A serious publication that doesn't keep an errata log is making a claim of infallibility it cannot honour. We've gotten things wrong. We'll get more things wrong. The honest move is to log each correction publicly so readers can see how the work evolves — and so we can be held accountable for it.
✎Transparency · Errata log
Corrections + Updates
Public log of every substantive correction made to Riba-Free Journey since launch. Standard practice for serious publications. When we get something wrong, you should see when + why we changed it.
2026-05-25
On /marriage
Before
Stated the Mālikī school sets a small symbolic minimum (a quarter dinar); the other schools require only that mahr be of legitimate value.
After
Corrected to: Mālikī and Ḥanbalī require small symbolic minimum (~quarter dinar / 3 dirhams); Ḥanafī requires minimum 10 dirhams; Shāfiʿī requires any amount of legitimate value with no fixed floor.
WhyOriginal misrepresented the Ḥanbalī and Ḥanafī positions. Corrected on review of the four-madhab consensus on mahr minimums.
2026-05-25
On /crypto
Before
Listed Mufti Faraz Adam as a Position 1 (permissibility) holder without disclosing he founded Amanah Advisors, a cryptocurrency Shariah advisory firm.
After
Added explicit conflict-of-interest disclosure: 'Mufti Faraz Adam founded Amanah Advisors, which provides Shariah advisory on cryptocurrency products; this should be noted as a potential interest.'
WhyFailure to disclose a scholar's commercial interest in the technology they're ruling on undermines the reader's ability to weight the position. Standard scholarly-ethics correction.
2026-05-25
On /playbook/housing
Before
Framed Islamic mortgage products as 'the fifth option that does not exist' — too dismissive of legitimate scholarly disagreement.
After
Reframed as 'the contested fifth option' — acknowledges that some serious scholars (Ḥanafī school, Dar al-Iftaa Cairo on certain Diminishing Mushārakah, providers' Shariah boards) hold these are permissible. The site's stricter reading is one judgment, not the only valid one.
WhyPer critical review on 2026-05-25, original framing presented site's judgment as settled fact. Honest scholarship acknowledges the genuine institutional disagreement.
2026-05-25
On /exit
Before
ECFR Resolution 2/4 (1999) on conventional mortgages was dismissed in one paragraph.
After
Added a dedicated scholarly note callout acknowledging ECFR as a legitimate scholarly body whose position deserves respectful engagement. Updated /institutional-fatawa with full ECFR treatment.
WhyECFR is a major scholarly body; dismissive treatment was inconsistent with the site's commitment to honest scholarly representation.
2026-05-27
On /stories
Before
Composite story badges were small and buried in the card footer.
After
Promoted COMPOSITE badges to prominent top-of-card position with stronger bg + border + uppercase styling. Each composite story now clearly marked as 'COMPOSITE · representative pattern' before the reader sees specific numbers.
WhyStory cards contain specific dollar figures (AUD 290k, 31 months, etc.). Disclaimer must be visible BEFORE the numbers, not after. Per critical review.
2026-05-27
On /colophon
Before
Operator's identity, qualifications, and chain of accountability were entirely invisible.
After
Added 'Who made this' section acknowledging: (a) site is currently maintained by a single AU Muslim layperson, not a scholar; (b) the corpus does the scholarly work, not the operator; (c) byline + advisor structure are on the roadmap once 1–2 scholar advisors join.
WhyPer critical review: anonymity in religious context is a trust ceiling. Honesty about the operator's role + limits restores some of that trust.
2026-05-27
On /why + /colophon
Before
Site referenced 'the four schools' throughout without explicit disclosure that this excludes Shia, Ibāḍī, and other Islamic traditions.
After
Added explicit Sunni-framing disclosure callouts on /why and /colophon: 'This site is grounded in mainstream Sunni fiqh; readers from Shia, Zaydī, Ibāḍī traditions should treat this as informative on Sunni positions and consult their own scholarly references for binding guidance.'
Why~15% of global Muslims are Shia. Implicit Sunni-only framing without disclosure misled Shia readers expecting universal Islamic guidance. Per critical review.
2026-10-01
On /us/audit/wahed-invest
Before
A green verdict for Wahed with no mention of regulatory history.
After
Discloses the SEC's 10 February 2022 settled order: Wahed had not adopted written policies and procedures to assure Shari'ah compliance on an ongoing basis; without admitting or denying the findings, it agreed to pay a $300,000 penalty.
WhyA material fact omitted under a positive verdict. Re-checked on the SEC's press release 2022-24.
2026-10-01
On /uk/audit/rizq-dissolved-cautionary
Before
Linked getrizq.co as the provider's site and said the Lithuanian e-money licence of 'Payrnet Limited' was revoked.
After
Link removed: the old domain now redirects to an unrelated gambling site. The revoked licence belonged to UAB Payrnet (Lithuania); the UK company PayrNet Limited is still active at Companies House.
WhyReader safety, and a conflation of two separate companies. Checked by direct fetch and Companies House on 2026-10-01.
2026-10-01
On /us/audit (several providers)
Before
Errors including: UIF's parent called 'federally chartered / OCC'; AMJA's 2014 Guidance ruling dated 'Feb 2014' and quoted as calling the contract 'more developed than alternatives'; Neeyah's AMJA fatwa dated 22 Jan 2026 and described as approving its 'executed' contract; NoorVest described as 'AAOIFI-certified'; two Ijara CDC quotes attributed to Ijara's own pages; Ameen described as California-only.
After
University Bank is a Michigan state-chartered bank supervised by the FDIC; AMJA met 15–17 Sept 2014 and called Guidance's contract 'sound in general'; the Neeyah fatwa was issued 14 Jan 2026 on the contract Neeyah submitted; NoorVest's 2026 pronouncement is from Amanie Advisors' board (NoorVest says AAOIFI did not issue it); the Ijara quotes are attributed to the third-party site they came from; Ameen invests in California and Texas.
WhyFound by an independent fact-check pass and each re-verified on the primary source (AMJA, FDIC, SEC adviser database, provider pages) before changing.
2026-10-01
On / (home page)
Before
'1 clearly clean' provider shown beside 'not one is a clean, settled permissible', and a count described as covering four countries when Australia's providers were not counted.
After
Label changed to 'likely permissible' (the one green verdict is conditional); the count is described as US, UK and Canada, with Australia's separate audit noted.
WhyThe page contradicted itself and overstated what was counted.
2026-10-01
On /references, /trade, /playbook/career, /corpus/curated
Before
Named 'Sh. Abdul-Latif Finch' as founder of the Lamppost Education Initiative, and carried a 'documented position' attributed to him with no named source (its own note said it was not verbatim).
After
Lamppost's own site names Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali as its founding director and has no one by that name. The attribution is corrected and the unsourced entry removed from the corpus.
WhyThe site's rule is that a documented position must come from a named, published source. This one could not be traced to any.
2026-10-01
On /references, /allies, /corpus/youtube, provider audits
Before
About 20 dead citation links (closed domains, moved pages, renamed YouTube channels), including the Gatehouse product guide behind its quoted 7.25% SVR.
After
Replaced with verified current pages (e.g. ISRA Institute at INCEIF, IsDB Institute, Salaam for Crescent Wealth, Gatehouse's 4 Sept 2026 guide, which still states 7.25%) or a labelled archived copy; one unverifiable listing (Hayat Wallet) removed.
WhyA citation that no longer opens cannot be checked by readers.
2026-10-01
On /invest
Before
A 'Real performance' table of one-, five- and ten-year returns for nine funds and indices, past-return figures on every fund card, and a claim that halal equity 'consistently delivered 8–11% real' returns.
After
Removed. None of the figures had a source or date, and the fee for one fund contradicted another page. The page now explains where to get dated figures (fund fact sheets and PDS).
WhyThis site does not publish numbers it cannot point to.
2026-10-01
On /ca/audit (several providers)
Before
Among others: EQRAZ described as not covered by AMJA; Manzil's AMJA ruling described as 'out of necessity'; UM Financial's accused described as its 'founders' with no mention of the 2019 acquittal; Tjara described as the co-owner funding the home; Habib Canadian's Islamic window dated ~2024.
After
AMJA ruled EQRAZ's murābaḥah 'permissible in cases of need' (1 June 2026); Manzil's ruling is 'out of need'; UM's CEO and religious-board chair are described by role, the charges as alleged, and both as acquitted (7 June 2019); Tjara calls itself 'a referral agent' for unnamed funding partners; Habib's Sirat window launched in 2026.
WhyFound by an independent fact-check and re-verified on AMJA's site, provider pages and court reporting before changing.
2026-10-01
On /audit (Australia)
Before
BARAQAH framed around a 'NAB Islamic home loan' pathway with a red-verdict hypothetical; Afiyah said to hold a credit licence; Halal Mortgage Australia called a brokerage; EFSOL's former director described as facing charges; Ijarah Finance's certificate said to be unpublished; Crescent Wealth's dead underperformance link.
After
BARAQAH's own page says NAB does not offer Islamic home loans to individuals (NAB's product is for business customers); Afiyah is an authorised credit representative; Halal Mortgage Australia is a referral service; the director was sentenced on 6 August 2026; the FSAC certificate is published with six signatories; Crescent Wealth is now Salaam, and its options are on APRA's 2023 list of failing products.
WhyRe-verified on each firm's own site, ASIC and APRA before changing.
2026-10-01
On /tools/zakat, /tools/mawarith, /exit, /exit-engine
Before
Typing a decimal point was dropped (a silver price of 1.87 became 187, so A$50,000 read as 'no zakāt due'); the bequest cap used the gross estate; a lone spouse's estate left most of it unallocated without saying so; /exit counted existing savings as a gain for two strategies and could recommend an exit the household could not afford; tools reverted to Australian figures on a fresh visit.
After
Decimals are kept as typed; the one-third bequest cap is applied after funeral costs and debts; the unallocated remainder is shown with a note to ask a faraḍī; savings are counted on both sides; unaffordable exits are not recommended, and a line under each pick says the ten-year figures are rough and not directly comparable; tools follow the reader's country.
WhyReproduced by a code audit and fixed with added tests (exit 165, inheritance 68 passing).
2026-10-01
On /uk/audit (several providers)
Before
Among others: deposit protection stated as £85,000 for Gatehouse, Al Rayan and QIB; Al Rayan described as having stopped all new home finance, with the wrong Sharia committee; StrideUp's minimum deposit given as 15%; Offa's certifying scholars said to be unpublished; Yielders' certification dated 2021; Habib Bank Zurich's UK history dated to the 1960s.
After
FSCS deposit protection has been £120,000 since 1 December 2025; Al Rayan's retail plan is temporarily withdrawn for UK residents while Premier Home Finance is advertised to five GCC countries, with its UK committee named correctly; StrideUp asks for 10%; Offa names Amanah Advisors and Mufti Faraz Adam; Yielders was certified in 2017 by Sheikh Abu Eesa; HBZ has operated in the UK since 1974.
WhyFound by an independent fact-check and re-verified on the FSCS site and each provider's own pages before changing.
2026-10-01
On /us/audit/american-finance-house-lariba
Before
Quoted LARIBA's contract wording that, by the entry's own note, came from search-engine summaries because LARIBA's site was unreachable; two fields also contradicted each other on whether LARIBA held title or only a lien.
After
Quotation marks removed and the description marked unverified; the entry now rests on what can be checked: AMJA's 2014 ruling, its October 2023 update, and the April 2026 merger into UIF.
WhySearch summaries are not sources on this site, and LARIBA's own pages are no longer online.
On corrections
"The classical scholars revised their own positions when better evidence arrived. Imam al-Shāfiʿī famously had a 'new madhab' in Egypt that differed from his 'old madhab' in Iraq. Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal recanted positions in his old age. The Sunnah of scholarship is not certainty; it is the willingness to be corrected by truth."