🇺🇸 America's Growing Halal Investment Ecosystem

In a week where we saw the battle of the Hudas (beauty magnate versus reality star), New York joining London in electing a Muslim mayor (can’t imagine anyone will have an issue with that), and the detention of British journalist Sami Hamdi by ICE, Musletter will take a deep breath and bring you all the business news you need. (Oh, and we heard you loud and clear – expect some big changes in Musletter starting next edition.) But first…

…here’s what’s in store today:

Let’s jump right in!

Ever considered making an investment? Ever tried to check which companies are Sharia-compliant and quickly felt a migraine coming on?

Help is at hand. With the global Islamic finance industry estimated at $3.6 trillion, Bloomberg News reports a new generation of financially savvy Muslims wants ethical investing options.

Experts in Islamic law like Joe Bradford (an adviser for Zoya Finance) are up for the job and form just part of a growing Islamic finance ecosystem that includes fintech platforms and screening tools like Wahed Invest, Islamicly and Musaffa.

Plus, funds and investment managers like Wahed FTSE USA Shariah ETF (HLAL), SP Funds Dow Jones Global Sukuk ETF (SPSK), Amana Mutual Funds, Azzad Funds, and ShariaPortfolio.

So whether ‘non-fungible tokens’ are part of your daily discourse or if it all sounds like something you use to kill mold spores, the tools now exist to help make informed decisions.

You may know Amjad Masad. 

American entrepreneur and engineer, he was born in Jordan, to a Palestinian father and an Algerian mother. (Here he is chopping it up with Joe Rogan about what it’s like being in tech and speaking up for the Palestinians.)

Masad founded AI coding startup Replit and, in a recent interview with Business Insider said he expects the company to reach $1 billion in revenue by late 2026, up from $240 million this year.

Replit is like the ChatGPT of coding. It pretty much creates software for you, even if you have no coding expertise. It’s very smart.

The company recently partnered with HUMAIN to make AI-powered coding accessible in Saudi Arabia, and also launched an AI learning assistant to transform education in Jordan.

Today, the Silicon Valley-based company is valued at $3 billion and has 150,000 paying customers among 40 million users.

If you’re standing in the supermarket wondering if the item you’re about to purchase is helping support the genocide of the Palestinian people, then it’s time to download Boycat.

Tech worker Adil Abbuthalha created the app in 2023, which now boasts over a million global users. He told TRT he was disillusioned with big tech and wanted to make a difference. 

A big difference. The app tracks over 10 million products and has helped divest $250 million.

Okay, you can go back to your shopping now.

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‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat.’

It’s not clear if the Indonesian navy actually quoted Jaws when they reached out to Türkiye, but either way, the two nations have made a deal.

Türkiye is going to help Indonesia modernize its navy – and for the first time export its locally designed multi-purpose frigate. If you’re not up to date on your frigates vs corvettes vs destroyers, then join the club. Here’s an explainer.

The company behind the deal is TAIS, which was established by the owners of Türkiye’s leading shipyards, and will be exporting two I-class frigates as well as Turkish technology for Indonesia’s navy.

It’s the full package. ‘The head, the tail, the whole damn thing.’

Ready for another GCC mega development? Thought so.

King Salman Gate will be a new mixed-use development in Makkah, spanning 12 million sq. meters and sitting adjacent to al-Masjid al-Haram. 

The project will make it much easier for pilgrims to reach the Grand Mosque and also offer residential, hospitality, and commercial spaces – plus, an area for 900,000 worshippers.

It’s about looking back as well as forward, and the development will aim to blend modern architecture with Makkah’s heritage by restoring 19,000 sq. meters of historic sites.

In September, it was announced very loudly and very bigly that there would be a $100,000 fee to get the ‘specialty occupations’ American H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers. 

Gulp.

But this could spell good news for the Middle East, and particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the race to attract global tech talent.

These countries are putting in place a number of policies including new visa categories, low taxes, and good old-fashioned high pay – as a way to attract and retain tech workers.

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Okay, thanks for reading. I’m off to see if I can buy one of those frigates to use on the duck pond near my house.

Till next time…

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