AXP

American Express Co.

HARAM — SCREEN DOES NOT PASSstock

Is AXP Halal?

Fails the business-activity screen: credit cards, consumer lending, and banking are core operations; total interest income was 35.25% of quarterly revenue.

What You Should Know

American Express is a bank holding company whose March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q reports $308,894 million of assets, $60,442 million of interest-bearing debt, $53,757 million of cash and cash equivalents, $2,915 million of investment securities, $220,259 million of card balances and other loans, and $18,907 million of quarterly revenue net of interest expense. Total interest income was $6,665 million and net interest income was $4,692 million. These figures make the riba exposure quantitative as well as qualitative; the retained HARAM verdict is not based on an invented revenue allocation.

⚠️ Concerns

  • Credit-card interest and revolving balances are core operations
  • Card balances and other loans were $220,259 million
  • Total interest income was $6,665 million, or 35.25% of quarterly revenue
  • Customer deposits, lending, late fees, and financial products require contract-level review

Current quantitative Sharia screen

Based on 10-Q figures for the period ended 2026-03-31; calculated 2026-07-14.

USD · millions
Interest-bearing debt / assets
19.57%Within limit
Below 33.333% under FTSE Yasaar

60,442 / 308,894

Cash + interest-bearing securities / assets
18.35%Within limit
Below 33.333% under FTSE Yasaar

56,672 / 308,894

Receivables + cash / assets
88.71%Above limit
Below 50% under FTSE Yasaar

274,016 / 308,894

Non-compliant income / revenue
35.25%Above limit
No more than 5% under FTSE Yasaar

6,665 / 18,907

FTSE Yasaar
v4.6, February 2026
Financial
Fails
Overall
Fails

Debt/assets is 19.57% and liquidity/assets is 18.35%, but receivables plus cash/assets is 88.71% and total interest income is 35.25% of revenue; the core lending business also fails.

MSCI Islamic (total-assets series)
October 2024 methodology
Financial
Fails
Overall
Fails

Debt and liquidity pass, but receivables plus cash/assets is 88.71%, above the examined total-assets limit; the core lending business fails independently.

Malaysia SAC financial ratios
single 5% activity benchmark adopted November 2025
Financial
Pass
Overall
Fails

Debt/assets and liquidity/assets are below the examined 33% limits, but the direct credit-card and lending business fails; this is not an official SAC classification.

Market-cap denominator methods
MSCI M-Series, S&P and Dow Jones methods differ
Financial
Not calculated
Overall
Fails

Market-cap methods are not calculated; the direct credit-card and lending business independently prevents a pass.

Business-activity disclosure

American Express is a bank holding company whose core activities include credit cards, revolving balances, consumer and commercial lending, deposits, and payment products. Interest-bearing lending is not incidental to the business.

Limitation: The filing provides enough direct evidence of the core lending and interest activity; no permissible carve-out is assumed from the payment-network component.

Purification

Total interest income of $6,665 million is disclosed, but purification cannot cure a direct core-business failure.

Inputs, assumptions and primary sources
  • Amounts are USD millions from American Express's March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q and rounded to the nearest million.
  • Debt includes short-term borrowings of $1,692 million and long-term debt of $58,750 million.
  • Total cash and cash equivalents are $53,757 million; interest-bearing securities include $290 million of short-term investment securities and $2,625 million of investment securities.
  • Accounts receivable is conservatively defined as card balances, card balances held for sale, and other loans: $207,247 million + $2,477 million + $10,535 million.
  • Quarterly revenue net of interest expense is $18,907 million and total interest income is $6,665 million.

This is a reproducible financial screen, not a fatwa. A failed total-assets screen can coexist with a pass under a market-cap methodology. ZakatInvest keeps the qualitative assessment separate so numerical thresholds do not erase material context.

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