Part 1: Introduction to Pensions   NOTE: This information should not be regarded as financial advice and is merely a learning and awareness initiative. Introduction All eligible Muslim workers will be auto-enrolled into a pension scheme or opted out for whatever personal reason. Pensions are now inherent to employment and work life. However, many Muslims...Read More

Hedging involves reducing overall risk by taking on an asset position that offsets an existing source of risk. Its strategies encompass a broad range of risk tolerance and investments, such as but not limited to, debt and equity securities, commodities, currencies, derivatives, and real estate vehicles. The most widely used equity longshort strategy involves simultaneously...Read More

Commodity swaps and equity swaps are financial derivatives. In commodity swaps, exchanged cash flows are dependent on the price (floating/market/ spot) of an underlying commodity. A commodity swap allows a customer to secure a maximum price for a commodity in lieu of a fixed amount. In return, he/she gets payments based on the market price...Read More

Foreign exchange trading has been one of the fastest-growing activities among private investors in the past 15 years. According to research by Citi in 2014, 4 million people are now trading currencies online, and retail traders account for around 20 per cent of the average daily turnover of the global spot forex market. An estimated...Read More

Initial Coin Offerings are an innovative way to raise funds by issuing tokens through blockchain technology. The issued tokens can vary widely in their design and function. Some of the common types of tokens include: work tokens, utility tokens, asset-backed tokens, revenue tokens, equity tokens, buy-back tokens. In theory, a token holder can gain a...Read More

Cryptocurrencies have become a buzzword across the world. The potential financial returns from cryptocurrencies have attracted Muslim investors, whilst the opportunity to raise funds by issuing tokens has attracted Muslim entrepreneurs and developers. The key question which is continuously being asked is the Shariah compliance of cryptocurrencies and token sales. This research analyses the nature...Read More

At the National Zakat Foundation, in collaboration with scholars, financial analysts, accountants and others, we spent almost 5 months analysing the FTSE 100 to determine proxy for net Zakatable assets in companies,  Summary recommendations National Zakat Foundation’s (NZF) recommendation to Muslim shareholders is as follows: Ideally, a complete calculation and review of the balance sheet...Read More

Summary Any cryptocurrency or token purchased to resell will always be Zakatable. Zakat is due on the market value on one’s Zakat anniversary. The cryptocurrency value should be converted into one’s local currency at the time of calculation. If a cryptocurrency is not purchased to resell, a coin currency such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple etc...Read More

This short treatise analyses the concept of ownership in Shariah and considers the concept of a trust under Shariah. Ownership is described as a relationship between a legal person (human or non-human), the corporeal entity of the property and its benefits. The paper expounds on the different types of ownership recognised in Islamic law with examples...Read More

This is an overview and my personal conclusion to an ongoing research in respect to Bitcoin. References and detailed analysis can be viewed in my previous papers. After researching the issue of Bitcoin initially and releasing papers on the topic, I have received feedback from several colleagues from the Islamic finance industry, fellow Shariah advisors...Read More