r/IslamicFinance

I recently started a page on TikTok trying to teach Muslims about how to better manage their finances, and the amount of people who opt out of their pension is disturbing. They cannot seem to grasp the concept of taxable benefits and employer contributions. It’s beliefs like these which keeps Muslims poor

I live in nyc. In order to have a car, you NEED to have insurance, otherwise it is illegal and you will go to jail. You cannot even register your car with the department of motor vehicles without buying insurance. Also, most of these insurances include interest.
I plan on staying far far away from interest, which is why I rent an apartment instead of having a mortgage since mortgages have so much interest. (NYC has very few non interest mortgage options, and even the non mortgage options require you to pay like 40% down payment of a house, which I cannot afford. Houses in nyc start at around 1 million and I do not have 400,000 to spend lmao.) A house I can avoid by not buying it and instead renting but what do I do about a car? Interest and insurance are haram, PERIOD, the Quran or Hadith does not give any “rule or exception”. So do I avoid getting a car? Public transportation for life?

Salam everybody, hope you are you in good health and sustenance.

This is kind of a rant but does anybody else feel like they are just watching from the sidelines the world get wealthy, move forward, etc. whilst we are avoiding haram?

Sometimes it really feels like the "holding on to coals" hadith, iykyk.

I don't invest in any US stocks due to my personal boycott, as much as possible, in a nation that has plundered the lands of our brothers and sisters around the world and many other horrible atrocities, too many to list here. The country I live in, has one of the worst economies in the G7, no growth, and even negative returns on some stocks.

I have been sitting on high 6figure savings that is eroding to inflation. I pay 40%+ tax on my income, zakat.

AlhamduLillah I make rent, eat well, and can buy anything I want.

However, I feel so defeated knowing that I could have invested in US stocks, or options trading, and turned that money to multiple millions. Please provide some assurance or knock some sense into me. Please don't suggest gold, I missed that train because I wanted to keep liquid money to buy a home, which also didn't work out.

Many of us know that the founder of Tesla is openly an islamophobe but yet I’ve seen a lot of muslim investors being ok with his statements, further increasing their positions in TSLA or even buying their vehicle & solar products.

I’m curious, how do people usually justify supporting companies who’s founders are openly advocating deportations of Muslims from first world countries?

My husband and I are non-Muslim Canadians who have been asked by dear friends to consider funding a halal mortgage for them in New Brunswick, Canada. I'm hoping some sub members can offer me financial and tax advice, as well as recommendations for any New Brunswick lawyers with experience writing contracts for halal mortgages. I'm sorry that this is long winded -- I'm working some of it out in my own head as I type.

I'm the one looking for advice because I'm doing all the research about halal mortgages for my friends, who came to Canada as refugees, have almost no education, and are not literate in any language. They bought a two-family fixer upper with a conventional mortgage in 2021 because there were no halal options in NB (they wouldn't have qualified even if there had been). They feel strongly about wanting a halal mortgage when it comes due in a few months and know this will "cost more," though I'm not sure they have any concept of how much more. They don't yet know that I ran the numbers and found their reported income will only qualify them for about 80% of the amount remaining on their loan (a bit less than $150.000).

They told us private mortage contracts can be halal and asked us if we'd be interested. They're NOT asking for a discounted rate, but they would like flexibility about repayment schedules (they each work low wage seasonal jobs -- opposite seasons -- and have a side gig that brings in a fair bit of unreported money over a few months, then other months get pretty tight). I think they see giving their profit payments to us as a way to thank us for all we've done for their family, and they definitely feel safer with us as potential co-owners than an impersonal company in another province.

We like the idea of doing this for them and would want to give them as much of a discount as possible off the EQRAZ and Manzil rates (EQRAZ is the only provider operating in NB) without harming our own finances. We've already given them several no interest loans (which they've always paid back) and are funding RESPs for their four kids, so any money for a mortgage would have to let us break even compared to other low risk uses for the money.

I've been reading about halal mortgages so I know the basics. The description they first gave to my husband sounds like Ijara -- they said they would sign over the house to us completely until they had paid it off. That sounds unfair to us since they've already paid off over $60,000 of their original mortgage. (I should note that they are very deferential to us, presumably because we're -- just barely -- old enough to be their parents and we must seem like founts of knowledge about most things Canadian and secular, so I'm not sure whether they don't know all the possibilities or are just being particularly deferential.)

Musharaka seemed like a better option to me at first, with us each owning shares proportionate to our investments and them buying more shares from us with each payment. My concern with this is that musharaka mortgages generally have payments divided into rent, which would be taxed as regular income for us, and profit, which would (I think) be taxed much more favorably as capital gains. We're both in rather artificially high tax brackets for the next few years as my husband is at his top salary as he nears retirement as a professor, and I have a deadline to clear out tax deferred US retirement accounts I inherited from my dad, which are treated as taxable income. Being in a high tax bracket is a nice problem to have, but it makes it harder for us to give a low rate to our friends.

So I'm wondering if Murabaha is a better option. Am I correct in thinking that all profit payments would be considered capital gains? If so, we may save enough on taxes to be able to offer them a more favourable rate. But if we have to buy the house from them then sell it back to them at a higher price we'll trigger a 1% land transfer tax each time. I don't know if we can get away with sales at well below market value.

I'm hoping someone who has either done this or has elected not to after a lot of research into it can clarify the tax implications, warn me of any positives or negatives I'm not considering, and recommend a lawyer in NB who knows how to handle halal mortgage contracts.

If our parents were still alive, I know both sets would tell us never to mix friendship and money and would warn us of all the ways this could go badly. While I am confident they would never try to take advantage of us or stop paying because of irresponsibility, there's the very real possibility one or both could wind up unable to work. They both work manual labour jobs and do a lot of physical labour outside of work on side hustles and helping family, and they have no qualifications for doing non-manual labour. There is the very real possibility that one or both could be injured, not qualify for WorkSafe benefits, and be unable to keep up with payments. We could definitely be more flexible than a big company temporarily, but at some point we'd want our money and I don't see our consciences allowing us to force the sale of the house or let their older kids go straight to work after high school instead of university to keep making payments. This reasoning was enough to make me lean toward saying no and instead helping them get a regular halal mortgage, but now that I know they won't qualify I'm feeling really torn. Not being Muslim myself, I wish it were psychologically easy for them to get another conventional mortgage and save tens of thousands of dollars, but I know this is important to them so I want to support them as best I can.

Thanks for your attention to this very long post. I appreciate any advice readers can give me.

I live in a state of NJ. Cost of renting became so ridiculous. I pay for a house monthly around $3000. And the only reason I pay that is that I rented the house during covid era before everything has gone crazy. Now I wanna move to a better town for my kids. and if I wanna move even to the same town I will have to pay almost the double. Average House rent now is between $5000 to $6000.
I wanna know if there is a real way to buy a house free of Riba.

Straight to the point , I want a house to own. I’m concrete that I will not want to do a standard riba mortgage (so many negatives). but when I always hear about Islamic ones, which can be the same in pricing too, I at least feel no guilt.

but practically, where can I do this and actually get a home in London? What sites? What provider? Just straight to the point, not the theory talks and lectures i keep hearing and seeing online from insta muslim “influencers“.

For context, I’m trying to become closer to my deen and dive into making my daily life as halal as possible.

I still struggle on the basics but am on a journey.

I’ve worked over 10 years now in the Canadian investment industry, both at large banks, smaller fintechs, hedge funds and PM shops.

I was a Trader initially on the equity desk, then moved into legal and compliance.

My asset mix over the past 10 years has been 20% credit spreads on weekly options, 30% other derivatives (mix of swaps, options and futures) and the rest in broad based ETFs like XEQT, VOO, etc.

I also have a smaller portfolio in private equity.

I decided to first start with my mortgage. I currently have 1.4% 5 year fixed on 750k.

But as I talk to halal banks, it seems it’s the same $$$ being moved around, just under the banner of somthing else besides interest. I’m not new to finance but I’m having a hard time understanding how halal banks are different from charging interest on a loan. It just works out to a fixed 24 or 30 year interest loan is essentially.

Can someone point me to some more resources that are legitimate to help me understand this clearer?

Also, all the $$$ charges are a much higher % of the loan than my current mortgage, is it still reccomended to move to a halal mortgage even if it’s financially worse off? I’m talking 3% more than my current mortgage so not even like a close difference

Thanks for your patience with me.

Salam alaikum,

I wanted to seek some advice. I’m a 22 year old sister living in Canada. I just finished my nursing degree and will be starting my full-time nursing job in a week Insh Allah. I currently live with my brother, sister, and dad.

I moved to Canada around 5 years ago for university, and one of my biggest dreams has always been buying a home for my family. My dad has a disability from a work accident that prevents him from working. He received a settlement and used most of it to buy land and invest in businesses back home, so ever since we came to Canada my siblings and I have been working as we knew we didn't have the safety net of our dad's income as it's capped at a certain point. I think there's the unspoken expectation that since I am going to be working full time now, I willl be covering most of the bills which I am comfortable with. My parents sacrificed so much for us to get here, and I really want them to enjoy life now that we are older insha Allah.

Alhamdulillah, I was fortunate enough to graduate debt-free because scholarships covered my tuition, and I’ve managed to save around 25k so far:

- FHSA: ~10k

- TFSA: ~15k

Another big dream of mine is bringing my mom and younger siblings to Canada. My siblings are Canadian so they can come anytime, but my mom’s process will probably take longer. I don’t want to bring them here without proper living arrangements first, which is why buying a family home feels really important to me.

I’m also starting my Nurse Practitioner master’s this fall part-time, which will probably take around 4 years to complete since I’ll be working as well. My university will be covering for a portion of my tuition but not all, so I will be paying from pocket to cover rest of tuition. Insh Allah, I also hope to pursue medical school afterward.

My main goal is to buy our first family home around the time I become an NP. In my city, a 6-bedroom house is around 700k, and since most Islamic mortgages require 20% down, I would need around 140k minimum just for the down payment, excluding legal fees and everything else. My credit score is at 725 now, I am working on it to get to 800 this year hopefully. I’m also hoping my siblings and I can split the responsibility together Inshallah.

I’m curious:

- What should I be doing over the next 4 years to make this goal realistic?

- Is saving 100k+ in 4 years actually possible while working and doing school part-time?

- What financial steps would you prioritize if you were in my position?

P.S. I know almost nothing about investing and honestly it scares me a bit. I’m also uncomfortable with interest and investing in Zionist companies, so please don’t suggest investing.

JazakAllah khair.

Assalamu Alaikum. First time posting. My wife and I are getting serious about buying in the UK and wanted to run our plan past people who actually know this stuff.

Our situation

- Joint income: £90k gross

- Deposit saved: £100k

- Target property: ~£450k

- Finance needed: ~£350k

both permanently employed

The plan

Go with a 30-year HPP (looking at Offa mainly, they quoted 5.88% fixed for 5 years, £2,071/month on £350k at 80% FTV). The longer term keeps monthly payments manageable. We also have some investments we're planning to liquidate in roughly 5 years, and the idea is to use that as a lump sum AAP at the refinance point to buy down the bank's share significantly and reduce monthly payments going forward.

StrideUp quoted 6.04% with a £1,249 product fee. Offa came in at 5.88% with a £499 fee — roughly £2,900 better off over the fixed period on like-for-like numbers. Haven't got a Gatehouse quote yet but planning to.

Questions I have

1. Does the 30yr term + AAP strategy actually work out better than just taking a shorter term and paying more monthly? Anyone done this?

2. Has anyone used Offa? They seem newer, any experience with their process or any red flags?

3. Is there anything about this plan that looks off to people with more experience?

4. Any other providers worth looking at that we might be missing?

Just sense checking with people who've been through it. JazakAllah khair in advance.

Assalamu Alaikum 🌙

Tired of reading every ingredient on every product

looking for hidden haram?

Built an app for this exact problem.

Point your camera at any food label — it instantly

flags pork derivatives, gelatin, alcohol, carmine,

lard and L-cysteine automatically.

Also works as a full halal ingredient checker for

packaged foods, sauces, snacks and supplements.

100% private — runs on your iPhone, no account,

no server.

Free to download 👇

👉 https://apps.apple.com/app/id6765994268

Would love feedback from the Muslim community 🙏

https://preview.redd.it/dyx6q2ohbq0h1.png?width=1242&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b51d13ac94eb5d8c170c77cc3391938801ec034

Salam, Jum’a Mubarak.

I’ve been doing some research recently about trading options and seems like the mainstream opinion is that trading options is not allowed due to many reasons such as:

- Gharar (Excessive Uncertainty)

Maysir (Gambling) - Options are viewed as speculative instruments where one party profits directly at the expense of another based on price movements, without any underlying productive economic activity. This resembles gambling, which is strictly forbidden.

Lack of Ownership (Bay’ al-Ma’dum)
In Islam, you generally cannot sell something you don’t own. Buying a call option gives you the right to purchase an asset, but you don’t own it yet — selling that right is considered selling something non-existent or not yet possessed.

No Tangible Asset or Benefit
Islamic contracts require that the subject of a transaction be a real, tangible asset or a legitimate service. An option contract itself — being merely a right or a promise — is not considered a valid commodity to be bought and sold.

Riba (Interest) Concerns
Some options strategies involve interest-based pricing models, which conflicts with the prohibition on riba.

The Premium Problem
The option premium (the price paid upfront) is seen as problematic because the buyer pays money for something that may yield nothing — which resembles paying for pure chance.

However there some people like Joe Bradford that argue trading options are allowed with some caveats. Has anyone else done research about this and can provide any insights ? Would love to hear from the community.

Assalamualaikum everyone, i am 27M muslim man from subcontinent and i have been lingering on this question for the last 5-6 years but never really got an answer for it.

So during my college days, i used to get a stupid silly loan from a student money lending app which lends money and it expects its repayment at the end of the month because my pocket money wasn't enough for me and it was too sad for me to ask my dad for more bcs i always considered how hard he works for how much he makes and it was enough to put food on the table and my college fees beyond that would be a difficulty for him.

So having said that, i came upon this app and i alaays used that money and sometimes i repaid on time but most of the times i didn't so i had to repay with interests.

Then covid happened and my dads job was stopped for a brief period and i went home not to incur costs for my pocket money bcs we had to save up. And so my pocket money stopped. And so did my repayment but i never asked money from my parents, i endured it silently. It was silly amount but it was big for me at that time. It eas a nightmare for me and i had literally lost my sleep during this period. And alhamdulillah, once i was free and repaid all the amount, i deactivated the account and deleted the app never to use that kind of money again bcs of its bad nature.

Years later i came across a post saying credit card is haram and it should not be used. But came across another post saying it can be halal if we repay it on time. I have had numerous discussions with my peers since then. Alhamdulillah, i have not used any cc or took any loan after my college days cuz i always thought of it as a burden. But people think of it otherwise, especially muslim brothers. Some repay with interest and are still okay with it and some pay without, and manage their payments properly. But i feel like both the ways it still stands impermissible to me. I am not sure how and why bcs i am not a scholar but here are my thoughts as to why i avoid using CC and its benefits.

1. As we all know, dealing with interest is haram, both give or take is impermissible for us. So there is no question abt this one.

2. The one who manage to pay on time after a month, i still think its not good, because Allah expects us to spend from what Allah has given to us. And paying with a cc means we are essentially spending banks money until next month even after being blessed with the ability to spend without the need of a CC. And i feel that could be one of the reason for Allah to take off barakah from our earnings. And i say this without considering the fact that the banks make their money with interests and may also lend money with the money of those people who pay interest. I dont know the backgrounds of banking sector but if true is the red line for me.

Does my understanding stand right?

Salaam everyone,

One thing that keeps standing out to me is how much Muslims already spend globally every year.

According to the State of the Global Islamic Economy report, Muslim consumer spending across major halal economy sectors reached around US$2.43 trillion in 2023, and is projected to grow further by 2028.

That includes areas like:

- Halal food: US$1.43 trillion

- Modest fashion: US$327 billion

- Media and recreation: US$260 billion

- Muslim-friendly travel: US$216.9 billion

- Halal pharmaceuticals: US$107 billion

- Halal cosmetics: US$87 billion

Then separately, Islamic finance assets are measured at around US$4.93 trillion.

So the issue is clearly not that the Ummah lacks money.

The issue is that the money is scattered.

Every year, Muslims spend trillions across food, clothing, travel, media, cosmetics, finance, services, and education. But most of that spending is captured by companies, platforms, and institutions that do not necessarily reinvest back into Muslim communities, legal infrastructure, media, education, business networks, or long-term community resilience.

Historically, Muslim societies had trade networks, waqf, scholars, merchants, institutions, and local systems that worked together. Today, we mostly consume as individuals.

That raises a serious question:

How do we move from Muslim spending to Muslim economic infrastructure?

Not vague charity.

Not emotional fundraising.

Not politics.

But disciplined business, transparent reinvestment, trusted governance, and real-world coordination.

What would a serious modern model look like?

If I have some saved cash, about 4k and I don’t plan on spending them soon and will attempt to keep saving, what are some ways I can get my money to work for me or use it to increase it (investment…etc)? Just looking for some tips and advice (halal of course). Thank you and JZK!

Is it a bad idea to only invest in gold/silver/platinum? Honestly I don’t understand the 30% thing of investing when companies have interest bearing debt etc, so I’m kind of more inclined to just keep putting money into metals, but if not investing in anything else is a terrible idea I’ll do more research on investing generally

Hey guys,

I’m a first-time investor and still in college, so I don’t have a lot to invest yet, but I wanted to start early. I signed up with Wahed invest and deposited $100 USD on May 1st, but it’s May 8th now and the deposit is still processing. Is that normal the app?

Besides that, are there any issues or downsides I should know about with Wahed? I chose it mainly because I want halal investing, long-term growth, and something easy to use. Right now I selected a very aggressive portfolio since I’m in my early 20s and planning for the long term.

For people with experience in halal investing:

• Do you think Wahed is a good option for beginners?
• Are there better halal investing platforms/apps I should look into?
• Any advice for someone starting small and investing long term?

Thanks : )

Im mid way in my degree (ACCA) and I can choose 1 subject between tax, audit, Performance Management or Financial Management for my last optional professional exam, sort of specialisation in that specific field
I always wanted to start as an external auditor in the big 4 like my brother but the scholars have different opinions some say halal and some say haram, if there’s anything, I cant live or even sleep with the doubt that my income may be haram, please advise what area should I look into, as im still studying, I am thinking of going into tax to avoid the haram, if I was given another chance, I wouldn’t pursue with accounting degree bcz right after all my hard work and my parents spending this money on my degree, it will be a surprise for them that I might willingly refuse to work in the big 4 and since my brother was an auditor before, saying I think it is haram openly will cause a lot of drama in the family

Please give a genuine advice as if im your brother who you really want to go to jannah, I have worked in customer service at managerial level in night shifts and though it didnt pay much and was mentally exhausting, I had absolute peace in my heart that my income was halal and I would rather make less than possibly trade it with my akhirah
I give my absolute best at work and usually get promoted very early but if I pursue a career where I have doubts about it being halal or haram, I would always be distracted by the doubts

As salamu alaykum, as the title suggests, I am a revert. I reverted about a month ago and recited my Shahadah a couple of weeks ago.

I have been listening to the Clear Quran and trying to delve deeper into Islam and learn more about how to be a good muslim woman.

It is in this that I have learned that as a muslim woman, my bank account may be haram because it attracts interest? Could someone please explain to me like I am 5 if I need to find a new more Halal bank account or whether I can continue with the account I currently hold.

I bank with Monzo and Revolut, so I have no idea about anything regarding Islamic finances.

Please, I just need advice to let me know if anything I am doing regarding a standard bank account is wrong

Thankyou in advance