National Savings (Rafa Islamic Window) Sarwa Islamic Term Account (SITA)

Why It's Halal

SITA extends the Sarwa framework - the Sarwa Islamic Savings Account Rules 2019, federal cabinet approval, the Rafa National Savings Islamic window, and an appointed-but-unnamed supervisory Shariah board - into fixed terms, and the same honest split applies: the legal architecture is documented, the religious mechanics are not. Rates are expected profit rates revised by Finance Division notification, and the dated trail is genuinely traceable: 3-year and 5-year SITA launched in 2022 at 13.28% and 12.60% expected profit; an SRO effective June 10, 2026 set the 1-year rate at 11.88%; and the site ticker of July 18, 2026 shows the current 11.10%/11.50%/11.52% ladder across 1/3/5 years. That administrative repricing 'till further notification' behaves like a profit-rate regime rather than a contractual interest lock - the rate you earn is a policy variable, which cuts both ways but at least isn't a fixed rupee-for-rupee interest promise. The unresolved questions are structural: CDNS does not disclose what the Sarwa pool invests in or under which contract, does not name its Shariah board, and publishes rate notices as image scans. There is also a term-structure oddity savers should see before locking five years: the current curve is nearly flat, paying only 42 basis points more at 5 years (11.52%) than at 1 year (11.10%) - and the running-account SISA matches the 1-year rate with no lock at all.