Do you think one day that petrol will be more expensive than olive oil?

A scary time for investors? Markets have pulled back quite a bit over the past month. Depending on what you’re invested in, equity funds are down roughly 5% to 15%, and some commodities have fallen 10% to 25%. Property platforms like Bayuti and Nester seem relatively unaffected, sukuk are slightly down, savings accounts remain steady as always, and Bitcoin is actually a bit up.

Periods like this remind us why lower-risk assets and diversification matter. They help cushion the downside when markets turn. But they also highlight the limitations of diversification. In times of stress, assets that don’t usually move together can suddenly start doing exactly that. We’re seeing that now, with equities and some commodities like gold and silver moving in the same direction.

That said, just because assets are moving together in this period doesn’t mean they always will. Correlations can change quickly, especially during volatile markets.

Contents:

• Nisba update
• Halal Fund Performance: which funds led the market this month
• Top Halal Savings Rates: best profit rates right now
• Fear & Greed Index: markets sitting in extreme fear
• Platform Updates: Wahed, Cur8, Qardus, Bayuti, Gatehouse
• Islamic Reflection: Ramadan reminder on improving our salah
• Educational Focus: Use it or lose it, £3,000 Capital gains allowance.
• Article 1: A breakdown of how our Cur8 EIS fund investment is going
• Article 2: Strategic Asset Allocation: A shift in your portfolio to increase returns?
• Article 3: Is there interest in Islamic Mortgages?
• Final Reflection

Premium subscribers also receive full access to the Nisba Academy (self-paced) and the Nisba Playbook (our step-by-step halal investing guide).

Nisba updates

We have just kicked off with our latest Academy, this is the 4th group of people we take through our comprehensive educational halal investing Academy. Sign ups for the next academy starting Monday 27th of April are now open, see you there. 

We dropped our video on youtube covering the new invesco fund: 

Our next video will be going through the ups and downs of the nisba january stock picking competition, it's an exciting one so keep an eye out for that next week.

Nisba hoodies are now live on the nisba website with lots of cool colours, this is a limited drop for people that love our work and want to support us.

We will be updating our educational material for subscribers of Academy Access (the self paced academy) and for joiners of the Nisba Academy in Academy in April to add in educational content about investing into crypto in a halal way, what is it, what are the risks, and how to actually invest into crypto.

Big update on the Nisba Halal Screener this cycle 🚨. We’ve had a fair bit of movement across the board. A total of 19 companies have flipped their Shariah compliance status, with names like Oracle, Mondelez, and Lennar no longer compliant, while others like Lowe’s, Southwest Airlines, and Vertex Pharma have moved into the compliant category.  On the fund side, there’s been a reshuffle in the VOO universe too, with several additions like Carvana and Vertiv, and removals including Match Group and Paycom. If you’re holding a VOO S&P ETF pie, now’s a good time to review.

Halal Fund Performance

Top 5 (1 month)

Worst 5 (1 month)

1 Month Average Performance

Top Savings Rate

The top halal savings account is currently offering 4.34% expected profit via Habib Bank Zurich (1-year). A £5,000 deposit could generate roughly £217 per year. For a full list of savings accounts see: https://www.nisba.co.uk/savings-accounts

Fear & Greed Index

What is it? The Fear & Greed Index is like a mood tracker for the stock market! It looks at 7 different signals to give the market a score from 0 to 100 - where 0 means investors are really scared, and 100 means everyone is feeling super confident and buying everything in sight.

Commentary: Currently the index is sitting at 22 - Extreme Fear. A bit worse from 2 weeks ago when we were at 23. 

But as the great Warren Buffett once said - "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." So while the mood is nervous right now, for patient long-term investors, moments like these can actually be full of opportunity!

Platform Updates

Wahed
Wahed has increased the minimum investment for its Real Estate opportunities from £500 to £5,000, positioning the product more for longer-term, higher-conviction investors. Existing investments are unaffected.

Cur8
Final call on a few Cur8 opportunities. Their EIS Fund is in its last ever raise (closing 7 April), while the USD Income Fund closes 30 March and the GBP Income Fund is the last chance to use your 2025/26 IF-ISA allowance before 5 April.

Qardus
Qardus has stopped operating as an FCA Appointed Representative and is no longer offering new investments, but is repositioning with a new push targeting HNW and sophisticated investors, alongside signs of team expansion. Existing investments continue as normal, though it should be approached with caution as it is no longer FCA regulated and has had issues with a number of existing investments not paying out as expected.

Bayuti
Bayuti has launched a new Bradford property investment (Mill Race Lane) offering ~5.5% net rental yield and 10.75% gross annual return, with a 5-year tenancy structure. As with all single-property, illiquid investments, returns depend heavily on occupancy and execution, so should be approached with care.

Nisba
Nisba has recently released a Halal Stock Screener that lets you invest in popular funds while filtering out non-compliant and boycotted stocks with one click.

Gatehouse
Gatehouse has reduced its easy access expected profit rate from 3.20% to 2.91% (effective 23 April).

Islamic Reflection

When thinking about investing, it’s important to remember that wealth isn’t the end goal, it’s a tool. How you earn it, grow it, and use it is what gives it value.

Allah describes a powerful scene in Qur’an, in Surah Al-Haqqah, where a person is given their book in their left hand and says: “My wealth has not availed me.” At that moment, everything they built in the dunya was of no benefit because it wasn’t used in the right way.

That’s the real risk, not just losing money, but building wealth that carries no benefit beyond this life.

Investing in a halal way changes that. It means being conscious of where your money goes and using it in a way that aligns with your values. If done right, your wealth doesn’t just grow, it becomes something that benefits you in both this life and the next.

Competition Results

We’ve now had two Nisba competitions so far.

The first was our January stock picking challenge, where the goal was simple: pick the best performing stock over the month. The winner was Arif, who took home a block of silver as his prize.

Our most recent competition was to estimate the gold and silver nisab levels by the end of Ramadan. This one was incredibly close.

Technically, I (Ahmad) came out on top… but I don’t think Nisba can be winning its own competitions. So the official winner is Ahmad Ismail, who came a very close second and will be receiving his prize inshaAllah.

Here are the top entries:

Keep an eye out for future competitions and get involved! Next one will be announced in the coming weeks inshaAllah.

Inside the Premium Section

• Educational Focus: Use it or lose it, £3,000 Capital gains allowance.

• Article 1: A breakdown of how our Cur8 EIS fund investment is going

• Article 2: Strategic Asset Allocation: A shift in your portfolio to increase returns?

• Article 3: Is there interest in Islamic Mortgages?

• Final Reflection