AAOIFI

Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions. The primary international body that sets Shariah accounting, auditing, governance, and ethical standards for Islamic finance.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Bahrain, AAOIFI's standards are followed by institutions in over 45 countries. Its Shariah standards provide detailed guidance on permissible contract structures, investment screening, and financial reporting for Islamic financial products.

AAOIFI (the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions), based in Bahrain since 1991, publishes the Shariah, accounting, auditing, ethics, and governance standards that most of the global Islamic finance industry treats as its rulebook — over 100 standards covering contracts like Murabaha (Shariah Standard No. 8), Ijarah (No. 9), and investment Sukuk (No. 17). In some jurisdictions (Bahrain, UAE for Islamic banks) AAOIFI standards are legally binding; in the United States they are voluntary, but serious providers reference them anyway.

When a U.S. halal mortgage or investment provider says its product is 'AAOIFI-compliant,' it means the provider's Shariah board benchmarked the contract structure, fee treatment, and late-payment handling against the relevant AAOIFI standard. For consumers, asking 'which AAOIFI standard does this product follow, and where does it deviate?' is one of the fastest ways to test how rigorous a provider's compliance program actually is, because deviations from AAOIFI's screening thresholds or contract sequencing are exactly where scholars disagree about whether a product remains halal.