Shariah Governance

In Islamic jurisprudence, any predetermined charge levied purely for the passage of time or the lending of money is strictly prohibited as riba (interest). Across all Qantara funds, returns are generated solely from tangible economic activity, real asset ownership, and commercial risk:

• Income Fund: Returns represent earned commercial margins and yields from Shari'ah-compliant private credit and financing structures (such as Murabaha, Tawarruq, Diminishing Musharakah, and Sukuk) backed by real assets and commercial transactions.
• Growth Fund: Returns stem from operational business profits, equity growth, enterprise dividends, and realized capital appreciation from investee companies.
• Property Fund: Returns derive from physical tenant rental cash flows and long-term capital appreciation of tenanted residential, commercial, and industrial real estate.

Because returns arise from real asset productivity and commercial performance rather than conventional interest-bearing loans, they are structured to comply with Shari'ah as approved by the SAC, with any incidental non-compliant income purified.

Qantara's appointed Shari'ah Advisor is iConsult Africa. The Shari'ah Advisory Committee (SAC) comprises independent, accredited scholars in Islamic commercial jurisprudence (Fiqh al-Mu'amalat) who operate independently of Qantara's commercial interests and executive management.

Scope of Approval: Every investment pool operates under the oversight of Qantara's independent Shariah Advisory Committee (SAC), which reviews and approves investment mandates, master fund structures, screening criteria, transactional contracts, and operational guidelines at the Pool level in accordance with AAOIFI Governance Standards.

When It Arises: Purification (Taharah) arises whenever incidental, non-compliant income enters a fund pool—typically when short-term cash holdings earn unavoidable incidental interest during bank clearing transit, or if an approved company earns a minor impermissible non-operating revenue within screening thresholds.

Computation: In alignment with AAOIFI Governance Standards No. 3 and No. 11, the fund administrator identifies and isolates 100% of non-compliant income at the gross level prior to computing investor profit distributions. Investors never receive tainted returns.

Disbursement: All purified amounts are paid directly to vetted, independent public-benefit organizations (PBOs) and charitable institutions approved by the SAC. Neither Qantara nor investors retain any financial benefit or tax-deduction advantage from purified funds.

The Zakat base is calculated annually for each fund using the Net Working Capital / Net Asset Value (NAV) method prescribed by AAOIFI Shari'ah Standard No. 35 (Zakah) and Financial Accounting Standard No. 9 (Zakah) for accounting.

Following the annual financial year-end audit, Qantara provides every investor with an individualized Annual Zakat Statement specifying the exact zakatable amount per unit held. This enables investors and their tax/financial advisers to discharge their Zakat obligations accurately and with complete confidence.

Absence of Capital Guarantee: Under Islamic legal principles and South African regulatory requirements, Qantara does not offer any form of capital or return guarantee. A guarantee of principal in a profit-sharing or equity partnership contract is impermissible (batil) under Islamic law because it converts an investment into a guaranteed loan with interest (riba).

Treatment of Loss: All capital investments carry commercial risk. In the event of a genuine commercial loss, capital loss is borne by the capital provider (Rabb-al-Mal) in proportion to their share of the pool, while the manager foregoes performance compensation. In accordance with AAOIFI Shari'ah Standards (SS 13 and SS 46), the manager is liable in cases of misconduct (ta'addi), negligence (taqsir), or breach of the mandate's terms.

A screen breach occurs if an investee asset or business subsequently breaches Shari'ah quantitative thresholds (such as debt-to-market-capitalization or cash-deposit ratios exceeding AAOIFI limits due to corporate borrowing or equity market changes).

Rectification & Divestment Protocol: Once identified, the breach is immediately logged with the SAC. The fund is granted a mandatory rectification window (typically 90 to 180 days) for the business to restore compliance. If compliance is not restored, the fund is obligated under SAC mandate to execute an orderly divestment. Any income generated during the non-compliant breach period is 100% purified to approved charities.

In Islamic contract law, terminology reflects the true legal and spiritual nature of transactions:

All financial advisers, intermediaries, and marketing materials are bound by our Shari'ah governance framework to uphold these terminology standards in investor communications.

Advisers, wealth managers, and investors who require technical Shari'ah clarification or wish to inspect SAC certifications may contact the dedicated Shari'ah Secretariat:

Submissions requiring formal scholar deliberation are tabled at the subsequent SAC quarterly sitting or resolved through an ad-hoc resolution, with written confirmation issued to the enquirer.