Product structuring, institutional review and governance for microfinance institutions serving clients that conventional finance does not reach.
The problem
Islamic microfinance has to do something difficult: deliver financing at a size where the administrative cost of a proper Islamic contract can exceed the return on it, to clients for whom a structural shortcut is invisible.
The temptation is a product that is murabahah in name and a small loan with a fee in substance. Avoiding that at scale, across field staff who are not Shariah specialists, is an operational design problem as much as a contractual one.
Administrative cost
Can exceed the return on the transaction
The contract on paper
Murabahah, ijarah, salam, qard hasan
Field execution
By staff who are not Shariah specialists
What the client sees
Often just a small loan with a fee
What we do
Murabahah, ijarah, musharakah, salam and qard hasan structured for microfinance economics.
Policies, procedures and field practice reviewed against the approved structures.
Framework, staff guidance and the controls that keep field execution aligned with the contract.
Linking social finance funding sources to microfinance programmes.
Repayment terms, default treatment and disclosure reviewed against both Shariah and ethical lending standards.
Why ADL
Our team pairs certified Muftis holding AAOIFI qualifications with people who understand code, systems and product architecture. We hold Malaysia Digital Status from the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation, a technology credential, held by a Shariah advisory firm. Where there is an app, we go into it. Where there is a core banking system, we review the configuration.
Registered Shariah Adviser with the Securities Commission Malaysia and with Labuan Financial Services Authority.
We work primarily against AAOIFI standards and reconcile with the applicable local regime. An opinion grounded in AAOIFI travels across borders.
Beyond applying Islamic finance standards, our team has been commissioned by a standard-setting body: research towards a governance standard, participation in the drafting of a preliminary standard, and a series of training assignments.
Auditing against another adviser's pronouncement is ordinary work for us, as is being audited by another firm. Independence is the point of the exercise.
We work in jurisdictions with mature Islamic finance regulation and in markets with none at all, where the structure has to satisfy Shariah while operating entirely within a conventional rulebook.
Best Shariah Advisory in Islamic Asset Management, presented in Jeddah in February 2026.
Members of our team hold Shariah board and committee seats across the institutions we serve, so our advisory work is informed by governance experience, not only by external review.
How we hold ourselves
Our measure of a good year is not only revenue. It is whether we helped one more business get to halal. That is why we will take a call from a founder at ideation stage, and why our pricing bends to what a client can actually carry. We would rather a small platform get its structure right at the start than be priced out and get it wrong at scale.
A business built on an Islamic label still has to be a good business. Sound fundamentals, capable people, honest disclosure, and a high standard of compliance with local regulation, because that is what protects the customer and the investor. Shariah compliance sits on top of that foundation. It is not a substitute for it, and we will say so if we see it being treated as one.
The Lifecycle
Compliance is a state you maintain rather than a certificate you obtain, and the audit cycle is how you maintain it.
We understand the product, the client base and the field operation before we quote.
Scope, timeline and fee agreed, agreement signed.
The deep stage: the contract structure, the pricing, the field procedures and how staff actually execute them.
Findings returned and worked through with your product and operations teams; the structure and the field guidance are adjusted.
Issued by a certified Mufti.
Issued under a reference any counterparty can verify independently.
For a microfinance institution the cycle runs for as long as the product is disbursed: field practice is re-tested every cycle, and every time a new product or branch network launches.
We commit to two to four weeks for a first pronouncement. In practice it often runs longer, and in our experience the reason is the round trip rather than the review. We raise amendments, and your product and engineering teams need time to work through them. We would rather set that expectation now than surprise you in week three.
Engagements are scoped and priced individually. We have worked with institutions designing a first product and with national institutions running microfinance at scale. One size does not fit all. Tell us what you are building and we will tell you what it takes.
Evidence
South AsiaSeveral Islamic microfinance engagements, including with a national Islamic institution.
Questions
It can, but not by pricing a compliant contract as though it were a small loan. The economics have to be designed alongside the structure, and blending commercial funding with zakat or waqf sources is often what makes the model work.
Through governance and policy work that translates the approved structure into staff guidance and controls, not just a legal opinion filed away. We review field practice, not only documentation.
A pronouncement is the scholarly ruling, the reasoned opinion that a structure, as described, complies. A certification is the instrument that evidences it, carrying a reference your counterparties can check. The pronouncement is the judgment; the certificate is the proof.
It varies by client. Some stay with us for ongoing advisory as products and branches scale; others come back for review at specific points. Both are normal, and we would rather set the arrangement to what you actually need than sell a retainer you do not.
Our certification confirms Shariah compliance. It is not an assessment of whether a business is viable, whether its financials are sound, or whether the people running it can execute. Look at both questions, and do your own due diligence on the second. Every ADL certificate carries a reference you can check independently.
Book a consultation, whether you are designing a first product or reviewing field practice at scale.