 In this module, we shall discuss investments into gold. Gold is a commodity which has fascinated many. Normally in the context of Indo Park subcontinent, people say that women they are fascinated by gold. But I can tell you, it's not only women, a lot of investors, they have been really impressed by the performance of gold as an investment commodity. Impressed by this very good performance of gold over a very long period of time, some fund managers came up with the idea that they should be setting up an Islamic gold fund. They thought that this would be an easy task. It would be just like any other commodity fund. However, gold as a commodity is very sensitive commodity in Islamic law. There are six commodities which are known as ribavi commodities and gold is one of them. So, they are gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and salt. These six ribavi commodities according to a hadith of Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam can only be exchanged on spot. So, a quantity of gold or gold can only be exchanged on spot. And also in case of gold and silver, whatever are the rules on currency, they become applicable as well. So, for example, gold cannot be bought and sold on a defer payment basis. So, there are some limitations on exchange in gold. So, coming up with an idea to set up an Islamic gold fund posed a lot of problems for that fund manager. And they actually initiated a huge investigation research project to see whether gold can be used as an investment commodity in a Sharia compliant way. I would not go into the details of that exercise. However, I would like to start with an easy point. It is permissible to buy, sell and invest in gold with limitations. Of course, anyone can buy it, we buy gold and we sell gold as well. Investment in gold in the sense that you buy the gold and hold it and wait for appreciation in its value. Now, gold and silver are two things which have been mentioned in the Quran and in the Sunnah, whereby, you know, there are a lot of negative things attached with the with the storing of gold. Because of this connotation, gold is actually quite sensitive. Of course, you can invest in gold, you can buy gold and hold it. Now, when you're holding gold for investment purposes, especially in this particular case, in this commodity case, zakat becomes applicable. Of course, zakat is applicable in case of other business as well. But here, it's a very clear cut case. If you have accumulated 1000 grams of gold, and this is your investment, you have to pay zakat on an annual basis on this one. So, whatever be the return on gold, on an annual basis, you have to give away 2.5 percent of at least the initial purchase price. A lot of people, they would like to take the relaxed view that the zakat is on the amount which you paid. So, I don't want to go into those details. But the point is that you have to actually take away 2.5 percent from the return, which gold as an investment is giving to you. Now, because rules of trading and investing in currencies become applicable in case of gold, the investment in gold becomes actually very restrictive. Especially in case of gold funds. Now, if there is an Islamic gold fund, investors would be investing in. There would be a fund manager who would be managing the money by way of buying and selling gold. So, when someone invests in a fund, they actually buy shares into that. And if those shares are bought and sold in secondary market for a higher price or lower price, that is very, very problematic when the underlying asset is gold. Because this would have implications for ribba or interest. Because of this, although gold as a commodity is very attractive, from investment viewpoint, in a Sharia compliant, it is not as simple as many would have imagined.