The standard beneath the standard.
Most firms treat Shariah compliance as a final layer: a screen, a certificate, a box to tick. We begin from the opposite premise. The principles Islamic finance has always required, namely ownership of real assets, the sharing of risk and reward, income earned from enterprise rather than interest, and a refusal to trade in pure speculation, are the same principles by which we judge every investment. We did not adapt our model to Shariah. We built on ground it marked out long ago.
The same standard, read two ways.
Cash flow, not stories.
Islamic principles forbid gharar and maysir: excessive uncertainty and speculation. We invest in identifiable, present cash flow, never in outcomes that turn on chance.
Real assets, real ownership.
Wealth, in this tradition, must derive from tangible assets and genuine economic exposure. Entitlement to gain is matched by exposure to loss (al-ghunm bil-ghurm). We take ownership and share in results.
Enterprise, not interest.
The prohibition of riba rules out income from interest. We do not rely on interest-based acquisition financing to manufacture returns, exactly the discipline we hold ourselves to commercially.
Structured in the language of Islamic commercial law.
We structure each investment using contracts grounded in Islamic commercial jurisprudence (fiqh al-muamalat), chosen to fit the transaction.
Musharakah
A partnership in which partners contribute capital and share profit and loss by agreement.
Mudarabah
Investors provide capital, the manager provides expertise, and profits are shared by ratio. Classical jurists describe this as the closest equivalent to equity and venture capital.
Ijara
Asset leasing on a fixed-return basis, with ownership and risk held by the owner.
Murabaha & Wakala
Cost-plus sale and agency arrangements, used where appropriate.
We avoid interest-bearing debt as a device for engineering returns, and we avoid impermissible (haram) activities entirely.
Principled by structure.
Our framework is built to the standards of AAOIFI (Bahrain) and the guiding principles of the IFSB (Kuala Lumpur), the two bodies whose work defines Shariah governance internationally.
Independent Shariah supervision.
Investments are reviewed by qualified scholars in Islamic commercial jurisprudence, independent of management, whose rulings (fatwa) on compliance are binding. This is consistent with AAOIFI governance norms, which call for a board of at least three such scholars, appointed independently of executives.
Two-gate screening.
Every opportunity passes an activity screen, excluding alcohol, pork, conventional interest-based finance, gambling, tobacco, adult content and other impermissible activities, as well as a structural screen addressing leverage and any incidental impermissible income. We apply thresholds consistent with recognised methodologies; for reference, widely used standards treat interest-based debt above roughly one-third of value, and impermissible income above about 5%, as disqualifying.
Purification.
Any incidental impermissible income is identified, quantified, and donated to charity. It is never retained as profit.
Ongoing review and audit.
Compliance is not a one-time certificate. Each investment is subject to periodic Shariah review for the life of our involvement.
Reporting and zakat guidance.
We report on compliance to our partners and, where applicable, provide guidance on zakat.
Beyond Shariah, the discipline behind each decision: investment review, management of conflicts of interest, transparent reporting, and clear accountability.
Built in the right order.
Our governance framework is established deliberately and in the right order. The principles above govern how we invest today. We name our Shariah adviser(s) and formal board as they are appointed, and we describe no investment as Shariah-certified before that review is in place. We would rather under-claim and over-deliver.