If you've spent more than five minutes researching halal ETFs in the US, you've run into SPUS. It's the fund that basically single-handedly convinced mainstream financial advisors that Shariah-compliant investing was a real thing with real AUM. And for good reason. SPUS crossed the billion-dollar mark faster than most Muslims thought possible and now sits comfortably as the largest halal equity ETF listed on US exchanges.

But is it actually good? Or is it just the least-bad option in a small category?

Let's get into it.

What SPUS Actually Owns

The full name is the SP Funds S&P 500 Sharia Industry Exclusions ETF. Ticker SPUS, listed on NYSE Arca, launched in December 2019. It tracks the S&P 500 Shariah Industry Exclusions Index, which is a filtered version of the regular S&P 500.

The fund starts with the S&P 500 universe and then strips out everything that doesn't pass Shariah screens. That means no banks, no conventional insurance companies, no alcohol, no gambling, no tobacco, no adult entertainment, no pork-related businesses, and no weapons manufacturers. After the business activity screen, it applies financial ratio filters: interest-bearing debt to market cap below 33 percent, interest-bearing securities plus cash below 33 percent of market cap, and accounts receivable below 49 percent.

What's left is roughly 200 to 220 names, depending on the rebalance cycle. The S&P DJ Indices team rebalances the index quarterly, which means the fund turnover is higher than your typical passive index fund but still manageable.

The Holdings Look Very Tech-Heavy

Here's the thing nobody warns you about when they recommend SPUS to a first-time halal investor. The fund is roughly 45 to 50 percent technology by weight. The top ten holdings usually look something like this: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet (both share classes), Meta, Tesla, Broadcom, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson.

Apple alone is typically 8 to 10 percent of the fund. Microsoft another 7 to 9 percent. Nvidia has crept up to 6 to 8 percent depending on quarter-end valuations. That means your top three holdings are basically a quarter of your portfolio.

This isn't SP Funds doing anything weird. It's just what happens when you remove financials (which are about 13 percent of the real S&P 500) and then weight the remaining names by market cap. Tech gets amplified because it was already dominant.

If you're bullish on mega-cap tech, great. If you wanted broad diversification, you're not getting it here.

Expense Ratio: 0.49 Percent

SPUS charges 0.49 percent per year. For context, VOO charges 0.03 percent and IVV charges 0.03 percent. So you're paying roughly 16 times more for the halal version.

Is that fair? Honestly, for a niche product with quarterly rebalancing and a small but growing asset base, 0.49 is reasonable. When SPUS launched it was 0.59 percent, and SP Funds has trimmed the expense ratio twice as the fund got bigger. That's a good sign. Funds that actually lower fees when they scale deserve some credit.

Compare it to the other halal option, HLAL from Wahed, which charges 0.50 percent. Basically identical cost. The two funds are the Pepsi and Coke of US halal ETFs.

Assets Under Management

As of early 2026, SPUS is running around 1.4 billion dollars in AUM. That's massive for a faith-based ETF. For comparison, HLAL is around 700 to 800 million, Inspire 100 (BIBL) is around 400 million, and most other faith-focused ETFs are under 200 million. SPUS owns more than half the US halal ETF market by assets.

High AUM matters for two reasons. First, it keeps the bid-ask spread tight. SPUS typically trades at 1 to 3 cent spreads, which means you're not getting killed on execution costs when you buy or sell. Second, it means the fund isn't going to get shut down. Small ETFs get liquidated all the time when they fail to attract assets. SPUS is past that danger zone.

Performance Estimates Through Early 2026

Let me be clear about these numbers before I give them. I'm giving you reasonable estimates based on how the index has tracked, dividend reinvestment, and the tech-heavy composition. Actual numbers on any given day may differ slightly.

One-year total return: approximately 24 to 28 percent. SPUS benefited hugely from the AI-driven tech rally in 2025.

Three-year annualized: approximately 14 to 16 percent. This period includes the 2022 drawdown where SPUS actually got hit harder than the regular S&P because tech led the selloff, then recovered harder in 2023 and 2024.

Five-year annualized: approximately 13 to 15 percent. Very close to the S&P 500's own five-year return, which is kind of the punchline. All that screening work and you end up roughly tracking the index anyway, just with higher volatility.

Since inception (December 2019): approximately 14 percent annualized. Not bad at all, especially considering it launched right before COVID.

Dividend Yield

SPUS distributes dividends quarterly. Current yield is approximately 0.8 to 1.1 percent. That's lower than the regular S&P 500's roughly 1.3 percent yield, mostly because the fund excludes financial sector names which tend to pay higher dividends.

Some of your dividend income may need to be purified if any of the underlying holdings earned incidental interest. SP Funds publishes an annual purification percentage that tells you how much to donate. It's usually tiny, under 0.1 percent of your distributions, but you should still handle it if you want to be strict.

The Sector Tilt Problem

I already mentioned the tech concentration, but let me say it a different way. When you remove financials from the S&P 500 and remove heavily indebted companies, what's left is basically growth-tilted. That means SPUS is going to outperform the regular S&P in years where tech rips and underperform in years where value stocks lead.

If your entire faith-based portfolio is SPUS, you're making a pretty concentrated bet on US mega-cap tech. That's fine if you understand it. Less fine if you thought you were buying a broadly diversified equity fund.

A smarter approach for a lot of investors is to pair SPUS with some halal international exposure like HLAL's sibling UMMA or ISDW, plus maybe an Amana Developing World fund if you want emerging markets coverage.

Tax Efficiency

ETFs in general are more tax-efficient than mutual funds because of the in-kind creation and redemption mechanism. SPUS is no exception. It has not paid out a material capital gains distribution since inception, which is impressive given the quarterly rebalances. The in-kind redemptions wash out most embedded gains.

For a taxable account, this matters. An active halal mutual fund like Amana Growth has historically kicked out noticeable capital gains distributions. SPUS doesn't, so you're only on the hook for taxes when you actually sell.

What SPUS Does Well

It gives you a simple, cheap-ish, high-liquidity way to get halal US equity exposure without having to stock-pick yourself. You buy one ticker, you get 200-plus screened companies, you're done.

It's transparent. The holdings are published daily. The screening methodology is documented. The rebalancing schedule is known in advance.

It has real institutional credibility at this point. Advisors who serve Muslim clients recommend it because it's simple to explain and easy to fit into a model portfolio.

What SPUS Does Poorly

The sector concentration is significant and it's a feature of the screening approach, not a bug. You cannot fix it without using a different index.

It's US-only. You get zero international exposure from SPUS. For a complete portfolio you need other funds.

The 0.49 percent expense ratio is fine but it does compound. Over 20 years, that's roughly 9 percent of your returns lost to fees compared to a vanilla S&P 500 fund. Halal investors pay a cost for conviction, and this is part of it.

Who SPUS Makes Sense For

Muslim investors who want a one-ticker halal US equity solution and understand they're getting a growth-tilted portfolio. People building a halal retirement account who need broad-market exposure without screening individual stocks themselves. Folks who previously parked money in a savings account because they didn't know what halal options existed and want to finally put that cash to work.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

Investors who want value-tilted or dividend-focused halal exposure. Anyone whose portfolio is already heavy in US tech. People who need international diversification as their primary allocation.

Bottom Line

SPUS is the default halal US equity ETF for a reason. It's not perfect, the sector concentration is real, and the expense ratio is a premium over conventional options. But it does what it says: gives Muslim investors Shariah-compliant exposure to large-cap US stocks in a liquid, tradeable package.

If you're just starting a halal portfolio, SPUS is a defensible first purchase. Just don't let it be your only purchase.

SP Funds S&P 500 Sharia Industry Exclusions ETF (SPUS): A Full Review