The Best Shariah Unit Trusts in South Africa (2026): Every Fund That Matters

South African Muslims choosing a halal unit trust face a genuinely competitive market: six fund houses, three decades of track record, and real differences in price, mandate and governance. The mistake most first-time investors make is comparing funds that do different jobs. A Shariah equity fund, a Regulation 28 balanced fund and a sukuk income fund are not interchangeable, so this guide sorts the market by role, with figures from fund documents current to August 2026.

Equity funds: the growth engines

Four active funds dominate SA halal equity, and one number frames the whole comparison: the Camissa Islamic Equity Fund charges a 1.04% TER on its B class while the Oasis Crescent Equity Fund charges 2.04% on Class D and 2.36% on Class A.

• Oasis Crescent Equity Fund (launched 31 July 1998, R6.4 billion): the longest halal track record in the country and the best long-run numbers, 15.6% per annum since inception versus 11.8% for the Shariah equity peer benchmark. Scholar board of global heavyweights with published annual certificates. You pay for it: the most expensive fund in the category, with performance fees on top.
• Old Mutual Albaraka Equity Fund (launched 1 June 1992, R3.5 billion): the oldest Islamic unit trust in South Africa and the governance gold standard, with quarterly board meetings, an external Shariah audit and purification disclosed per distribution. TER 1.75% on Class A, 1.29% on the platform B1 class.
• Camissa Islamic Equity Fund (launched 13 July 2009, R3.45 billion): the value pick. Institutional-quality contrarian management at 1.04%, benchmarked ambitiously against all general equity funds rather than just Shariah peers. Named AAOIFI board on every fund document.
• Sentio SCI Hikma Shariah General Equity Fund (launched June 2016, R768.7 million): the systematic diversifier at 1.21% with no performance fee and unusually detailed risk statistics. Two catches: since-inception returns trail its category average (9.38% versus 10.09% annualised to end-2025), and the Shariah scholars are not named publicly.
• Element SCI Islamic Equity Fund (launched February 2006): the activist boutique with published per-fund Shariah certificates and a shareholder-engagement record, but a 1.88% TER on boutique scale.
• 27four Shari'ah Active Equity Prescient Fund (launched 7 June 2012): competent but pricey at about 1.86%, mainly for investors already inside the 27four ecosystem.

Our full head-to-head of the big three is in the best halal equity funds compared.

Balanced funds: the retirement cores

Balanced Shariah funds exist because of Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act: any fund marketed for retirement annuities and preservation funds must observe its prudential limits, so every serious house runs one. They differ on equity ceiling and price.

• Old Mutual Albaraka Balanced Fund (R7.3 billion, medium equity, TER 1.19% B1 / 1.47% A): the largest Shariah fund in South Africa and the practical default on retirement platforms. Sukuk-based defensive sleeve, up to 45% offshore.
• Camissa Islamic Balanced Fund (about R5.3 billion, high equity, TER 1.04% B): the cheapest big balanced fund and the growth-tilted choice for younger savers, holding SA government rand sukuk in its stabiliser sleeve.
• 27four Shari'ah Balanced Prescient Fund of Funds (about R710 million, TER 1.55%, no performance fee): the multi-manager option, spreading exposure across underlying Islamic managers with a second scholar board layered on top.
• Oasis Crescent Balanced range: three funds of funds at ascending risk, Stable (low equity), Progressive (medium equity, R1.4 billion, running since March 2005) and High Equity (R267 million). Certified underlying range, but TERs of 1.76% to 2.04% plus performance fees against soft CPI-linked hurdles make these the expensive route.
• Element SCI Islamic Balanced Fund (about R98 million, TER 1.46%): the only flexible mandate in the category, able to take equity anywhere from 0% to 75%, which genuinely matters to capital-preservation investors. Tiny, though.
• Sentio SCI Hikma Shariah Balanced Fund (launched January 2016): systematic allocation, EasyEquities-accessible, but the current TER was not visible on public platform pages when we checked, so pull the fund document before committing.

Income funds: the hardest job in halal investing

Income without interest is where Shariah portfolio construction earns its keep, and South Africa now has a genuinely competitive halal income category. The Camissa Islamic High Yield Fund (R2.73 billion, 0.58% TER) is the standout: a sukuk-biased portfolio that famously bought longer-dated government rand sukuk at profit rates around 13.5% before the 2024 election. Old Mutual Albaraka Income (R2.0 billion, 0.59% B1) counters with the best governance stack in the segment, and Oasis Crescent Income (R3.31 billion, 0.70%) brings the longest record and a 6.45% trailing distribution yield, though its R33,000 direct minimum is the highest entry ticket in the category. The newcomer, 27four's Shari'ah Income Prescient Fund (October 2024), targets 110% of STeFI but has not yet published a fee history. The full comparison is in our halal income funds head-to-head.

How to shortlist in practice

• Fix the job first: growth (equity), one-decision retirement core (balanced) or capital stability and yield (income).
• Check the class you can actually buy. B and B1 classes are consistently cheaper than A classes but usually require platform or adviser access; the difference is up to half a percent per year.
• Read the governance line. Named scholars on the fund document is the minimum; published annual certificates (Old Mutual Albaraka, Oasis, Element) is the stronger standard.
• Compare halal funds against each other, not against ASISA category averages, because those averages are dominated by conventional funds holding banks the Shariah funds cannot own.
• Confirm minimums: R500 per month debit orders open most of the market, but direct lump sums range from R2,000 (Oasis equity) through R5,000 (Camissa) and R10,000 (Old Mutual Albaraka) to R100,000 (Sentio direct).

Every fund named here is graded with its provider on our Halal Money Index, and the underlying data lives on the investing page. If you are starting from zero rather than choosing between funds, begin with how to start investing halal with R500 a month.