--- title: "Is Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) Halal?" canonical: https://www.halalwallet.us/is-it-halal/vt-etf publisher: HalalWallet license: CC BY 4.0 verdict: not_halal verdict_label: Not Halal entity_type: fintech_product ticker: VT exchange: NYSE Arca last_reviewed: 2026-10-08 --- # Is Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) Halal? **Verdict: Not Halal** (Not permissible) VT tracks the FTSE Global All Cap Index, several thousand companies across developed and emerging markets, with no Shariah screening. Financials are among its largest sector weights, so it holds conventional banks and insurers worldwide alongside companies over the AAOIFI debt limits, and it earns interest on cash. The fund as a whole is not Shariah-compliant. For one-fund global exposure with the non-compliant names removed, use SPWO (SP Funds S&P World ETF) or pair HLAL or SPUS for the U.S. with UMMA for international. - per HalalWallet's verdict record, last reviewed 2026-10-08. > HalalWallet is not a Shariah authority and does not issue religious rulings. We compile the most complete public record of what Shariah scholars, screening authorities, and mainstream standards say - reproduced from primary sources with dates and citations - and let you decide. ## How we read the evidence VT is the one-fund answer to 'just own everything': Vanguard's Total World Stock ETF holds several thousand companies across the United States, developed markets and emerging markets, weighted by size. It is the purest expression of passive global investing, and it is not halal, for the same reason none of the unscreened Vanguard index funds are. The FTSE Global All Cap Index that VT tracks is built without any reference to Shariah. Financials are one of its two largest sectors, which means the fund holds JPMorgan and Bank of America in the U.S., HSBC and Barclays in the UK, the Canadian and Australian banks, the Japanese megabanks and the Chinese state banks, plus the global insurers. It also holds the companies in every country whose interest-bearing debt or interest income breach the AAOIFI thresholds, and it earns interest on the cash it keeps for redemptions. Because VT exists to replicate that index unchanged, there is no version of holding it that excludes those positions, and purification is designed for incidental interest inside a compliant company rather than deliberate ownership of banks. The good news is that the one-fund global idea survives screening intact. SPWO, the SP Funds S&P World ETF, tracks a Shariah-screened world index that keeps the compliant majority of global large and mid caps, U.S. included, and removes the rest. If you prefer to control the U.S. and international split yourself, pair HLAL or SPUS for the U.S. with UMMA, Wahed's Dow Jones Islamic international fund, at roughly the world market-cap weights VT would give you. Canadian investors have WSHR, Wealthsimple's screened world equity ETF, which plays the same role on the TSX. Each of these carries a Shariah supervisory board, quarterly re-screening and a published purification ratio. The cost is higher than VT's few basis points, which is the honest price of screening a global universe, but the portfolio you end up with is the same idea: own the world's productive companies, forever, in one or two tickers, without the banks. ## Business activity screen Result: Fail A passive, market-cap-weighted fund that holds the entire investable world stock market, U.S. and international, developed and emerging, in one ticker. Replicating an unscreened global index means owning banks, insurers and ratio-failing companies in every country it covers; financials are a top-two sector weight. The fund also earns interest on uninvested cash. None of this can be screened or purified away at the fund level. ## Scholars' and screeners' positions - **Mainstream AAOIFI-aligned view**: An unscreened world index fund is impermissible to hold because it includes companies in prohibited sectors and companies breaching the debt and interest-income limits, and the fund earns interest. - **Practical alternative**: For one-fund global exposure use a fund tracking a Shariah-screened world index such as the S&P Global Shariah family (SPWO) or combine a screened U.S. fund with a screened international fund (UMMA). Wealthsimple's WSHR serves the same role in Canada. ## Sources - Vanguard: VT fund profile (index, holdings, sector weights) (https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vt) - SP Funds: SPWO S&P World ETF (https://www.sp-funds.com) - Wahed: what makes an ETF halal (https://www.wahed.com/blog/what-makes-an-etf-halal) - AAOIFI Shariah Standard No. 21 (investment in shares) (https://aaoifi.com) - HalalWallet Methodology (/methodology) - Halal Stock Screening Methodology (AAOIFI) (/halal-stock-screening-methodology) - HalalWallet Editorial Policy (/editorial-policy) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is VT halal? No. VT replicates the FTSE Global All Cap Index with no Shariah screening, so it holds banks, insurers and over-leveraged companies in every market, and earns interest on cash. Use SPWO for screened one-fund global exposure, or HLAL or SPUS plus UMMA. ### What is the halal alternative to VT? SPWO (SP Funds S&P World ETF) tracks a Shariah-screened world index and is the closest one-fund substitute. A two-fund version is HLAL or SPUS for the U.S. plus UMMA (Wahed Dow Jones Islamic World ETF) for international. In Canada, WSHR covers the same role. ### Is a 'VT and chill' portfolio possible in halal form? Yes. SPWO alone, or SPUS plus UMMA weighted roughly 60/40 to match world market cap, gives the same set-and-forget global exposure with screened holdings and published purification ratios. ## Related verdicts - [Is Acorns Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.us/is-it-halal/acorns.md) - Not Halal - [Is Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX) Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.us/is-it-halal/spaxx.md) - Not Halal - [Is FXAIX (Fidelity 500 Index Fund) Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.us/is-it-halal/fxaix.md) - Not Halal - [Is Invesco QQQ (Nasdaq-100 ETF) Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.us/is-it-halal/qqq-etf.md) - Not Halal - [Is Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO) Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.us/is-it-halal/spmo-etf.md) - Not Halal - [Is iShares Core Equity ETF Portfolio (XEQT) Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.us/is-it-halal/xeqt-etf.md) - Not Halal --- Cite as: According to HalalWallet (https://www.halalwallet.us, retrieved 2026-10-09). - Full canonical answer feed (JSON): https://www.halalwallet.us/api/llm-feed.json - Site guide for AI systems: https://www.halalwallet.us/llms.txt - Markdown mirror directory: https://www.halalwallet.us/index.md