Assessments of product types
Each note takes one kind of product — not one company — and measures it against a named screening standard, showing the working and the points of scholarly disagreement.
How to read these
An assessment describes a product type as documented, under the standard named on the card, on the review date shown. It is not a fatwa, not advice, and not a claim about any provider. Screening standards use different tests and different denominators, so a note reached under one standard does not transfer to another. Where recognised scholars differ, the note says so and says whose view is whose.
Categories
Twelve assessments published. Sorted newest first within each category.
Funds and ETFs
Funds
Screened index funds tracking a halal benchmark
The screen is applied on a published review cycle, so a holding can drift out of scope between dates. How the manager handles that drift, and whether purification is calculated for you or left to you, decide most of the question.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 21 · Reviewed June 2026
Funds
Actively managed equity funds with a Shariah mandate
Where a board reviews holdings continuously the position is stronger than a periodic screen, but the mandate’s wording on cash management and derivatives use has to be read rather than assumed.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 21 · Reviewed April 2026
Funds
Money market funds holding short-term interest instruments
The return is generated by lending at a stipulated rate. A Shariah label attached to the distribution channel does not change what the underlying instruments are.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 1 · Reviewed February 2026
Deposits and accounts
Deposits
Fixed-return deposit accounts
A return stipulated as a percentage of the sum deposited is an increase over principal, whatever the product literature calls it. The relevant question is not the label but whether the bank owes you the amount regardless of outcome.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 1 · Reviewed March 2026
Accounts
Profit-sharing savings accounts on a mudarabah basis
The structure can hold where profit is shared by ratio and loss is borne by the depositor as capital provider. Read whether the rate is described as expected or as guaranteed, and what the bank does in a loss period.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 13 · Reviewed March 2026
Brokerage
Broker and app account features: margin, lending and idle cash
The account itself is usually the least of it. Margin facilities, share lending programmes and interest paid on uninvested balances are each opt-in features that change the analysis, and defaults vary by jurisdiction.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 21 · Reviewed January 2026
Sukuk
Sukuk
Ijarah sukuk backed by identified assets
Where the lease is genuine, the asset is identified and ownership risk sits with the certificate holder, the structure holds under the standard. The test is whether the holder owns something or merely has a claim priced like a bond.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 17 · Reviewed May 2026
Sukuk
Sukuk with a purchase undertaking at par
A promise to repurchase at face value regardless of asset performance moves the risk back to the obligor. Scholars differ on whether this is a permissible credit enhancement or a debt in substance.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 17 · Reviewed May 2026
Digital assets and staking
Staking
Protocol staking where the reward is a network issuance
Reward for validation work is treated differently from reward for locking capital, and the documentation rarely separates the two cleanly. Scholars differ on whether slashing risk makes the arrangement a service contract or a loan.
No single published standard · Reviewed April 2026
Staking
Fixed-yield lending programmes on a custodial platform
A stated annual percentage on a deposited balance, payable by the platform, is a stipulated return on money lent. The asset being digital does not alter the structure.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 1 · Reviewed April 2026
Derivatives
Perpetual futures and leveraged positions
Funding payments between long and short positions, and settlement without delivery, raise both riba and maysir questions. Positions of this kind are contested even among scholars who accept spot trading of the same asset.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 20 · Reviewed December 2025
Pensions
Pensions
Workplace pension default funds
A default fund is typically a diversified allocation including conventional bonds. Most schemes offer a self-select Shariah option, and the question is usually what the alternative holds rather than whether one exists.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 21 · Reviewed June 2026
Pensions
Employer matching and salary sacrifice arrangements
The contribution mechanism and the investment choice are separate questions. Scholars who take a stricter view of the default fund generally still treat the employer contribution as earned compensation.
Scholarly opinion, no single standard · Reviewed February 2026
Standards these notes are read against
We cite the clause, not a summary of it, and we link to the publisher rather than reproducing the text. Standards are revised; check the current rulebook before relying on a note.
- AAOIFI, Shariah Standards, Standard 1 (trading in currencies) and Standard 21 (financial paper: shares and bonds)
- AAOIFI, Shariah Standards, Standard 17 (investment sukuk) and Standard 13 (mudarabah)
- S&P Dow Jones Indices, Dow Jones Islamic Market Indices methodology
- FTSE Russell, FTSE Shariah Global Equity Index Series ground rules
- MSCI, MSCI Islamic Index Series methodology
- Provider documentation read for each note: prospectus, key investor information, account terms and scheme rules, as published on the review date
This is educational content, not a fatwa or personalised financial advice. Investment carries risk, including loss of capital. Verify any specific product with a qualified Shariah scholar and a licensed financial adviser before investing.