A member-governed Islamic investment club built on profit-sharing, not interest-bearing loans
Qirād Club connects capital providers with Muslim SMEs through a structured partnership model rooted in Qur’ānic ethics, Mālikī jurisprudence, and modern governance — independently administered by ISAACS Attorneys as appointed wakīl and custodian.
It exists for two reasons:
Qirād Club is designed to serve both sides of the partnership: investors seeking lawful profit and entrepreneurs seeking halal growth capital.
The firm finds and vets the deal. You receive the offer 30 days before deployment. If you want in, you simply sign and deposit — no voting, no committee.
The firm sources a Sharīʿah-compliant, commercially viable opportunity and structures it as a valid qirād under the Mālikī school.
Every member is sent the full investment offer — terms, profit ratio, and risks — at least 30 days before capital is deployed.
If you want to take part, you simply sign the agreement and deposit your funds into the firm's trust account. That's it.
The qirād (muḍārabah) is one of Islam's oldest commercial institutions. Traditionally it often linked one capital provider with one trader. Our club revives the same ethical core in a structured modern form: a member-governed investment club that channels halal equity to Muslim SMEs.
In classical qirād, a rabb al-māl (capital provider) entrusts funds to a muḍārib (entrepreneur) who applies skill and effort. Profits are divided by pre-agreed ratio; losses fall to capital unless the muḍārib was negligent or in breach of trust.
The Mālikī school's relative flexibility — particularly on profit-ratio structuring, the permissibility of investing in mixed-asset enterprises with conditions, and its openness to custom ('urf) as a source of law — makes it especially well-suited to contemporary investment contexts.
Our club adds modern safeguards: structured due diligence, defined governance, ring-fenced capital handling, liability clauses grounded in South African law, and Sharīʿah compliance review by the firm before capital is deployed.
This is not financial speculation. It is principled risk-sharing designed to pursue halal profit while also helping build real businesses inside the Muslim community.
Capital, enterprise, oversight, and accountability work together in one ethical structure.
Members who contribute capital. They share in profit and bear financial risk in the event of a lawful loss. They do not manage the business day to day.
The operating partner who contributes skill, labour, and time. The muḍārib earns a share of profits and is accountable for negligence, breach of trust, or acting outside the agreed mandate.
The firm ensures each investment is Sharīʿah-compliant and commercially viable, provides annual reporting, and manages exit and dissolution. Each investment round runs to a defined term, with agreed exit and settlement provisions known from the outset.
The club appoints the firm as its independent wakīl (agent), custodian, and administrator. The firm sits between the capital providers and the capital receivers — holding capital in trust, vetting each deal, and settling returns — for a known, pre-agreed fee. It is not a partner in the qirād and takes no share of the profit.
Members contribute capital to a vetted, member-approved deal.
The entrepreneur applies skill and labour to the business.
Capital is received into the firm's attorney trust account under section 86 of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 — ring-fenced, never co-mingled with the firm's own funds, and released only once the deal is member-approved. The firm holds it as a trust (yad amāna), not as its own money.
As appointed wakīl, the firm connects capital providers with vetted capital receivers and administers the qirād agreement between them. It acts on the parties' mandate; it is not itself the rabb al-māl or the muḍārib.
The firm assesses each deal for commercial viability and engineers the contract to meet the requirements of a valid qirād under the Mālikī madhhab — confirming its Sharīʿah compliance before the offer is sent to members.
On conclusion, all proceeds return to the trust account. Each provider's capital is returned, the agreed profit share is distributed between providers and entrepreneur, and only then is the firm's invoiced fee drawn to its business account.
The firm is paid a wakāla fee of 2% of the capital committed to each investment — fixed and disclosed at signing, and covering structuring, custody, administration, and settlement. It is not a percentage of profit. Charging a percentage of a known principal (rather than an uncertain future profit) keeps the fee free of jahāla and of profit taken without a sharʿī cause. A minimum fee applies to smaller mandates, set out in the written mandate.
By law, interest accruing on attorney trust funds is paid to the Legal Practitioners' Fidelity Fund — not to the firm or to members. The firm therefore cannot profit from holding the capital, structurally protecting the arrangement from ribā.
The classical qirād is augmented with contemporary protections that do not compromise its ethical core — satisfying both Sharī'ah requirements and enforceability under South Africa's hybrid Roman-Dutch and constitutional legal order.
Capital is indexed to a commodity basket (gold + food staples) rather than nominal currency, protecting against inflationary erosion. This is consistent with Mālikī positions on the permissibility of specifying capital in stable units of value rather than depreciating fiat.
Mālikī PrecedentThe muḍārib accepts explicit liability for capital losses attributable to ta'addī (transgression) or taqṣīr (negligence). This maps directly onto the Roman-Dutch law of culpa and dolus as received in South African delict. Defined negligence triggers are enumerated in the contract schedule, enabling enforcement before the South African courts without distorting the qirād's risk-sharing structure.
Fiqh + Roman-Dutch DelictThe firm completes a due-diligence review before any investment decision, covering sector compliance, financial health, management integrity, market analysis, and reputational screening. A negative finding on any mandatory criterion is an automatic bar to investment.
Club Charter § 4All disputes are resolved first through a structured sulḥ (reconciliation) process facilitated by the firm. Failing that, the dispute is referred to the MJC Mediation Department for mediation and, if need be, binding arbitration — with any award enforceable under the South African Arbitration Act 42 of 1965 (as amended). South African courts recognise and enforce such awards, and the good-faith obligations of Roman-Dutch contract law reinforce the sulḥ process as a legitimate pre-litigation step.
MJC Mediation Department + SulḥInvestments in the following sectors are permanently excluded: alcohol, tobacco, conventional finance (ribā-based), weapons manufacture, gambling, adult entertainment, pork production. Additionally, enterprises with >30% revenue from ḥarām-adjacent activities are excluded unless effective separation can be demonstrated.
Sharī'ah Compliance MandateThe muḍārib must provide: monthly management accounts, quarterly narrative reports, access on request to underlying records, and immediate notification (within 48 hrs) of any material adverse event. Failure triggers a contractual right for investors to appoint a management observer.
Club Charter § 7The club appoints the firm as wakīl, custodian, and administrator under a written mandate. The firm receives member capital into its section 86 trust account, vets each deal for commercial viability and Mālikī qirād validity, administers the agreement, and settles returns. Its remuneration is a wakāla fee of 2% of the capital committed (subject to a minimum fee on smaller mandates) — fixed and disclosed at signing, never a profit share — so the firm carries no entitlement to the venture's profit and offers no guarantee of capital. Because it is a percentage of a known principal, not of an uncertain profit, the fee stays free of jahāla and preserves the qirād's risk-sharing intact between provider and entrepreneur.
Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, s 86 · Wakāla + IjāraSouth Africa's foundational private law is Roman-Dutch, not English common law. This is profoundly compatible with qirād: the Roman societas (partnership based on shared risk), bona fides (good faith in contract), laesio enormis (protection against grossly unfair bargains), and condictio sine causa (unjust enrichment recovery) all resonate directly with the ethical architecture of muḍārabah. The Constitution's s 39(2) further requires courts to develop private law in ways that promote its values — reinforcing equitable risk-sharing.
Roman-Dutch Law + Constitution s 39(2)The club is structured as a voluntary association with per-investment partnership agreements — a form recognised under South African law that does not trigger collective investment scheme regulation under the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act 45 of 2002, provided members are active partners rather than passive depositors. The firm acts only as appointed custodian and administrator (not as a discretionary fund manager), so capital is held in trust on members' mandate rather than pooled and deployed at the firm's discretion — keeping the active-partner characterisation intact. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) framework is monitored for any developments in Islamic finance regulation, including the Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill.
CISCA 45 of 2002 · COFI BillUnlike interest-based lending where return is fixed regardless of outcome, qirād distributes real profits by agreed ratio. The ratio is set per round and disclosed in each offer — reflecting Mālikī flexibility on ratio negotiation.
No vote, no committee, no application gauntlet. You receive each offer in advance and decide for yourself.
At least 30 days before deployment, every member is sent the full investment offer — the business, the terms, the 30 / 70 profit ratio, the firm's 2% fee, and the risks.
If you want in, you take part. If not, you do nothing and simply sit the round out. There is no vote and no obligation to participate in any deal.
Sign the agreement and deposit your funds into the firm's trust account (Legal Practice Act s 86). Your capital is deployed with the round and returned to trust at the end of the term.
Learn how membership works, what risks apply, and how capital is reviewed and deployed.
Investor ApplicationSubmit your business for review and see whether your model fits the Qirād structure.
Business EnquiryReceive pilot-phase updates, governance information, and guidance on how the model works.
Read the FAQQirād Club is both an information platform and an intake platform. Membership is open to individuals and institutions committed to ethical, Sharī'ah-compliant investment.
Once your application is reviewed, you may be invited to an orientation session covering the contract model, governance, risks, and current pipeline. Pilot-phase timing may vary depending on review volume.
Tiers simply reflect the size of your capital commitment. Profit is shared pro rata to the capital you contribute to a round, and you are never locked in beyond the term of any deal you choose to join.