A Muslim investing app permits IDF in your halal portfolio
Why does Zoya consider IDF collaborators to be "Shariah compliant" investments?
Is it halal to sell a sword to a murderer? Zoya says yes, in some cases.
Zoya proudly positions itself as America's leading halal investing app, boasting more than 100,000 Muslim investors and managing over $100 million in connected assets.
Their mission revolves around “taking the guesswork out of Halal investing”, supported by esteemed Shariah advisers Sheikh Joe Bradford and Sheikh Umer Khan.
On November 8, Zoya made a notable move by discontinuing shariah compliance coverage for Israeli companies. Nevertheless, the app still classifies significant BDS targets like Caterpillar and Chevron as halal investments.
Since 2005, Palestinians have advocated for a selective boycott of companies involved in the occupation. The BDS campaign draws inspiration from the successful South African divestment movement of the 1970s and 1980s, which saw major corporations like General Motors, IBM, and Coca-Cola withdraw in 1986.
Boycott is an organized tactic at hitting Israel where it hurts. Their pocketbook.
Caterpillar
Caterpillar has been the target for Palestine activists for well over a decade. Yet, the company is listed as a “shariah compliant” investment opportunity on Zoya.
Caterpillar has a well-established track record in providing equipment to the Israeli military. Their weaponized D9 bulldozer are integral to Israel’s occupation of Palestine. They are used for home demolitions, expanding settlements, and maintaining Israel’s siege on Gaza. The company has been called out by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
The company has been on the BDS target lists since the start of the movement. Many Christian institutions — such as Episcopal Church and Presbyterian Church — have already divested from Caterpillar. A Fortune 100 retirement fund TIAA-CREF has also divested from Caterpillar.
Sometimes, Zoya flags weapons revenues as not compliant with Islamic investing. For example, Zoya deems Lockheed Martin’s F-35s as “possessing un-Islamic qualities”. But the company makes no such qualms for weapons produced by Caterpillar for the Israeli army.
Chevron
For the last year, the BDS campaign has explicitly targeted Chevron. The oil giant has utilized Israel’s sea blockade to develop a natural gas field off of Gaza. Its worth mentioning the current conflict in Gaza forced the closure of Chevron’s gas fields at Tamar.
What was Zoya’s response?
Saad Malik is co-founder and CEO of Zoya. Malik was asked why Caterpillar is listed as “shariah compliant”.
Malik cited an anti-BDS law. But the law applies to state entities, not private businesses like Zoya. When pressed on this issue, Malik said, “It could potentially prevent state institutions (or even non-state institutions that have taken state grants) from leveraging Zoya for investments. This is relevant to us as we’ve recently started offering B2B services.”
This revealed something more disturbing. Zoya allows their “Shariah compliance” definition to misidentify certain stocks as halal, so their product could appeal to government institutions. After being pressed on the point, he deflected by saying Zoya doesn’t establish their own screening criteria. Unfortunately, he didn't respond to the request to update Zoya's screening criteria to include BDS.
This is part of my series on Selling Islam: Salaried Shaykhs, Can paid Shaykhs make mistakes?, IDF in your halal portfolio
Related, I have a series on Interest Free Zone: All of the Sahih hadith related to riba, A study of weak hadith on riba, Defining riba, A detailed breakdown on why Islamic mortgages are backdoor riba, Do credit card rewards programs have riba?, Madness on options riba
Related, I have a Riba and Ruin series: Economics is to keep you a dummy, What happened to SVB?, Ward of the State, First Republic: A tale of a fake bank & a fake auction, Hush, hush, a small bank goes poof