Free checklist
Screen it yourself.
Apps hand you one verdict from one methodology and never mention that another respected standard disagrees. Put a company's numbers in here and see all four at once, with every ratio worked out in front of you.
- All four standards
- Nothing stored
- Method always shown
Her Islamic Finance — herislamicfinance.com
Shariah screening check
Across all four standards
The working
The numbers
Where each one comes from.
All of these are free. That is the difference between this and the purification ratio, which sits behind an app — screening inputs are ordinary financial figures anyone can look up.
Market capitalisation
On any finance site — Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, your broker's own page. It is share price × shares outstanding, and it changes every day the market is open.
Total interest-bearing debt
Balance sheet. Short-term debt plus long-term debt. Yahoo Finance lists it as "Total Debt" under Financials → Balance Sheet. Do not include accounts payable or lease liabilities unless they carry interest.
Cash and interest-bearing securities
Balance sheet: cash and cash equivalents plus short-term investments. This one catches companies sitting on large cash piles earning interest.
Accounts receivable
Balance sheet, usually "Net Receivables". Money owed to the company by its customers.
Total assets
Balance sheet, the bottom line of the assets section. Only needed for the FTSE and MSCI standards, which divide by assets rather than market cap.
Non-permissible income and total revenue
Income statement. Interest and investment income, plus any revenue disclosed from prohibited activities, over total revenue. This is the hardest of the six to pin down — and it is also the number the purification calculator needs.
What is Shariah screening?
Two tests that decide whether a listed company can be owned. The first asks what the business actually does — a brewery or a conventional bank fails outright, whatever its accounts look like. The second measures how much interest-bearing debt it carries, how much interest-earning cash it sits on, and how much of its revenue comes from impermissible sources.
Why do the standards disagree?
Because the thresholds are considered judgements, not revealed figures. AAOIFI caps debt at 30% of market capitalisation; Dow Jones uses 33% of a 24-month average; FTSE and MSCI use roughly a third of total assets. All four are respected, and the same company can pass one and fail another.
Why does the denominator matter so much?
More than the threshold does. AAOIFI and Dow Jones divide by market capitalisation, so a company's ratios move every time the share price does — a holding can fail the screen after a sell-off without anything changing in the business. FTSE and MSCI divide by total assets, which only changes when the accounts do. If you want a verdict that stays put, that is the difference.
The company passed. Am I finished?
Not quite. Passing means you may own it, not that everything it earns is clean. If any of its revenue came from impermissible sources — usually interest on its cash — your share of that still needs purifying. Screening decides what you hold; purification deals with what it earns.
Where do I find these numbers?
Market capitalisation, total debt, cash, receivables and total assets are all free on Yahoo Finance, your broker, or the company's own annual report. Non-permissible income is the awkward one — it comes from the income statement, or from a screening app.
Is this a fatwa?
No. It applies published methodologies to numbers you supply and shows the working. It cannot verify your figures, it does not know the business, and it is not a ruling. Use it to understand the screen, then check anything that matters with a scholar you trust.
Where these thresholds come from
- Halal Terminal — screening standards compared
- HalalScreener — AAOIFI Standard 21 methodology
- Akinda — what AAOIFI is, explained
- Islamic Finance Guru — halal stock screening
This is a method, not a fatwa. It applies published methodologies to numbers you supply. It cannot verify those numbers and it does not know the business.
The order these go in
These three are a sequence, not a menu. Purifying before you calculate zakat matters — unpurified income inflates the base, so the other order overstates what you owe.
- May I own this company at all? First, because if the business itself fails the screen nothing further matters. Four respected standards, and they do not always agree. Shariah screening checklist you are here
- Does any of what it earned need giving away? A company can pass the screen and still earn some impermissible income. Your share of that is not yours to keep. Purification calculator
- What do I owe on what I hold? Last, and only after purifying — unpurified income inflates the base, so doing these the other way round overstates your zakat. Zakat calculator
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