StructureEquity funds hold Shariah-screened global/US equities (no interest, no prohibited industries); the Participation Fund holds sukuk and Islamic income instruments. Saturna applies proprietary screens (industry exclusions + financial ratios). Non-compliant incidental income is typically purified via charitable distribution; confirm the exact policy in the prospectus.
Among the oldest screened US funds — the Amana Income Fund dates to 1986. Structurally investment products run by an SEC-registered adviser and reviewed by independent scholars. Review the financial-ratio screens and how purification is handled for shareholders.
Read the contract →Only marketing or secondary sources were available; key facts remain unverified. This rates our certainty, not the provider’s compliance.
Established & regulatory standing
The verifiable facts
Established
Amana Income Fund (AMANX) inception 1986; Growth Fund (AMAGX) 1994; Developing World (AMDWX) 2009; plus the Amana Participation (sukuk) Fund.
Regulatory standing
US '40 Act mutual funds; the adviser, Saturna Capital Corporation (est. 1989), is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Market risk applies; no deposit insurance.
Shariah board
Who certifies it
Reviewed by independent scholars; sources cite Amanie Advisors (quarterly review) and an investment process developed with the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA). Confirm the current named board on the prospectus.
A named, credentialled board is a real signal — but a provider’s own board certifying its own product is not the same as arm’s-length review. Weigh it alongside the independent commentary below.
How the structure works
The mechanics, in principle
Equity funds hold Shariah-screened global/US equities (no interest, no prohibited industries); the Participation Fund holds sukuk and Islamic income instruments. Saturna applies proprietary screens (industry exclusions + financial ratios). Non-compliant incidental income is typically purified via charitable distribution; confirm the exact policy in the prospectus.
This describes the structure in principle — it is not a verdict on the executed contract. How the contract actually behaves is what the checklist below tests.
From the public documents
How the contract actually works
Read from Amana Mutual Funds (Saturna Capital)’s own public materials — white papers, product pages, FAQs and fatāwā — not its executed contract, which is generally not published. Where a point is undisclosed, it is said plainly rather than guessed. Sources are listed below.
Audit V2 (methodology-grounded, from Saturna's own published halal-investing methodology — the screen the Amana Funds actually apply). As with any screened fund, the structural lens that troubles home finance does not apply: a shareholder owns a slice of the underlying businesses rather than holding a debt claim, so the analysis turns on the rigour of the screen, and Saturna's is public and AAOIFI-family in two layers. (1) Business-activity screen — companies are excluded for involvement in alcohol, tobacco, pork-related products, gambling, pornography, weapons, and — critically for the riba lens — conventional (interest-based) financial services such as banks and insurers. (2) Financial-ratio screen — a company is dropped if total debt exceeds 33% of its market capitalisation (trailing 12-month average), if accounts receivable exceed 45% of total assets (trailing 12-month average), or if more than 5% of revenue comes from impure (chiefly interest) sources; the small residual impure income that slips through is what shareholders are expected to purify by giving away. The investment process was developed in collaboration with the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), Saturna's analysts run the screen monthly across 10,000+ securities via its in-house NEPTUNE software, and an unaffiliated board of Shariah advisers (Saturna engages Amanie Advisors) reviews the portfolios quarterly. A practical consequence worth noting: the debt screen naturally biases the equity funds toward low-leverage, dividend-paying companies — a value tilt, not a defect. Honest limits worth weighing: Saturna's receivables test uses TOTAL ASSETS as the denominator (45%), which is a different — and on its face stricter — base than the market-cap denominator some index screens use (e.g. S&P's 49% of market cap), so the two are not directly comparable; the named individual scholars on the current board are best confirmed on the live prospectus rather than asserted here; and exact thresholds and the named adviser can be revised, so reconfirm against the funds' current prospectus before relying on them.
The Six-Pillar test
The questions that decide it
This is the universal lens this site applies to every home-finance contract, anywhere. Read each pillar as a question to put to Amana Mutual Funds (Saturna Capital)’s executed contract — not its brochure.
- 1
Real ownership
Does the financier genuinely take ownership of the asset — even briefly — and bear a real owner's risk, rather than only ever holding a debt secured against it?
- 2
Risk-sharing
If the asset is destroyed or its value collapses, does the financier share that loss in proportion to its stake, or is the customer left bearing it alone?
- 3
Rent vs interest
In a lease/co-ownership, is the rent benchmarked to a genuine market rent for the property — or is it calibrated to an interest rate (a base-rate + margin) in disguise?
- 4
Default mechanism
On default, does the contract behave like the end of a real lease/partnership — or does it accelerate like a loan, demanding the full outstanding 'principal' plus charges?
- 5
No guaranteed pre-fixed return
Is the financier's return tied to real ownership and risk, or is it a pre-fixed, guaranteed sum that arrives regardless of what happens to the asset?
- 6
Substance over form
Strip away the Arabic labels: does the cashflow, risk, and outcome differ from a conventional loan — or is it the same economics wearing a compliant name (ḥiyal)?
Before you sign
What to ask Amana Mutual Funds (Saturna Capital), in writing
Put these to the provider in writing and keep the answers. The reply — not the marketing — is what tells you whether the structure holds.
Which scholars/board currently certify the funds, and how frequently do they review holdings?
What are the financial-ratio screen thresholds, and how is purification handled for shareholders?
What are the expense ratios and any sales loads per share class?
How does the Participation Fund's sukuk selection ensure Shariah compliance?
The honest gap
What we have not verified
- The Amana Participation Fund ticker was not confirmed from a primary source.
- Amanie/FCNA roles came from secondary sources — verify the current Shariah board on the prospectus.
Sources
What this read is built on
The verifiable references behind this page — provider documents and independent scholarly resolutions. Read them yourself; do not take our summary on trust.