The iShares MSCI World Islamic UCITS ETF (ISWD) is halal or not?

Salam Aleykoum everyone,

I want to invest a part of my money in this ETF which is apparently halal certified but I have a doubt, where does the certification come from? is she reliable? Because I believe that some shares of this ETF are not sharia compliant.

Thank you in advance

They do mention on their site that they work with an independent shariah supervisory board but havenā€™t mentioned any specific names. Iā€™ve reached out to their client service team for more details.

From the prospects of the ETF

Compliance with Shariā€™ah in the operations of the Shariā€™ah Funds shall be determined by the Shariā€™ah Panel. The Shariā€™ah Panel consists of Shariā€™ah scholars with expertise in Islamic investment. The Shariā€™ah Panelā€™s primary duties and responsibilities are to (i) advise on the Shariā€™ah aspects of the Shariā€™ah Funds, (ii) issue an opinion, by way of a Fatwa, ruling or guidelines as to whether the activities of the Shariā€™ah Funds comply with Shariā€™ah and (iii) make recommendations or issue guidance as to how the Shariā€™ah Funds could be made Shariā€™ah compliant. The Investment Manager may also, from time to time, utilise alternative methods for gaining exposure to the component securities of the Benchmark Index (e.g. ADRs, GDRs, GDNs or other collective investment schemes) and may request the Shariā€™ah Panel to assess the proposed method of investment for compliance with Shariā€™ah. The Investment Manager relies on the Shariā€™ah Panelā€™s advice and guidance in ensuring that the Shariā€™ah Funds operate in a manner which is Shariā€™ah compliant. The Shariā€™ah Panel will not be responsible for matters relating to (i) the management and supervision of the Company and its Funds, operations or vendors (not pertaining to Shariā€™ah), (ii) the application of Irish or other jurisdictional law, (iii) determining which securities form the underlying constituents of any index which acts as the benchmark of the Shariā€™ah Funds or any other Fund of the Company, (iv) determining what is the appropriate method to calculate dividend purification of the underlying securities in any such index and (vi) determining in individual cases what form of security is appropriate to be held in order to match the return of the underlying securities in any such index (equity, depository or otherwise) ā€“ provided always that the MSCI Shariā€™ah Board has determined generally that such form of security is compliant with Shariā€™ah. Following guidance of the Shariā€™ah Panel, the Investment Manager will ensure that any provisions or references to investment methods or techniques in the Prospectus, which would otherwise be available to the Shariā€™ah Funds in pursuing their investment policies, are not availed of to the extent they are not Shariā€™ah compliant. The Shariā€™ah Panel will advise on alternative investment techniques for the Shariā€™ah Funds which comply with the Shariā€™ah Fundsā€™ investment policies and are Shariā€™ah compliant. The Shariā€™ah Panel has issued a Fatwa in respect of the Shariā€™ah Funds. Subject to the Fundsā€™ compliance, the Shariā€™ah Panel will issue an annual Shariā€™ah compliance certificate for the Shariā€™ah Funds. Conflicts of interest relating to the investment of the Shariā€™ah Fundsā€™ assets may arise between members of the Shariā€™ah Panel and the Shariā€™ah Funds. In the event that a conflict of interest does arise, members of the Shariā€™ah

Panel will endeavour, so far as they are reasonably able, to ensure that it is resolved fairly and that investment opportunities are allocated on a fair and equitable basis. Subject to this, members of the Shariā€™ah Panel may effect transactions where those conflicts arise and shall not be liable to account for any profit, commission or other remuneration arising. As at the date of this Prospectus, the members of the Shariā€™ah Panel are: Dr Mohamed Elgari. Dr. Mohamed Elgari is a Professor of Islamic Economics at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and former Director for the Centre for Research in Islamic Economics, at the same university. He is an expert at the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy of the OIC and the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy of the Islamic World League and a member of the Shariā€™ah Council of AAOFI. He is a member of the editorial boards of several academic publications in the field of Islamic Finance and Jurisprudence, including: The Journal of the Jurisprudence Academy (of the IWL); Journal of Islamic Economic Studies (IDB); Journal of Islamic Economic (IAIE, London); and the advisory board of Harvard Series in Islamic Law, Harvard Law School. Dr. Elgari is a member of numerous Shariā€™ah Boards of Islamic banks and Takaful companies worldwide. He has written several books on Islamic finance and published many articles on the subject, both in Arabic and English. Dr. Elgari is also a frequent speaker at conferences worldwide. Dr. Elgari is the recipient of the Islamic Development Bank prize in Islamic Banking and Finance for the year 1424H (2004). Dr. Elgari holds a PhD from the University of California and was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia in 1950. Sheikh Nizam Yaquby. Sheikh Nizam Yacuby is a graduate in Economics and Comparative Religion from McGill University, Montreal. He is a well known Shariā€™ah scholar based in Bahrain. Sheikh Yacuby also acts as an advisor to HSBC Amanah, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, DJ Indices, BNP Paribas, Lloyds TSB and Standard Chartered. Dr Mohammed Daud Bakar. Dr Bakar is the Chairman of the Amanie Group and was previously the Deputy ViceChancellor at the International Islamic University Malaysia. He is currently the Chairman of the Shariah Advisory Council at the Central Bank of Malaysia, the Securities Commission of Malaysia and the Shariah Supervisory Board of The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM). Dr Bakar has published a number of articles in various academic journals and made many presentations in various conferences around the globe. Dr Bakar is a Shariah board member of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (New York), Muzn Islamic Banking (The National Bank of Oman), BNP Paribas (Bahrain), Morgan Stanley (Dubai), Bank of London and Middle East (London), amongst other financial institutions. Dr Bakar holds a Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, a Bachelor of Shariah (Fiqh wa Usuluhu) from Kuwait University, Kuwait and a Bachelor of Jurisprudence (external) from the University of Malaya, Malaysia. Remuneration of the Shariā€™ah Panel is paid by the Investment Manager of the Shariā€™ah Funds and not from the TER (as defined in the section headed ā€œFund Expensesā€).

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Great question. I looked through the Stocks and they include a few stocks that are labeled as haram/not permissible by Zoya and another app

For example what I found: Take-Two, Eni, Intel, Pfizer, and many more.

Since I canā€™t look through every stock I assume that there are more non-halal/haram stocks.

Besides that I noticed that certain big halal stocks are not included in this ETF. For example big tech (Google, Nvidia, Apple, etc)

So is this ETF still halal or not? What should we do?