Shariah-aware research
Understand why, not just whether
Plain-English explainers on Islamic finance, and written assessments of investment product types measured against a named screening standard, with the working shown.
Educational research only. Not a fatwa and not personalised financial advice.
Sample assessment: screened index fund
Illustrative. Not an assessment of any named fund or provider.
Where to start
What we cover
The prohibitions
Riba, gharar and maysir, defined and then applied to products you can actually buy.
Contract structures
Murabaha, ijarah, mudarabah, musharakah and sukuk, and what each one asks of both parties.
Screened funds and ETFs
What a halal index screen tests, when it is re-applied, and what happens between review dates.
Accounts and deposits
Fixed-return deposits, broker and app account features, and staking arrangements.
Screening standards
Why AAOIFI, Dow Jones, FTSE and MSCI disagree, and how to read a certificate's scope.
Workplace pensions
Default funds, self-select options, and the questions to put to a scheme administrator.
Foundations
What halal investing actually asks of you
Islamic finance rules out three things in an investment: a stipulated return on money lent, contracts whose subject matter is unclear, and gains manufactured from chance. Most questions you have about a product resolve into one of those three, so the explainers start there before they reach any product.
Prohibition
Interest, and where the line sits
riba
Any stipulated increase over the principal of a loan, however the terms label it. Qur’an 2:275-281 is the usual starting reference.
Prohibition
Uncertainty in a contract
gharar
Ambiguity about price, subject matter or delivery. Minor uncertainty is tolerated; uncertainty that turns the exchange into a wager is not.
Prohibition
Speculation and gambling
maysir
Where one party’s gain is the direct result of another’s loss and the outcome turns on chance. The distinction from ordinary commercial risk is the whole question.
Method
The four checks behind every assessment
Name the standard
Every assessment states which published screening standard it is measured against, and cites the clause rather than a summary of it.
Read the documentation
Terms, prospectuses and scheme rules as published by the provider. Not marketing pages, not a certificate badge.
Record the disagreement
Where recognised scholars reach different conclusions, the note states each position and attributes it.
Date and publish the sources
Standards and documents change. Each assessment carries a review date and the list of documents it was read against.
Assessments
Recently published
How to read these
Each assessment describes a product type as documented, under a named standard, on a stated date. It is not a fatwa, not advice, and not a verdict on any provider. Where recognised scholars differ, the note says so and says whose view is whose.
Funds
Screened index funds tracking a halal benchmark
The screen is re-applied on a published cycle. What the fund holds between review dates, and how purification is handled, decide most of the question.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 21 · Reviewed June 2026
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.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 1 · Reviewed March 2026
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.
AAOIFI Shariah Standard 17 · Reviewed May 2026
If you are starting from cash
A reading path for beginners
Learn the three prohibitions
Riba, gharar and maysir. Almost every product question reduces to one of them.
Learn one contract structure
Murabaha is the most common, and understanding it makes the others legible.
Read an assessment in full
Follow the working rather than the verdict, so you can repeat it on a product we have not covered.
Take it to a scholar and an adviser
Bring the specific documentation. That is the conversation this site is designed to prepare you for.
Questions
What readers ask first
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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.