Sin stocks
A sin stock is a company excluded for what it does rather than for what its accounts say. The term comes from mainstream finance, where it covers alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons and adult entertainment. A Shariah screen applies the same idea and reaches further: conventional banking and insurance are excluded too, because interest-bearing lending is itself the objection.
This is the first of four tests, and the only one that ends the question on its own. A company that clears it still has to pass the income limit and two balance-sheet ratios — which is where most familiar names actually fail. For the full sequence, see the AAOIFI standard.
The excluded activities
Every rulebook starts from the same base list. Akinda screens 12,500+ companies against it.
conventional banks and regional banks, mortgage lenders, asset managers, stock and securities exchanges, derivatives dealers and clearing houses, insurance and life insurance, healthcare plans, tobacco, alcohol (brewers, distillers, vintners), gambling and casinos, and pork / non-halal meat.
Preferred shares and fixed-income instruments are excluded by instrument, whatever the company does.
Where the five rulebooks disagree
The base list is shared; what each standard adds to it is not. A company caught by one and cleared by another is a genuine disagreement between published standards, and Akinda returns all five verdicts rather than reconciling them into one.
AAOIFI Shari'ah Standard No. 21
The base list: conventional banks and regional banks, mortgage lenders, asset managers, stock and securities exchanges, derivatives dealers and clearing houses, insurance and life insurance, healthcare plans, tobacco, alcohol (brewers, distillers, vintners), gambling and casinos, and pork / non-halal meat.
Dow Jones Islamic Market Indices
The base list, plus weapons for non-defense purposes only. Conventional defense is permitted.
FTSE Shariah Global Equity Index Series
The base list, plus defense, hotels, cinema, music, and cannabis in any form.
MSCI Islamic Index Series
The base list, plus defense, hotels, music (including musical instruments), cinema, and online dating.
S&P Shariah Indices
The base list, plus advertising, music, and cinema. Defense is permitted.
Common questions
What is a sin stock?
A sin stock is a listed company whose business is one that a values-based screen excludes on principle rather than on its finances. The usual list is alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons and adult entertainment. A Shariah screen applies the same idea and adds conventional banking, insurance and pork, because interest-bearing lending and uncertainty-based contracts are themselves the objection.
Are sin stocks and non-halal stocks the same thing?
They overlap but they are not the same. Every sin stock fails a Shariah screen, but a company can pass the activity test and still fail on its balance sheet — too much interest-bearing debt, or too much interest income — which is the more common reason a familiar name comes out non-compliant. The activity screen is the first of four tests, not the only one.
Are stocks halal if the company is not a sin stock?
Not automatically. Clearing the activity screen only means the business itself is permitted. The company must then pass the income test and the balance-sheet ratios, and those are measured from its audited accounts, so the answer changes as the accounts change. That is why a verdict carries a date.
Do all Shariah standards exclude the same sectors?
No, and the differences are published rather than reconciled. The base list is shared, but each index rulebook adds to it: one excludes weapons for non-defense purposes, another adds advertising, music and cinema. A company caught by one and not another is a real disagreement between standards, not an error in the data.
Is a sin stock the same as an ESG exclusion?
The sector lists look alike and often are, but the reasoning and the thresholds differ. An ESG exclusion is typically a revenue-share policy set by the fund manager; a Shariah activity screen is a rule from a published standard, applied with a stated tolerance and a stated denominator. Two screens can exclude the same company for different reasons and include a third on opposite grounds.
Screen the activity test in one call
Akinda returns the activity verdict beside the three financial tests, under all five rulebooks, for every company it screens. The free tier needs no card.