Quick Verdict
ZakatInvest currently classifies McDonald's (MCD) as doubtful and methodology-dependent. Its March 2026 total-assets financial screens fail because debt is 66.80% of assets. Official menus establish that the system sells pork, but the filing does not disclose the screened menu revenue needed to prove a prohibited-revenue percentage.
A Restaurant Meal and Stock Ownership Are Different Questions
A meal can be permissible when its ingredients, preparation, and certification meet a Muslim consumer's standard. Owning McDonald's Corporation is broader: the investor participates economically in the consolidated company and its worldwide franchise system.
McDonald's official U.S. menu includes bacon products, and its product disclosure says the U.S. business does not certify or claim its menu items as halal. Certification and menus can differ by country and restaurant, so one halal-certified location cannot establish the stock's consolidated status.
What the Filing Discloses About Revenue
For the quarter ended March 31, 2026, McDonald's reported $4.007 billion of franchised-restaurant revenue, $2.317 billion of company-operated restaurant sales, and $193 million of other revenue. Franchised revenue includes rent and royalties tied to restaurant sales, so the franchise structure does not remove menu activity from the business review.
The filing does not report revenue by pork, halal certification, slaughter method, or other Sharia-screened menu category. The previous 15–20% estimate was unsupported and has been removed. Evidence that a prohibited product exists is not the same as evidence of its exact consolidated revenue share.
Financial Screening
The calculation below uses the latest available Form 10-Q as of this review and links directly to the official filing at the SEC. It does not mix a current share price with filing-period balance-sheet values.
Current quantitative Sharia screen
Based on 10-Q figures for the period ended 2026-03-31; calculated 2026-07-12.
40,105 / 60,037
1,170 / 60,037
3,602 / 60,037
- Financial
- Fails
- Overall
- Fails
Debt is 66.80% of total assets, above the 33.333% limit. Cash plus identified interest-bearing securities is 1.95% and receivables plus cash is 6.00%; the income and business-revenue screens remain undisclosed.
- Financial
- Fails
- Overall
- Fails
Debt is above the 33.33% total-assets limit even though the identifiable liquidity and receivables ratios are below their limits.
- Financial
- Fails
- Overall
- Fails
Debt is above 33% of total assets, and the screened business-revenue percentage is unavailable. This is a calculation against the SAC ratios, not an official SAC classification of a U.S.-listed security.
- Financial
- Not calculated
- Overall
- Not calculated
A properly licensed and reproducible 24- or 36-month issuer market-cap history is not yet stored, so the old spot-market-cap claim is removed rather than estimated.
Business-activity disclosure
McDonald's operates and franchises restaurants. Ordinary food service is permissible, but official menus include bacon and other pork products, and McDonald's USA states that it does not certify or claim its U.S. menu items as halal. These facts require a prohibited-activity screen at the consolidated issuer level.
Limitation: The filing does not disclose system or corporate revenue by menu ingredient, halal certification, slaughter method, or market-level alcohol sales. Pork and certification concerns are evidenced, but a defensible prohibited-revenue percentage cannot be calculated and must not be replaced with an unsupported estimate.
Purification
Neither potentially prohibited menu revenue nor interest income is separately disclosed. A fixed purification percentage would therefore be invented rather than calculated.
Inputs, assumptions and primary sources
- Total assets, cash and equivalents, accounts and notes receivable, and long-term debt use the March 31, 2026 balance sheet in the Form 10-Q.
- The balance sheet reports 40,105 of long-term debt and does not present a separate current debt balance. Current liabilities include accrued interest but accrued interest is not counted again as principal debt.
- No separately identified interest-bearing securities balance is reported. Investments in affiliates are not automatically classified as interest-bearing securities.
- Revenue uses the 6,517 total for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, matching the balance-sheet period.
- The statement reports net nonoperating expense rather than separately disclosed interest or other non-compliant income, so no purification numerator is inferred from the net amount.
- McDonald's reports franchised-restaurant revenue, company-operated restaurant sales, and other revenue, but not revenue by pork, halal certification, alcohol, meat-slaughter method, or other Sharia-screened menu category.
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.
Why the Result Is Methodology-Dependent
McDonald's fails all three total-assets financial methods examined here because $40.105 billion of debt equals 66.80% of $60.037 billion of assets. Cash and identified interest-bearing securities are 1.95%, while receivables plus cash are 6.00%, so debt—not liquidity—drives those failures.
Some standards use a 24- or 36-month average market-cap denominator instead. ZakatInvest does not yet store the licensed price history needed to reproduce those tests, so it labels them not calculated rather than repeating an unsupported spot-market-cap claim.
Qualitative Islamic-Ethics Review
Pork is expressly prohibited, making the official bacon menu relevant to the business-activity screen. A complete review should also consider slaughter method, animal welfare, worker conditions, nutrition, marketing to children, packaging and waste, and supply-chain environmental effects. These issues are kept separate from the mechanical ratios so a numerical result does not erase material context.
Purification
McDonald's does not separately disclose potentially prohibited menu revenue or gross interest income. The reported nonoperating figure is net expense, which cannot safely be treated as zero prohibited income. ZakatInvest therefore does not publish a fixed purification percentage for MCD.
Bottom Line
ZakatInvest's current verdict is doubtful and methodology-dependent. The current total-assets financial screens fail on debt, official menus establish a pork concern, and the prohibited-revenue and purification numerators remain undisclosed. This is a documented screening classification, not an investment recommendation or fatwa; investors seeking a binding ruling should apply their chosen methodology with a qualified Sharia adviser.
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