Halal ETFs in South Africa (2026): Every JSE Listed and Offshore Option Compared

Two Shariah-screened ETFs are listed on the JSE in October 2026, and Satrix runs both. The Satrix Shari'ah Top 40 ETF (JSE code STXSHA) tracks the FTSE/JSE Shari'ah Top 40 Index at a total expense ratio of 0.40%, and the Satrix MSCI World Islamic Feeder ETF (STXWIS) holds the iShares MSCI World Islamic UCITS ETF at a TER of 0.55%. The NewFunds Shari'ah Top 40 ETF no longer exists under that name: it became STXSHA on 1 March 2023 when Satrix took over as manager. An ETF is halal when its index screens out prohibited businesses and over-indebted companies and the fund purifies tainted dividends, which both Satrix funds do.

Are ETFs halal? The three tests that matter

An exchange traded fund is a collective investment scheme whose units trade on the JSE like a share, holding a basket of securities that mirrors an index. The wrapper is neutral; what decides the ruling is what is inside and how the fund behaves. Three tests apply. First, every constituent must pass a business screen that excludes conventional banks and insurers, alcohol, gambling, pork, tobacco, adult entertainment and conventional interest-based activities. Second, each constituent must pass financial ratio screens on debt, interest-bearing assets and impure income relative to its size. Third, the fund must purify the small amount of impermissible income that still slips through, usually by donating a calculated share of dividends to charity.

A conventional tracker such as a Top 40 or S&P 500 ETF fails the first test outright because it holds banks and insurers in proportion to their market weight. The two Satrix Shariah funds pass all three because their index providers do the screening and the funds do the purification: Satrix's minimum disclosure document for STXSHA states that it pays out all dividends quarterly net of a 5% purification donated to charity, and the STXWIS document says the index applies a dividend adjustment factor to purify reinvested dividends and that Satrix purifies any prohibited income the fund receives. For the mechanics, read our guide to purification and purified dividends and the halal investing hub.

There is a fourth point most buyers miss: the fund's own operations. Satrix's disclosure notes that collective investments can engage in borrowing and scrip lending and that any scrip lending utilisation is disclosed on the MDD. Scrip lending is a fiqh grey area, so a strict investor should check the current MDD for the utilisation figure before buying. It also explains why a halal tracker holds gold and platinum miners in such size: once the banks, insurers and most retailers fall out of the Top 40, resources and telecoms are what remain.

Does the NewFunds Shari'ah Top 40 ETF still trade?

Not under that name, and a search for it will not find a live price. A joint SENS announcement dated 14 February 2023 recorded that NewFunds (RF) Proprietary Limited, wholly owned by Absa Bank Limited, retired as manager of the NewFunds Collective Investment Scheme in Securities and that Satrix Managers (RF) Pty Ltd was appointed in its place effective 1 March 2023, as part of the combination of Absa's investment management business with Sanlam Investment Holdings. The scheme was renamed Satrix Collective Investment Scheme in Securities 2 and every portfolio was renamed.

The table in that announcement maps the NewFunds Shariah Top 40 SA Index ETF (short name SHARIAH40, JSE code NFSH40, ISIN ZAE000130431) to the Satrix Shariah Top 40 ETF (SATRIXSHA, JSE code STXSHA, ISIN ZAE000318887). The last day to trade the old securities was 28 February 2023, the new code began trading on 1 March 2023, the record date was 3 March and broker and CSDP accounts were updated with the new securities by 6 March 2023. If you held NFSH40, you hold STXSHA now, with the same underlying exposure. That is also why Satrix's MDD shows an inception date of 6 April 2009 for STXSHA: it is the original fund's launch date, not the 2023 rename.

Satrix Shari'ah Top 40 ETF (STXSHA): index, cost and how to buy

STXSHA tracks the FTSE/JSE Shari'ah Top 40 Index (J140) by direct replication, holding the index constituents in substantially the same proportions. The index takes the FTSE/JSE Top 40 and keeps only the constituents that pass FTSE's Shariah screening, so it is a filtered large-cap South African equity fund, classified by ASISA as South African Equity Large Cap and rated aggressive on Satrix's risk scale. At 31 August 2026 the fund held R255 million, priced at a NAV of R6.83 per unit, distributed quarterly with a distribution yield of 2.39% and rebalanced quarterly.

The cost line is the lowest in South African halal investing: an annual management fee of 0.35%, a one-year total expense ratio of 0.40%, transaction costs of 0.05% and a total investment charge of 0.45%. The top ten holdings at 31 August 2026 explain the fund's character. Gold Fields was 19.40%, AngloGold Ashanti 17.34%, MTN 10.18%, Valterra Platinum 9.77%, Anglo American 7.48%, Impala Platinum 5.15%, Harmony Gold 5.13%, Glencore 4.08%, Sasol 3.36% and Northam Platinum 3.10%. More than two thirds of the fund sits in mining houses and a tenth in one telecoms company, so its 42.05% one-year return to 31 August 2026 should be read as a resources-sector result, and a bad year for metals will show up just as directly.

You can buy it through any JSE stockbroker, through SatrixNOW with no minimum investment, or through EasyEquities, where fractional units let you start with pocket money. Repurchases settle T+3. Our full Satrix Shari'ah Top 40 ETF review covers performance history and the Satrix profile covers the manager; the index methodology is set out in our explainer on the FTSE/JSE Shariah indices.

Satrix MSCI World Islamic Feeder ETF (STXWIS): the offshore option on the JSE

STXWIS listed on 22 October 2024 and is the only JSE-listed route to a global Shariah index we could verify. It is a feeder: rather than holding the shares itself it invests in the iShares MSCI World Islamic UCITS ETF, which tracks the MSCI World Islamic Index of large and mid-cap companies across developed markets that pass screening endorsed by MSCI's committee of Shariah scholars. Satrix's MDD classifies it as Global Equity General, prices it in rand on the JSE (so buying it does not use your offshore allowance), distributes quarterly and reported a portfolio value of R237 million and a distribution yield of 0.95% at 31 August 2026.

The fees are higher than STXSHA's, and the structure explains why. Satrix's own annual management fee is 0.20%, but the total expense ratio is 0.55% with transaction costs of 0.00%, for a total investment charge of 0.55%; the gap between the management fee and the TER is the cost of the underlying iShares fund and other charges borne inside the feeder. The portfolio is concentrated in American technology: Microsoft was 13.76% of the fund at 31 August 2026, followed by Micron Technology 4.00%, Tesla 3.73%, Advanced Micro Devices 2.89%, ExxonMobil 2.56%, ASML 2.47%, Johnson & Johnson 2.45%, Intel 1.65%, Cisco 1.49% and Lam Research 1.43%. Investors who want the unit-trust feeder alternatives and the rules on using the offshore allowance directly should read our guide to global halal investing from South Africa.

Offshore Islamic ETFs through South African platforms: what we could and could not verify

The plan for this article was to name every offshore Islamic ETF reachable through a South African platform. We could not do that honestly. EasyEquities' public pages describe how ETFs and ETNs work and note that North American prices on the platform are delayed by 15 minutes, which confirms that US-listed instruments are available through its USD account, but no public page we fetched lists which, if any, US-listed Shariah ETFs are on the platform. So we name none. If you hold an EasyEquities USD account, search the instrument list yourself for Islamic or Shariah in the fund name and check the issuer's own factsheet for the screening methodology before buying.

One rule from the EasyEquities ETF page is worth repeating because it catches halal investors who assume everything with a ticker is equal: exchange traded notes are not permissible in a tax-free savings account because they are not registered collective investment schemes. An ETN is also a debt promise from an issuing bank rather than ownership of the underlying shares, which raises its own fiqh problem. Stay with ETFs. Our EasyEquities profile and its linked halal investing guide cover account types and fees.

Every option compared: index, screening and cost

Two further comparisons are not in the table because the numbers were not on the pages we fetched: conventional Satrix Top 40 and global trackers (cheaper, but they fail the business screen), and actively managed Shariah unit trusts (more diversified across sectors, but with higher fees). The question of whether a 0.40% tracker heavy in miners beats a 1% to 2% active fund that can hold more industrials is covered in our piece on active versus passive halal investing in South Africa.

Using Shariah ETFs inside a TFSA, and the tax on distributions

Both Satrix funds are registered collective investment schemes, so both qualify for a tax-free savings account; SatrixNOW opens a TFSA alongside the standard ZAR account on registration, and EasyEquities offers a TFSA too. Inside a TFSA, dividends, income and capital gains are not taxed, subject to the annual and lifetime contribution limits set in legislation, which we deliberately do not quote here because they are a SARS number and not on the pages we fetched. Our guide to the halal tax-free savings account has the current limits and the best platforms.

Outside a TFSA, STXSHA's quarterly distributions are South African dividends subject to dividends withholding tax, STXWIS's distributions are foreign dividends taxed under a different rule, and selling either triggers capital gains tax on the profit. The purification donation is made inside the fund before distribution, so what lands in your account is already purified and you do not need to deduct again. The 5% purification on STXSHA is a cost you accept for compliance; it is not a tax and cannot be reclaimed. Rates and worked examples are in our article on tax on halal investments in South Africa.

Verdict: a pick per investor type

• First-time investor with a few hundred rand a month: STXSHA inside a TFSA on SatrixNOW or EasyEquities, because it is the cheapest certified halal equity product in the country and there is no minimum.
• Investor who wants global exposure without using the offshore allowance: STXWIS, accepting the 0.55% TER and a 13.76% single-stock weight in Microsoft.
• Investor who already holds a South African Shariah unit trust: STXWIS adds developed-market exposure the local fund cannot hold; STXSHA would mostly duplicate the same miners.
• Investor who wants a diversified South African halal portfolio: STXSHA alone is a resources and telecoms bet, so pair it with a Shariah unit trust or a direct share portfolio built with our halal stocks hub.
• Former NewFunds holder: do nothing; your NFSH40 units became STXSHA on 1 March 2023 and your broker statement should already show the new code.

Whichever you choose, read the latest minimum disclosure document on satrix.co.za for the TER, the scrip lending utilisation and the top holdings before you buy, because all three move. Facts checked against satrix.co.za, easyequities.co.za, absa.africa on 23 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Are ETFs halal?

An ETF is halal if the index it tracks excludes prohibited businesses and over-indebted companies and the fund purifies impermissible income. Conventional ETFs such as Top 40 or S&P 500 trackers hold banks and insurers and are not. In South Africa the two listed funds that pass are the Satrix Shari'ah Top 40 ETF and the Satrix MSCI World Islamic Feeder ETF, both screened by their index providers and purified by Satrix.

Is the Satrix Shari'ah Top 40 ETF halal?

Yes, on the published facts. It tracks the FTSE/JSE Shari'ah Top 40 Index, which applies FTSE's Shariah screens to the Top 40, and Satrix's disclosure document states that 5% of dividends are donated to charity as purification before quarterly distributions. A strict investor should also check the scrip lending utilisation figure on the latest MDD, since Satrix discloses that its funds may lend scrip.

Does the NewFunds Shari'ah Top 40 ETF still exist?

Not under that name. On 1 March 2023 Satrix replaced NewFunds (an Absa subsidiary) as manager and the fund was renamed the Satrix Shariah Top 40 ETF, JSE code STXSHA, with a new ISIN. The last day to trade the NFSH40 code was 28 February 2023 and broker accounts were updated by 6 March 2023. Holders kept the same underlying exposure.

What is the cheapest halal ETF in South Africa?

The Satrix Shari'ah Top 40 ETF, with a one-year total expense ratio of 0.40% and a total investment charge of 0.45% at 31 August 2026. The Satrix MSCI World Islamic Feeder ETF costs 0.55% TER because it carries the fees of the underlying iShares fund. Both can be bought with no minimum on SatrixNOW, and brokerage on the platform you use is an extra cost on top.

Can I hold a halal ETF in a tax-free savings account?

Yes. Both Satrix Shariah ETFs are registered collective investment schemes and qualify for a TFSA on SatrixNOW, EasyEquities and other platforms that offer the account. Exchange traded notes do not qualify, as EasyEquities' ETF page states, because they are not registered collective investment schemes. Contributions are capped by annual and lifetime limits set in legislation, which you should confirm with SARS or your platform.

Is there a halal S&P 500 or global ETF on the JSE?

The only JSE-listed global Shariah ETF we could verify is the Satrix MSCI World Islamic Feeder ETF, which tracks developed markets worldwide rather than the S&P 500 alone, with the United States as its largest exposure. We found no Shariah S&P 500 product among the JSE-listed ETFs we could verify. A US-listed Islamic S&P 500 ETF would have to be bought through a broker with US market access, and we could not confirm specific tickers on any South African platform's public pages.