Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, Amazon, Meta, Tesla — are they halal?

"Is Apple halal?", "Can I buy Nvidia?" — these are the questions we get most. In this article we won't write a short "yes" or "no", and for a reason: halal status can change with every quarterly report, and an answer frozen into text quietly goes stale. Instead we show how to check each company and what to pay attention to. The current status lives on each company's own page.

How the check works — in one minute

We screen in two steps based on AAOIFI Standard No. 21:

1. Business activity. What does the company mainly earn its money from? Banking, insurance, gambling, alcohol, tobacco and similar lines are rejected outright.
2. Three financial ratios. Interest-bearing debt, interest-bearing assets (cash and bonds) and the share of non-permissible income must stay under the limits. The limits: methodology.

Every stock page shows the formula, figures, report date and last check time for all three ratios.

Why the giants often pass the ratios easily

The denominator of the debt and interest-bearing-asset ratios is market capitalisation (we use the average over the last 36 months, not today's price). For a trillion-dollar company, even tens of billions of debt looks small as a ratio.

But that is no guarantee:

• a long price decline drags the average capitalisation down too, and the ratio rises;
• borrowing heavily for a big acquisition can move the numbers fast;
• however big the capitalisation, the business activity step is checked separately — a company with clean finances can still be rejected for what it does.

So below we look at which question matters for each company.

What to look at in each company

Apple

iPhone, Mac, iPad, Watch and AirPods. More than half of its money comes from the iPhone and roughly a quarter from Services (App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, the Google search deal). The point that raises questions is Apple Music and Apple TV+. We mark companies whose core business is film or music as "doubtful", but device makers are not included in that (details). Current status: AAPL page.

Microsoft

Windows, Microsoft 365, the Azure cloud platform, LinkedIn, GitHub, Xbox. Most of its money comes from Azure and business subscriptions. Because of its large cash and investment portfolio, the interest-bearing assets and interest income ratios are worth a look. Current status: MSFT page.

Nvidia

GPUs for AI data centres, gaming graphics cards, chips for cars and robots; most revenue comes from data centres. The business side is simple — the main question is the financial ratios. Current status: NVDA page.

Alphabet (Google)

Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail. About three quarters of revenue comes from advertising. We reviewed the advertising platform by hand on 16 July 2026: advertising is not a prohibited activity in itself (major halal ETFs take the same approach). Current status: GOOGL page.

Amazon

A mixed business: online and physical retail (Whole Foods), the marketplace, Prime, advertising and AWS cloud — AWS produces most of the profit. Whole Foods and the marketplace sell alcohol and pork products. In our manual review on 13 August 2026 that share was assessed as below AAOIFI's 5% non-permissible income limit (the same logic as Walmart and Costco). Current status: AMZN page.

Meta

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger. Almost all of its money (~98%) comes from ads inside those apps; Reality Labs (VR) still runs at a loss. The approach to advertising is the same as for Alphabet (review of 13 August 2026). Current status: META page.

Tesla

Electric cars, energy-storage batteries and solar panels; about 80% of revenue comes from car sales. Tesla also offers buyers vehicle financing and, in some US states, insurance — pay attention to the revenue share of such segments. Current status: TSLA page.

What halal ETFs say — and why the answers differ

The holdings of ETFs overseen by a Shariah board are an independent "second opinion". We compared the two best known:

• SPUS (S&P 500-based, SP Funds) — according to the holdings file dated 2 October 2026 it holds Nvidia (14.26%), Apple (12.30%), Microsoft (9.72%), Alphabet (5.05%) and Tesla (2.55%). Amazon and Meta are not held.
• HLAL (FTSE Shariah USA-based, Wahed) — according to its latest N-PORT filing with the SEC (as of 31 May 2026) it holds Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Tesla. Nvidia and Amazon are not held.

So two serious Shariah ETFs gave two different answers to the same question: Meta is in one and not the other; Nvidia the other way round. That is not an error — the standards differ: is the denominator market capitalisation or total assets, is the limit 30% or 33%, how is each industry treated. ETFs don't publish why they left a particular stock out, so "not in the ETF" does not mean "haram".

When different sources give different answers about one stock, first ask which standard and which date's data were used.

Practical tips

• Check the status on the page, not in an article or a forum: halal stocks list.
• Look again after earnings season. Why a status can change: in this article.
• Purify your dividends. Even a company found halal earns a little interest: how purification is calculated.
• Seven stocks are not a portfolio. These companies are concentrated in one sector; one piece of news can pull them all down together.

This article is for information only and is not a fatwa. Consult your own scholar for a final religious ruling. Not investment advice either.