Template:Sharia investing common intro

Sharia investing
Islamic principles discourage followers from promoting or advancing certain activities. Some of these activities are discouraged on religious grounds, but some are societal or environmental. Haram (forbidden) activities include: And: While the first four of these areas are usually non-negotiable, less conservative interpretations might be more relaxed about tobacco, pork, cloning, and financing. Conversely, more conservative interpretations might add the following to the list of forbidden activities:
 * Weapons and armaments manufacture
 * Alcohol
 * Gambling
 * Adult entertainment and pornography
 * Tobacco
 * Pork, pork-related products, and non-halal food production
 * Cloning
 * Non-Islamic financing
 * All financial services
 * Music and video entertainment
 * Hotels and retail that include alcohol operations

Sharia-compliant funds
The number of Sharia-compliant exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds is limited. The screening process for their contents can be complex, lengthy, and consequently expensive. As a result, those that do exist have some possible drawbacks:
 * Relatively high expense ratios (TERs) compared to ETFs and funds that have a wider investment remit
 * Lower diversification, because of the restricted set of allowable investments
 * Potential low daily trading volume for ETFs
 * Likely lower assets under management, increasing the chance of fund closure
 * Screening may result in a bias towards certain sectors. For example, healthcare and information technology.

Because of these limitations, some Sharia investors may find it acceptable to instead use Socially responsible investing (SRI) or Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) funds, or to use a selection of sector-specific ETFs, in place of fully compliant Sharia funds or ETFs.