One framework, four markets.
The principles scholars use to judge any investment, applied side by side to crypto, stocks, gold and currencies, and how every Barqish reading and screen fits inside them. Education, not advice, and not a fatwa.
1. The six principles
- No riba. No interest paid or earned as the substance of the deal. Incidental interest inside a business is tolerated within limits, then purified.
- No gharar. No excessive uncertainty: you must know what you are buying, and you cannot sell what you do not own or possess.
- No maysir. No gambling-like exposure where money changes hands on a mere chance of price movement without real ownership.
- Permissible activity. The business, the token’s use, the metal, the currency: each must serve something lawful.
- Ownership and possession. Pay and take possession before you resell. Spot, not futures; allocated, not paper.
- Purification and zakat. Give away impermissible income mixed into your returns, and pay zakat on holdings above the nisab.
2. The framework applied to each market
| Market | What passes | What fails | Screen used | Zakat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crypto | Spot purchase of a token with a permissible use, held in your own wallet or account | Leverage, futures, lending or “earn” yield, gambling and interest-based projects, meme tokens with no use | Barqish coin screening: purpose, riba, gharar, maysir, governance; scholars’ views with sources | 2.5% of value if held as savings above the nisab |
| Stocks | Shares of a permissible business within the debt, cash and income limits, bought spot | Banks, insurers, alcohol, gambling; companies over the ratio limits; margin and short selling | AAOIFI Standard 21 ratios from SEC filings (US); KMI-30 membership (Pakistan) | On the market value for traders; scholars differ for long-term holders |
| Gold and silver | Physical or allocated metal, paid in full, immediate possession | Unallocated accounts, instalments, futures, CFDs, leveraged gold | AAOIFI Standard 57 | 2.5% above 87.48 g gold or 612.36 g silver |
| Currencies | Spot exchange for real needs; holding currency you own | Forwards, futures, options, CFDs, leveraged forex even swap-free | Bay al-sarf rules (AAOIFI Standard 1) | As cash, above the nisab |
3. Where the reading fits
Permissibility and market conditions are two different questions, and Barqish keeps them apart. The screen answers the first: may this asset be held at all? The reading answers the second: what do the trend, momentum, drawdown and volatility look like today? A Favourable reading on a non-compliant asset changes nothing about its status. A Cautious reading on a compliant asset is not a reason to abandon a savings plan. The reading exists so that you understand what you are looking at before you decide anything, which is the whole purpose of the platform.
4. Our limits, stated plainly
- Barqish is not a broker, exchange, adviser or religious authority. It never holds your money and never sends you to a broker.
- Screening follows published standards and shows its numbers; a qualified scholar or dedicated screening service should confirm anything you act on.
- Readings come from transparent rules and are graded in public on the track record; they can be wrong.
- Scholars differ on crypto, on purification of gains and on zakat for long-term holdings. The scholars page shows the range with sources.
Questions people ask
What is the Islamic financial framework Barqish uses?
Six principles that scholars apply across every market: no riba (interest), no gharar (excessive uncertainty or selling what you do not own), no maysir (gambling), a permissible underlying activity, real ownership and possession before resale, and purification plus zakat on what you hold. Barqish applies them to crypto, stocks, gold and currencies and shows its reasoning in each case.
Is Barqish a fatwa service?
No. Barqish is an education and market-intelligence platform. Its screening follows published standards (AAOIFI, the PSX KMI-30 methodology and widely cited scholarly positions) and shows every number and source, but it is not a religious authority, a broker or an investment adviser. Where scholars differ, the disagreement is shown rather than hidden.
How does the Favourable / Neutral / Cautious reading fit the framework?
The framework decides whether an asset may be held at all; the reading describes the market conditions around it. A stock can be compliant and Cautious, or non-compliant and Favourable; the first word matters for permissibility, the second only for understanding timing and risk. Neither is an instruction to buy or sell.
Why spot only?
Spot means you pay in full and own the asset. Leverage adds interest-bearing debt, futures and CFDs add deferral and contracts for difference, and both add gambling-like exposure. Spot is the form the framework accepts across all four markets, which is why Barqish teaches nothing else.
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Barqish is an educational platform. Readings describe market conditions and are never instructions to buy or sell. Screening is educational and not a fatwa; where scholars differ we say so. Updated 29 September 2026.