Sharia-Compliant Structuring
Compliance in substance, not just on paper.
Whether a business is sound is not decided by one contract. It is decided by how the whole thing is put together: who owns it, how it is financed, and what it does for its money. We look at all three, honestly.
Where we look
Three questions, asked in order
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How is it owned?
Sole trader, company or LLP, and behind the vehicle, who really holds what. Ownership decides liability, control and what happens on death. It is also where undocumented partners and informal capital hide, and they need to surface here first.
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How is it financed?
This is where most businesses feel the tension: the overdraft, the interest-bearing loan, the asset finance signed years ago. We map what exists, what it costs in both frameworks, and which alternatives, such as equity, profit-sharing capital or restructured supplier terms, are genuinely available at your scale.
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What does it do for its money?
Activities and revenue: what the business sells, what it earns in passing: interest on balances, commissions, income from lines a scholar would question. Substance means looking at the revenue as it is, not as the brochure describes it.
The honest part
Almost nothing changes overnight, and pretending otherwise helps no one
A business running on conventional finance cannot usually refinance itself out of it in a month, and a revenue line that pays wages cannot be switched off by decree. Advice that ignores this is not piety; it is a plan designed to be abandoned.
Serious structuring work is staged, and each step is written down, sequenced and taken, so the direction of travel is real and demonstrable.
The destination matters less as a slogan and more as a series of dated decisions.
- Now. Choices available immediately, at little cost, usually more of them than owners expect.
- At the next break. Renewals, refinancings and new ventures are the cheap moments to change course. We plan for them in advance.
- Over the runway. The structural changes, sequenced so the business stays solvent and credible while it turns.
- Recorded. A written plan, so the intention survives busy years and changing personnel.
The scholarship behind it
Answers you can interrogate
Structuring questions deserve more than a confident “yes, that’s fine”. They deserve reasoning you can examine.
The Islamic dimension of this work is led by LawFiq’s Islamic Board under Shaykh Saad Al-Deen Al-Dhafiri, a graduate of the Shariah College of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi with a Master’s in Fiqh and Usul, working in Islamic economics across the four Sunni schools and with the AAOIFI standards. When we assess a financing or a revenue line, you are told which principle is engaged, where the schools differ, and why the advice lands where it does.
The commercial and legal mechanics sit with our advisers. Where regulated legal services are required, these are provided by our partner SRA-regulated law firm. Tax has consequences in almost every restructuring. We do not advise on it, but we coordinate with your accountant so the plan works after tax as well as in principle.
What you get from LawFiq here is advisory: a considered assessment, the reasoning behind it, and a workable plan, which, for the substance of your business, is worth more than a stamp. If a bank, investor or counterparty asks for something more formal, raise it in the first conversation and we will tell you what we can and cannot provide.
Common questions
Asked by owners in exactly your position
Our company has an existing bank loan. Can it still become compliant?
The existing loan is a fact, and honouring your obligations under it is itself required. Walking away from signed commitments is no route to compliance. The work is directional: keep current obligations, plan the refinancing for the loan’s natural end or an earlier sensible break, and stop the problem growing in the meantime. Most businesses can make real progress within one refinancing cycle.
Is Islamic bank financing the only alternative?
No. Islamic banks are one option among several, and not always the best fit at every scale. Equity from partners on a profit-sharing basis, restructured supplier and customer terms, staged payments, retained earnings: much of the classical toolkit needs no bank at all. Which mix fits depends on your numbers, which is what the first conversation establishes.
Do you issue Sharia-compliance certificates?
Our work here is advisory: we assess, explain and plan, and we show our reasoning rather than asking you to rely on a stamp. If you need something formal for a bank or another counterparty, tell us exactly what they require and we will be straightforward about whether and how it can be met.
Do you advise on the tax side of restructuring?
No. Tax advice belongs with your accountant or a tax adviser, and restructuring decisions should never be taken without it. What we do is coordinate: the structuring plan is designed alongside your existing advisers so that what is sound in principle is also sensible after tax.
Related services
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Bring the accounts, the facilities and the questions you’ve been putting off. You’ll leave with a map, and a realistic first step.
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