OK. My assessment of the kinds of products I see in the market for Muslims to invest Not advice Assessing investment products I have written about what I feel can be part of a faithful allocation of capital for sincere Muslims for whom capital is an Amanah. Choices are limited - in my view. I am often asked for my views on specific products. Here is how I approach an assessment of products. - who is offering the product? - This matters enormously. I want to understand their philosophy of capital. Often - the product demonstrates this more directly than their provider’s words. Words are easy. - do they see Muslims as commodities to monetise? Do they see the capital of Muslims as an Amanah and a burden for which they will be answerable. - If they have this wrong - then nothing that follows from it can be trusted - If they have it right - and very very few do - they can still deliver poor products. Next - how do they market themselves? Are they heavy on promotional and FOMO and heroic Muslim narratives? - Do they actually explain how their products work or do you need a lawyer, a magnifying glass and a domain expert to decipher the hints they give. - Do they post more about what they are doing, where they travel, informing us how selling potatoes as a young lad taught them lessons in how to solve the existential financial problems Muslims face. - Are they presenting themselves as mentors, gurus, saviours who have deigned to let us invest in their products? - “Sign up before the wait list closes” - Reply with “LFG” for more details Perhaps now I look at the product. This is not advice. It is how I think. I assume all the products presented have been deemed as Shariah compliant. This then has no bearing on my decision to allocate to it. ETFs Difficult one. It’s a natural asset class for large AuM and liquidity. But not satisfactory for me. My preference - stated often - is for any stocks with any Riba to be impermissible - as well as activity screening. See my post below why withholding of capital - at scale - can be powerful. Plenty of ETFs to choose from. See little to separate them apart from reputation, time in market, liquidity, fees, customer service, comms. And if they offer other services and products that are interesting. Venture Capital - Possible if all controls are in place. Nature of business. Regular commercial due diligence. Contractual structure to avoid liquidation preference and other structures. Of course it’s a super risky asset class and be careful of your allocation - if any. Not advice. Real estate Good if pure cash and equity. And if has genuine usufruct and benefit. And delivers market returns for that sector. And has good property management in place. Any hint of leverage, credit or debt (even if hidden in the small print!) and it’s a hard no. And that answers what I need to know about their philosophy of capital. Any (modern Islamic finance version of) Murabaha - no. And commodity Murabaha - if the proposition was on paper I would tear it up and throw it in the bin where it belongs. Fixed Income Gosh - what a good way to demonstrate absolute intellectual capture. Even the language is enough. No BNPL - throw it in the bin Car finance - if it’s from the same philosophy of capital that delivers credit and debt and leverage and BNPL - hard no. Even if the product might be interesting. Home finance (as an investment) - home finance for Muslims as a collaborative investment model is a noble enterprise. Concerns here would be around reputation, scale, liquidity, tax structures, regulatory alignment, and domain experience of founders. Business finance - if it’s genuine exposure to enterprise with relevant risks and rewards - that’s good. If it’s virtually guaranteed returns - hard to justify. If it’s commodity murabaha - in the bin. And then I would empty the bin for good measure. And wash my hands with strong soap.