Wahed Invest Wahed FTSE USA Shariah ETF

Halal Investing in Tennessee

HLAL is Wahed's flagship US-equity Islamic ETF: Nasdaq-listed since July 16, 2019, passively tracking the FTSE Shariah USA Index - large and mid-cap US stocks screened by Yasaar Limited and certified through fatwa - at a 0.50% total expense ratio. It has grown to roughly $752M, making it the second-largest halal ETF after SPUS, with quarterly rebalancing, annual distributions, and quarterly purification amounts published on the fund page. The fund carries its own Shariah certificate plus published Shariah Supervisory Board reports covering 2021 through 2024, with U.S. Bank as custodian.

HLAL does the US halal equity job well: a transparent FTSE Shariah index, real scale at $752M, and a compliance file - fatwa, annual board reports, quarterly purification data - that now sets the documentation standard among halal ETFs. Its awkward history is part of an honest review: the SEC found Wahed seeded this fund's 2019 launch with advisory clients' assets without disclosing the conflict, and the deep governance paper trail that exists today post-dates that episode. As a product, the practical case against it is narrower: it costs 5 basis points more than SPUS and 10 more than MNZL for closely overlapping exposure, and it distributes annually rather than monthly. Existing Wahed platform users get natural synergy since it anchors the managed portfolios. As a standalone pick, it is a solid second choice in a category with a cheaper leader.