Is Anthropic Stock Halal? A Shariah Compliance Breakdown

Anthropic, the company behind Claude, filed for an IPO on October 26, 2026. Here's our Shariah assessment based on its Form S-1 filed with the SEC.

How we screened Anthropic

Zoya screens stocks using AAOIFI standards, which look at three areas:

1. Business activities: Is the company's primary business permissible under Shariah?
2. Financial ratios: Are its interest-bearing debt and investments within the permitted limits?
3. Non-compliant income: Does income from impermissible sources, including interest, exceed 5% of total income?

For this review, we used Anthropic's financial statements as of June 30, 2026, and its trailing-twelve-month income through that date. The assessment is preliminary because the final IPO valuation will set the market-cap ratios. We'll update it once Anthropic prices and publishes its next financials.

1. Core business activities: Pass

Anthropic develops artificial intelligence models and sells access to them through Claude, its API, and related products. Its revenue comes from two primary sources:

Developing and selling access to general-purpose AI models is not inherently impermissible under Shariah. Anthropic does not operate a conventional bank, gambling business, or another business whose primary activities fall within a prohibited category.

What about government and defense contracts?

Anthropic also provides AI services to government and national-security customers. The S-1 reports that direct government agency contracts accounted for approximately 1% of revenue during the periods presented, which would be about $197 million of trailing-twelve-month revenue.

As our guide to defense stocks explains, providing technology to government agencies is not automatically impermissible. The relevant questions include what services are being provided and whether they directly support prohibited activities. Anthropic's usage policies restrict certain applications, including fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.

Government and defense customers can also access Claude through third-party cloud marketplaces. That revenue is not separately disclosed, so the 1% figure may understate Anthropic's government exposure. The core business passes our preliminary assessment, with indirect defense revenue still unquantified.

2. Financial ratios: Pass

Interest-bearing debt and interest-bearing investments must each stay at or below 30% of market capitalization, which is the denominator we use. Some other screening methods divide by total assets instead, so the table below shows both.

Because Anthropic has not yet announced its final IPO price, we've calculated the ratios using illustrative valuations of $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion, consistent with the range discussed in IPO reporting.

Interest-bearing debt

Anthropic's balance sheet reports approximately $108.6 billion in convertible notes payable as of June 30, 2026. That figure does not represent $108.6 billion in conventional interest-bearing borrowing. The outstanding notes have approximately $6.2 billion in principal, carry no interest, and are designed to convert into equity at the IPO, subject to Amazon's 12% ownership cap. The much larger balance-sheet figure reflects the accounting fair value of the notes, which increased as Anthropic's valuation rose.

Any notes that can't convert because of Amazon's cap are reissued as non-interest-bearing rollover notes. These mature in 10 years and keep converting into shares each quarter as the cap allows, and any balance left at maturity is repaid in cash, still without interest.

Anthropic also reported approximately $443 million in finance lease liabilities, which count as debt, and $1.08 billion in operating lease liabilities, which do not.

Financial data providers classify convertible notes as debt, so our ratio includes their full $108.6 billion balance alongside the finance leases, about $109 billion in total. That still leaves Anthropic well under the 30% limit at market cap. Because the notes carry no interest, the debt Anthropic actually pays interest on is closer to the $443 million in finance leases, and since most of the notes convert into shares at the IPO, post-IPO filings should show a much smaller balance.

Interest-bearing investments

As of June 30, 2026, Anthropic held approximately $134.2 billion in cash, short-term investments, and restricted cash.

These holdings include bank deposits, money market funds, U.S. Treasuries, government agency securities, corporate debt, and commercial paper. For this calculation, we conservatively include the entire balance in the interest-bearing investments numerator, even though some cash may not earn interest.

Against total assets, the ratio is 91.1%, because cash and investments make up most of Anthropic's $147.36 billion in assets. Methods that divide by total assets would fail Anthropic on this ratio. Zoya's rating uses market capitalization, where it passes. At the reported investment balance, Anthropic would remain below the 30% limit at any market capitalization above approximately $447 billion.

3. Non-compliant income: Fail

Anthropic earned $1.43 billion in interest income over the twelve months ended June 30, 2026, primarily from its holdings of cash, cash equivalents, and other interest-bearing investments. Interest is riba, which Islam prohibits, so a company's interest income counts toward the 5% non-compliant income limit.

Source: Anthropic S-1. Total income is defined as operating revenue plus interest income, consistent with the approach used in our SpaceX IPO analysis.

For the trailing twelve months:

$1.427 billion ÷ $21.135 billion = 6.75%

At the 5% threshold, Anthropic's permitted non-compliant income would be approximately $1.06 billion. Its interest income exceeds that amount by approximately $370 million, before including any potentially impermissible operating revenue.

The ratio has improved from 8.59% in FY2025 to 6.75% over the latest trailing twelve months, driven by rapid growth in operating revenue. Interest income has grown too, from $51 million in Q1 2025 to $762 million in Q2 2026, as the company continues to raise and hold large amounts of capital.

What would need to change for Anthropic to become compliant?

Anthropic fails only the income screen, so the main question is whether its interest income can fall below 5% of total income. That depends on how fast revenue grows, what the company does with new capital, and how it finances its computing infrastructure.

Revenue needs to grow faster than interest income

The most recent quarter shows how close Anthropic is. In Q2 2026, it earned $762 million in interest on $11.6 billion of revenue, a quarterly ratio of 6.2%. With interest held at that level, quarterly revenue would need to reach about $14.5 billion, roughly 25% above Q2, for the quarterly ratio to fall below 5%.

Revenue has more than doubled in each of the last two quarters, so that is within reach. But interest income has grown almost as fast, from $349 million in Q1 to $762 million in Q2, and the quarterly ratio only fell from 6.9% to 6.2%. Another quarter like Q2 would leave it at about 5.6%. Even once a single quarter passes, the trailing-twelve-month ratio would lag, because earlier quarters stay in the calculation.

Additional fundraising could increase interest income

Anthropic's IPO is expected to raise substantial new capital. If it keeps the proceeds in interest-bearing investments, its interest income could rise further, which would raise the revenue needed to meet the 5% threshold. The impact depends on how much it raises and how it deploys the proceeds.

Future infrastructure financing could affect its debt ratios

Anthropic also has substantial computing infrastructure commitments, including approximately $161.2 billion in future Broadcom equipment lease payments, excluding interest. Many of those leases had not commenced as of June 30, 2026. As they commence, Anthropic will recognize additional lease liabilities.

The company also has access to a $42 billion Broadcom-related convertible note facility carrying a 9% payment-in-kind interest rate, potentially increasing to 13% under certain conditions. The facility was undrawn as of June 30, 2026. Borrowing under it would add explicit interest-bearing debt and require a new assessment.

Is anything else close to the line?

Interest is the only screen Anthropic fails. Set it aside, and the 5% allowance on $19.7 billion of trailing-twelve-month revenue would be about $985 million. Direct government contracts, at roughly $197 million, would fit well inside that even if all of it were classed as impermissible.

Our Shariah compliance assessment

Based on Anthropic's October 26, 2026 S-1, our preliminary Shariah classification is Non-Compliant. The company's reported interest income exceeds the 5% allowance by approximately $370 million over the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2026.

For Muslim investors considering Anthropic's IPO, the stock does not currently pass Shariah screening. Pre-IPO funds that hold Anthropic don't solve this. Anthropic is the largest holding in Fundrise's VCX, and VCX fails screening because of its fund structure, regardless of what it holds.

The key figure to monitor is the non-compliant income ratio. A decline below 5%, supported by updated financial disclosures and resolution of the remaining screening questions, could move Anthropic to Compliant. When Anthropic starts trading, it will appear in Zoya as Non-Compliant, and we will update the rating as new filings come in.

Sources and methodology

This assessment is based primarily on Anthropic's Form S-1 filed October 26, 2026, including its audited FY2025 financial statements and unaudited financial information through June 30, 2026.

The debt and investment ratios use illustrative market capitalizations because the final IPO valuation has not been established.

Zoya applies an independent interpretation of AAOIFI-based Shariah screening criteria. Anthropic's indirect government and defense revenue is not disclosed in the S-1 and remains under review. It does not affect the current classification.

This article is for educational purposes and does not constitute personalized investment advice or an individualized religious ruling.