this man and woman and their families be forgiven and given guidance through this beautiful heroic act!