Kestrl: Muslim Money App

Helping Muslims to achieve their financial goals without compromise.
As featured in @bbcasiannetwork, @Islamchannel & @theguardian. Download today! 👇

[Kestrl: Muslim Money App @KestrlApp]

Meet our founder and CEO @AreebSiddiqui63 and checkout the story behind @KestrlApp !

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Salaam All! It's been a while so thought I'd re-introduce myself and what we're doing at @KestrlApp !

🧵1/n

👋My name is Areeb! I began my career in consulting for 7+ years at @DeloitteUK , @PwC_UK and @AlphaFMC where i helped Banks and Wealth managers to digitally transform

[Arfah 🇵🇸 @Arf_22]

Amazing. We got @KestrlApp here in the UK! The more the better

[zahid @zaarheed]

Kestrl have done a madness 🤯

The last time i felt like this was when Monzo was still called Mondo

[Kestrl: Muslim Money App @KestrlApp]

Loved this episode so much, thanks for speaking with us @SelanderPontus !

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

"When I found Islam I realised I had to leave my career in conventional finance... it was not easy!"

I have met many non-Muslims who operate in Islamic Finance, but rarely do I meet one who's embraced Islam too and reverted!

Meet my friend @SelanderPontus , the Swedish revert who is bringing Islamic Finance to the Nordics and beyond through his role at @SaturnaCapital , a wealth manager offering the only shariah compliant solution in the region.

In this poignant and often emotional ‘fika’ (check out the episode to see what that means) we discussed;

🕌 How Pontus discovered Islam after initially being extremely sceptical of it

🌴 Leaving behind a lucrative career in financial services and seeking out sustainable and compliant alternatives

📈 The overlaps between ethical and Islamic investments and what work needs to be done in the industry

💼 Advice for people finding their feet in this industry or looking to move

Please do check out the full episode in the comments below 👇

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

How Much Zakat Would @elonmusk Have To Pay?!

A very weird idea right? Especially since he just told 150,000 'anti-immigration' protestors in London this weekend that they have to 'fight back or die!'.

Leaving aside the obvious questions as to why a foreign billionaire would be trying to influence UK politics- it got me thinking, what if his wealth could be put to much better use?

According to @grok, in 2024 Elon paid exactly $0 in tax on his personal wealth, but what if his wealth could be put to a fairer use for the good of society?

What if he paid Zakat?

Zakat is a 2.5% net wealth donation to charitable causes that Muslims are obliged to make every single year- Time for some more MBA quick maths!

🕌 Zakat = 2.5% of (Zakatable Assets - Liabilities)

💰 Zakatable assets include* (Forbes): $140B (Tesla) + $51B (SpaceX) + $25B (xAI) + $4B (X) + $1.8B (Neuralink) + $1B (Boring) + $6B (cash) + $1B (crypto) + $0.5B (other) = $230.3B

🏦 Liabilities (loans against Tesla & SpaceX) : $3.5B

💸 Zakat due : (230.3B - 3.5B) x 2.5% = $5.67 BN in 2024 conservatively (it's over 11B if we follow the Shaafi opinion on shares!)

So $0 paid vs. over $5B he could have under an ethical system? Maybe it's time for billionaires like Elon to start putting their money where their mouths are.

*(Not all of Elon's holdings are public so we've made some assumptions. Public companies like Tesla are fully 'Zakatable' whilst for private companies like Space X only the proportionate share of liquid assets are considered.)

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Islamic Finance's biggest critic changes his mind ?!?

Meet Islamic Scholar, Lawyer, co-founder of home finance fintech @pfidafinance , and previous self declared critic of the Islamic finance industry: Sheikh Salman Hasan.

He joins us on our most philosophical episode of Muslim Money Talk to explain how and why he's changing his thoughts on the industry and how working within the debt based system may be necessary to solve societies biggest problems.

Together with Ali Siddiqui who joined us as co-host, we got to discuss:

🕌 A new framework for approaching shariah compliance and Islamic values

🏦 Why Islamic Banks and Mortgages may not be the answer to our community's biggest issues

📊 Why Islamic Finance when done right should never be just for Muslims

🤲 Why this industry needs every player from @WahedInvest , @nesterinvest , @Offa, @IFguru and more regardless of business models to truly uplift our communities

An absolute must watch for anyone interested in Islamic finance

Check out the full episode in the comments below 👇

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Alhamdullilah- an amazing evening at the @KestrlApp Iftar last night with good food and even better company.

Special thanks to our guest panel talking about how to 'Unlock the Muslim Pound' with insights from;

@niazazad on the problems Muslims have being rich and religious

@SadiqDorasat on how to be even more impactful with charitable giving, and

Yasmine El-Mehairy on the unique problems women in our religion face with their finances

Shout out to @WahedInvest for giving us the space and ofcourse to everyone who attended and tried out our latest feature!

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

3 Islamic Founders at Taraweeh 🕌

Alhamdullilah one of the best parts of being in London for Ramadan is getting to break fast and pray at so many incredible mosques like @elondonmosque

And of course nothing beats doing that with your bros- always a pleasure @pfidafinance and Riba Free Foundation!

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

SubhanAllah, our second shariah scholar in as many weeks on the pod.

Meet the lawyer who built UK Islamic Banking, and how he’s now trying to fix it.

Islamic Finance lawyer and cofounder of @nesterinvest - Mohammed Paracha. We discussed;

🏦 The history of UK Islamic banks

🌏 Why Marketing to Muslims only was a big mistake early on

🏠 Why Islamic mortgages are so expensive and why they don’t have to be

Full episode out now

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Alhamdullilah - Umrah as a founding team complete.

May Allah accept our Umrahs and all dua’s made.

Next stop Riyadh- see you with our freshly bald heads at @LEAPandInnovate !

[Kestrl: Muslim Money App @KestrlApp]

Alhamdullilah what a fantastic episode with our very own shariah scholar Mufti @farazadam2.

Who would you like to hear from next?

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

My favourite episode so far Alhamdullilah- Episode 30 of the podcast with the man, the myth, the Mufti @farazadam2

We answered all your questions and more:

🕋 How the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ practiced business

🎓Should non-scholars be weighing in on matters of fiqh?

📉Is the industry heading backwards with needless debates?

Personally these conversations have been invaluable to me as a Founder, a practitioner, and as a Muslil in general. InshAllah they can serve others in a similar manner.

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Alhamdullilah- Muslim Money Talk was in Leicester last night interviewing the man, the myth the Mufti: @farazadam2

We discussed current and future trends in IF, how people have lost respect for scholars’ opinions, and what we can learn from Prophet Muhammad pbuh about business.

Thank you to @Evington community centre for sorting us out with their podcast studio- we look forward to using it in the future!

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Is there still room for an Islamic Bank to enter the UK and do it right?

I sat in a room full of Islamic Finance practitioners yesterday, old and new.

A controversial take from one of the OGs was that Islamic Banks haven't been successful here because Muslims just don't want them.

I don't agree for a myriad of reasons but what do you think?

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Alhamdullilah we've finally got our very own shariah scholar and Islamic Finance specialist Mufti @farazadam2 on the podcast this weekends.

What burning questions about Islamic Finance do you have for him?

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

First podcast of 2025 with the fantastic Yasmine El-Mehairy, founder of Dija- a Saudi fintech helping women become financially literate!

We discuss cultural stigmas around money, stories from startup exits and why Saudi is so attractive for fintechs today.

Full episode out now

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

The final Muslim Money Talk of 2024 and we’re going out with a bang!

Meet Salman Hussain, founder of ZEED- helping retail investors make better decisions with AI generated content.

We talk how AI will impact investing, Islamic finance and Islam in general.

Full episode in reply’s 👇

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Meet Youness, founder of @nesterinvest , an Islamic fintech revolutionising the way Muslims finance and invest into UK real-estate projects

This convo really changed the way I thought about ‘non-banking’ solutions to major Muslim needs- check out the full thing wherever you listen to the podcast!

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

What kind of guests would you like to hear more from on the Muslim Money Talk podcast?

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Today’s episode of Muslim Money Talk features property expert and fellow podcast host @zaidp_ , CEO of @HighcastleEA and host of @TheMuslimPound!

We discuss the UK property market, if buying is still worth it, london vs. the North, Saudi investments and more!

Links below 👇

[Harris Irfan @harris_irfan]

Enjoyed this chat w/@AreebSiddiqui63

- why Makka clock tower would have happened anyway
- Islamic fintechs solve problems Islamic banks won't
- #IslamicFinance should be "experts leading experts"
- why CCM is the only firm that meets AAOIFI Standard #62

https://t.co/Fa90oEvQ6u

[Kestrl: Muslim Money App @KestrlApp]

If you’re thinking of a career in Islamic Finance or just want a summary of the industry today then this is the podcast for you!

Big thanks to one of our earliest mentors @harris_irfan for stopping by to speak with us

[Areeb Siddiqui @AreebSiddiqui63]

Is it even an Islamic finance podcast if you haven’t interviewed @harris_irfan ??

Apparently not!

Today’s Muslim Money Talk sees us discussing;

🪙 Bitcoin as an alternative to fiat

🏦 The state and mistakes of modern Islamic banking

💼 Advice on shifting your career to IF

➕so much more!

Full episode below 👇