Halal ETF Explorer
Every Shariah-compliant ETF a Canadian can realistically buy. Shariah screening removes businesses Islam does not allow (such as alcohol, gambling and interest-based lending) and companies with too much debt. Filter by asset class and listing, and see what each fund's MER (its yearly fee) costs on your amount.
Rates & rules verified · July 2026Primary sources: Wealthsimple – Shariah World Equity ETF (WSHR) · Wahed – FTSE USA Shariah ETF (HLAL)
What each fund costs you per year
Each fund's yearly cost on the amount you enter, cheapest first, in the same order as the list below.
MER only unless you pick an account: the TFSA view adds the US withholding a TFSA can't recover, and in an RRSP the tax treaty waives it.
The funds, cheapest first
Tap any fund for holdings, yield, index & how to buy it. Fee/yr = your amount × MER; in the TFSA view the column adds the US withholding a TFSA can't recover (MER + WHT/yr). ~ = approximate fee: not confirmed on the provider's own page, or the provider's documents disagree. Verify before buying. Active = a manager picks the holdings (no index). Line closes = one of the fund's exchange listings is ending; check the one you hold.
What converting to US dollars costs
A US-listed fund trades in US dollars. This compares converting your amount in, and back out when you sell, through a broker or with Norbert's gambit, next to one year of the fund's cost.
Round trip on the same amount, before any growth. Every conversion route is compared in the currency exchange calculator.
How Canadians buy these funds
CAD-listed (WSHR)
One order at any Canadian broker, settled in Canadian dollars, eligible for TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and RESP accounts. No currency conversion, the trade-off is a higher MER than the cheapest US and UCITS options and one fund choice.
US-listed (SPUS, HLAL, MNZL, SPSK, SPRE, SPWO, SPTE, UMMA, AMGR, AMEI, AMEM)
You need US dollars first. Retail brokers typically charge around 1.5% on the conversion each way, often more than a year of MER on the same money. Run your conversion through the currency exchange calculator to see what it costs, and look up Norbert's gambit at your broker to shrink it.
The RRSP vs TFSA withholding nuance
US-listed fund distributions face US withholding tax: the Canada–US treaty cuts it from 30% to 15%, and in an RRSP or RRIF it is waived entirely (Article XXI treats them as pension accounts). A TFSA, FHSA or RESP gets no treaty relief, 15% comes off every distribution and cannot be recovered. In a non-registered account the 15% is generally recoverable through the foreign tax credit. The exemption only applies to holding the US-listed fund directly; a Canadian fund wrapping US stocks pays the withholding inside the fund regardless of account. UCITS equity funds (London or other European listings) lose 15% of their US dividends inside the Irish fund in every account type, but avoid US estate-tax exposure for large holdings.
Non-registered extras
Sukuk and REIT distributions are foreign income (fully taxable) in taxable accounts, and foreign holdings with over $100,000 CAD in cost trigger T1135 reporting.
Not ETFs, but part of the picture
How this works
In 30 seconds
- A halal ETF holds only what passes Shariah screening: checks that remove businesses Islam does not allow and companies with too much debt.
- The list shows each such fund a Canadian can buy, cheapest first by MER, the yearly fee the fund takes from your money.
- Sukuk are Islamic bonds. They pay profit or rent from real assets, not interest.
- Active funds have a manager who picks the holdings. The other funds follow an index.
- US-listed funds need US dollars. In a TFSA, 15% of their payouts goes to US tax. In an RRSP, it does not.
What makes an ETF halal
Most funds here track an index built with Shariah screens that a board of scholars certifies; the active funds apply the same kind of screens to the stocks or sukuk their managers pick. Two layers: business-activity screens remove companies earning material revenue from alcohol, gambling, tobacco, conventional banking and insurance, pork, adult entertainment and weapons; financial-ratio screens then remove companies too dependent on interest, under AAOIFI-style rules (AAOIFI, the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, sets one widely used standard), debt, interest-bearing securities and receivables must each stay below roughly 30–33% of market capitalization (MSCI's Islamic series uses total assets as the denominator, which is why its lists differ). Purification: a screened company can still earn a little income from sources that are not allowed, such as interest on its cash. That share is estimated and given to charity, by the fund or by you.
The fee math
Est. fee/yr = amount × MER. A $10,000 position at a 0.56% MER costs about $56 a year; at 0.30% it costs $30. The MER is deducted inside the fund daily, so you never see a bill for it.
MER is not the only cost
US-listed and UCITS funds add currency-conversion costs (roughly 1.5% each way at retail rates), bid-ask spreads (wider on small funds), and withholding-tax drag that depends on your account type, see the buying guide above. A slightly higher MER on a CAD-listed fund can be cheaper overall for small amounts traded often.
Account-aware cost view
Switch the Account filter to TFSA and the fee/yr column becomes MER + WHT/yr: the fund's MER plus the US dividend withholding a TFSA cannot recover, and the funds re-rank by that figure. Using each fund's published distribution yield, a US-listed fund in a TFSA (or FHSA/RESP) loses distribution yield × 15% of your amount to US withholding. In an RRSP the Canada-US tax treaty waives it entirely, so the RRSP view ranks by MER alone. Funds that publish no yield show "MER + WHT n/a" rather than a guessed number and sort last. The default MER-only view and any older shared link are unchanged. This mirrors the withholding-tax rules in the "How Canadians buy these funds" section above.
This is not an all-in cost. A fund that holds foreign stocks also loses withholding inside the fund on their dividends, in every account type: WSHR on its US and overseas holdings, the UCITS equity funds (about 15% on US dividends), and US-listed global funds such as SPWO and UMMA on their non-US holdings. The fund data here has no figure for that layer, so it is left out rather than guessed, which flatters those funds against US-only funds like SPUS, HLAL and MNZL. Neither view counts currency conversion, bid-ask spreads or taxes on distributions in a non-registered account.
The yearly cost chart
One bar per fund, in exactly the order of the list, so the outlined top bar is the fund in the headline. Each bar is amount × MER, and in the TFSA view a second segment adds amount × distribution yield × 15% for a US-listed fund; the bar's total is the same figure the list and headline show. With the amount at $0 every dollar figure would be $0, so the bars show the same cost as a % of the amount instead. The ranking uses that % too, so the order never changes with the amount.
The currency conversion chart
A US-listed fund trades in US dollars. The chart prices converting your amount in when you buy and back out when you sell, at the same amount both ways (no growth): through the broker's own conversion at 2 × pct × amount, and with Norbert's gambit (buy DLR, journal it to DLR.U, sell) at 2 × (journal fee + spread × amount), using the lowest posted fee of each kind in the site's conversion-route data, dated in the chart note. The gold bar is one year of the cheapest US-listed fund's cost in your view, as shown in the list. The chart does not compute a break-even year against WSHR: WSHR's own withholding inside the fund (see above) is missing from the data and is comparable to, or larger than, the fee gap itself, so such a figure would be badly overstated.
Data vintage
Fund facts are as of . Fees marked ~ are approximate: they came from fund databases, or the provider's own documents disagree. Providers change fees, verify the MER, ISIN and screening on the provider's page before you buy.
What this doesn't model
Returns, yields and distributions; bid-ask spreads; FX conversion costs in the fee column and the yearly cost chart (the fee math assumes the money is already invested; conversion has its own chart); withholding paid inside a fund on its foreign dividends; taxes you may owe on distributions or gains; zakat; broker commissions or account minimums. Sorting by cost is not a recommendation, mandate, screening standard and account fit matter as much as fee.
Common questions
What makes an ETF halal (Shariah-compliant)?
A halal ETF holds only what passes Shariah screening. Most track an index that screens out prohibited business activities (alcohol, gambling, tobacco, conventional banking and insurance, pork, adult entertainment, weapons) and applies financial-ratio screens, typically debt, interest-bearing securities and receivables each kept under roughly 30–33% of market cap or assets under AAOIFI-style rules. Actively managed halal ETFs apply the same kind of screens to the holdings their managers pick. A Shariah board certifies the index or the fund, and small amounts of incidental impure income are purified by donating them to charity.
Can I hold halal ETFs in a TFSA or RRSP?
Yes. The exchange-listed funds here are eligible for TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and RESP accounts at Canadian brokers (UCITS funds listed in London or elsewhere in Europe need a broker with international access, such as IBKR Canada). The account changes the tax drag: distributions from US-listed funds lose 15% US withholding in a TFSA but are exempt in an RRSP.
Why does it matter whether a halal ETF is US-listed or CAD-listed?
US-listed funds trade in USD, so you pay a currency conversion (roughly 1.5% retail spread) each way, and the 15% US dividend withholding applies in a TFSA but not in an RRSP under Article XXI of the Canada–US tax treaty. WSHR is the only CAD-listed halal equity ETF, no FX conversion, though it has its own fund-level foreign withholding in any account type.
What is purification (dividend cleansing) in halal investing?
Even screened companies can earn small amounts of impure income, such as interest on corporate cash. Index providers estimate this fraction and fund managers or investors donate it to charity so returns stay compliant. Several providers publish per-share purification amounts each year.
What is the lowest-cost way to start halal investing in Canada?
The simplest start is WSHR at any Canadian broker. CAD-listed, one trade, no currency conversion, 0.56% MER. Lower MERs exist US-listed (MNZL 0.40%, SPUS 0.45%) and on the London Stock Exchange (ISDU and ISWD at 0.30%), but they add FX costs and account-tax nuance. In an RRSP, US-listed funds also avoid US dividend withholding.