Structure
No-load mutual fund of Shariah-screened equities, advised by Allied Asset Advisors
Full wordingRegulated as
The adviser is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 112441). The fund is a registered mutual fund; its prospectus was not read for this entry.
Full wordingShariah oversight
The site lists 'Sheikh Muzammil Siddiqi · Principle Shariah Advisor' alongside the investment team (Bassam Osman, Chairman & Portfolio Manager). No multi-scholar board or external certifier is named on the page.
Full wordingEstablished
Allied Asset Advisors Inc is SEC-registered as an investment adviser with an approval date of 3 March 2000 (SEC adviser database, CRD 112441, Hometown, Illinois). The fund site says 'Allied Asset Advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor, is advisor to Iman Fund'; the SEC record spells the entity 'INC'.
Full wordingStructureThe fund describes itself as no-load ('While the fund is no-load, management fees and other expenses still apply') and as holding shari'ah-compliant equities. The screening rules (which ratios, which sectors) and the purification method were not found on the pages read.
A long-running US no-load mutual fund whose site says its portfolios are 'managed and supervised by high-caliber investment professionals and Muslim scholars'. The adviser is SEC-registered. Yellow with low confidence because the site names only one Shariah adviser, the screening thresholds and purification policy were not found on the pages read, and the fee figures circulating in secondary sources were not confirmed in a document we opened.
Provider’s website ↗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
Allied Asset Advisors Inc is SEC-registered as an investment adviser with an approval date of 3 March 2000 (SEC adviser database, CRD 112441, Hometown, Illinois). The fund site says 'Allied Asset Advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor, is advisor to Iman Fund'; the SEC record spells the entity 'INC'.
Regulatory standing
The adviser is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 112441). The fund is a registered mutual fund; its prospectus was not read for this entry.
Shariah board
Who certifies it
The site lists 'Sheikh Muzammil Siddiqi · Principle Shariah Advisor' alongside the investment team (Bassam Osman, Chairman & Portfolio Manager). No multi-scholar board or external certifier is named on the page.
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.
Independent scholarly review
What independent scholars have said
No ruling by a body outside the adviser was located.
Independent commentary is weighed, not treated as a final personal ruling. A body that rules one way is one respected voice, not a universal consensus — and rulings can lag changes to a live contract.
How the structure works
The mechanics, in principle
The fund describes itself as no-load ('While the fund is no-load, management fees and other expenses still apply') and as holding shari'ah-compliant equities. The screening rules (which ratios, which sectors) and the purification method were not found on the pages read.
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 Iman Fund (Allied Asset Advisors)’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.
An equity fund, so the test is screening integrity rather than a debt contract. The verifiable facts are the SEC registration and the single named adviser; the screen itself and the purification policy are not public on the site, and the expense figures reported elsewhere (a total cost around 1.10% with a reduced adviser fee) were not confirmed in a document we opened, so they are not stated here. Honest limit: prospectus and annual report not read.
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 Iman Fund (Allied Asset Advisors)’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 Iman Fund (Allied Asset Advisors), 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 screening standard and thresholds does the fund apply, and who audits them?
How is impermissible income purified, and is it reported to shareholders?
What are the current total annual fund operating expenses in the prospectus?
The honest gap
What we have not verified
- The screening thresholds and purification policy.
- Current fees (prospectus not read).
- Whether any scholar beyond the named adviser reviews the holdings.
The reasoning
Why this verdict, and not another
A verdict is only as honest as the reasoning behind it. Here is why Iman Fund (Allied Asset Advisors) sits where it does — what keeps it off a clean pass, and what keeps it off an outright avoid.
Not a clean pass because
The screen, purification and fees are not public on the site, and only one Shariah adviser is named.
Not an outright avoid because
An SEC-registered adviser running an equity fund with a named Shariah adviser; no debt contract is involved.
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.