Notes and corrections
Shorter pieces between the explainers: what changed in a published standard, what readers asked most this month, and every correction we have made to our own reasoning.
Latest
Standards
Reading a screening methodology update without panicking
Publishers revise their rulebooks on a cycle, and a revision usually changes the measurement rather than the principle. This note walks through what to look for in a change log: whether the test itself moved, whether the denominator moved, and whether the review frequency moved. Only the third is likely to affect what you hold between dates.
9 June 2026 · 7 minute read
All notes
Page 1 of 4 · 31 notes published
Correction
Correction: settlement timing in our currency exchange note
We described settlement in the described account type as immediate. The custodian’s terms allow a two-day delay, which brings the second classical category of riba into the analysis. The original reasoning is left above the amendment.
2 June 2026 · 4 minute read
Reader questions
The three brokerage settings readers most often miss
Share lending, interest on idle cash, and margin enabled by default in some jurisdictions. Where to find each in an account’s own settings, and what the terms usually call them.
24 May 2026 · 6 minute read
Standards
Why one company can pass one screen and fail another
A worked walk-through of two published methodologies applied to the same hypothetical balance sheet, showing how the choice of denominator, not the strictness of the test, produces the divergence.
12 May 2026 · 8 minute read
Correction
Correction: our summary of a purification method understated what it includes
Our earlier explainer described one method as covering dividend income only. It also covers a portion of realised gains under the publisher’s current edition. Corrected and dated.
3 May 2026 · 3 minute read
Practice
What to bring to a scholar when you ask about a product
A short checklist: the prospectus or terms, the specific clause you are unsure about, the standard the provider cites, and what you already hold. Vague questions get vague answers.
19 April 2026 · 5 minute read
Pensions
Questions worth putting to a scheme administrator in writing
Six questions about the default fund, the self-select range, transfer costs and the screening standard applied, phrased so the answers are useful rather than reassuring.
7 April 2026 · 6 minute read
Digital assets
Staking rewards: what the documentation usually leaves out
Whether the reward is issuance or fee revenue, who bears slashing risk, and whether the lock-up is a service arrangement or a loan. The terms rarely separate them, and the analysis depends on which it is.
22 March 2026 · 7 minute read
Corrections policy
Why corrections stay on the page
When we get something wrong we publish the correction as a note in its own right, marked as a correction, and we leave the original reasoning visible above the amendment. Quietly editing a conclusion would hide the one thing a reader most needs in order to judge whether to trust the next assessment: how we handle being wrong.
What triggers a correction
A factual error, a misread clause, a standard revision that changes the analysis, or a reader showing us documentation we had not seen.
What a correction contains
The original wording, what was wrong with it, the corrected reasoning, and the date. The affected assessment carries a link back to the correction.
How you hear about it
Every correction appears in the next monthly briefing. We do not batch them or hold them back for a quiet month.
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.