Islamic Finance

There is no single agreed answer — scholars differ, and the answer depends on how the loan works. The majority scholarly view is that interest-based student loans are not permissible, because they involve riba. Other scholars argue that the UK’s income-contingent system is not a conventional loan at all, because you only repay when you…

Nisab is the minimum amount of wealth a Muslim must own before zakat becomes due — and as of 10 November 2026 it is about US$1,045 if you use the silver standard (612.36 g of silver), or about US$11,250 if you use the gold standard (85 g of gold). The two figures differ because gold…

Yes — according to the Fiqh Council of North America, zakat on a 401(k) or IRA is an annual obligation, not something you wait until retirement to pay. The Council’s reasoning is that the money is yours: it sits in an account in your name, it grows for you, and you can reach it (with…

Indonesia has priced a $3 billion Indonesia sukuk in the international market. The three-part US dollar global sukuk was priced on Thursday 5 November 2026, and final yields came in below the initial guidance on every tranche — a sign that demand from investors was strong. The deal raised $500 million over three years, $1…

Indonesia has officially set the ST017 sukuk coupon rate at 6.95% per year for the 2-year tenor (ST017T2) and 7.05% per year for the 4-year tenor (ST017T4). The rates were announced by the Directorate General of Budget Financing and Risk Management (DJPPR) of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) on Thursday 5 November 2026, the day…

Key Points Do I Have to Pay Zakat on My Salary? Yes — but how it works depends on what happens to the salary after you receive it. Zakat is not an income tax on every payslip by classical agreement; it is a duty on wealth you own. So the real question is not “did…

Energy Oman, legally Energy Development Oman SAOC, has announced its second Omani rial sukuk offering, Sukuk Series 2, with an initial size of OMR 50 million — about US$130 million — and an option to raise a further OMR 25 million through a greenshoe option. The Shari’a-compliant sukuk carries a fixed profit rate of 5%…

The United Arab Emirates raised AED 1.1 billion in its October 2026 auction of Treasury Sukuk and Treasury Bonds, after investors placed bids worth AED 4.54 billion — an oversubscription of 4.1 times. The auction, announced by the Ministry of Finance with the Central Bank of the UAE as issuing and payment agent, covered dirham-denominated…

Pakistan’s National Grid Company is planning a large Shariah-compliant borrowing programme. The company intends to raise up to Rs100 billion through Sukuk, beginning with an inaugural issuance of up to Rs20 billion with a tenor of up to 10 years, issued in tranches through public offerings listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. The plan is…

Pakistan’s stock market now has a dedicated home for Islamic investing. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has launched a Shariah-compliant trading counter that only allows securities screened as compliant with Islamic principles — Shariah-compliant equities, Government Ijarah Sukuk and corporate Sukuk — while blocking non-compliant securities, interest-based leverage, short selling and derivatives. The counter went…