Is Palantir Stock Halal? A Sharia Screening Analysis

Quick Verdict

Palantir (PLTR) is generally considered DOUBTFUL to HARAM for observant Muslim investors due to its significant revenue from military and intelligence agencies. While the technology itself is neutral, the primary use case — defense surveillance and targeting systems — creates Sharia concerns that most scholars cannot overlook.

What Does Palantir Actually Do?

Palantir makes two core platforms: Gotham (for governments and military) and Foundry (for commercial enterprises). Gotham is used by the CIA, NSA, US military, and allies for data integration, intelligence analysis, and battlefield decision support. Foundry serves Fortune 500 companies for supply chain and operations analytics.

The revenue split is roughly 55% government (including defense) and 45% commercial. The government segment is growing, not shrinking.

Financial Screening

• Total Debt / Market Cap: Very low (~2%) ✅
• Interest Income / Total Revenue: Under 1% ✅
• Cash and Receivables / Total Assets: Within limits ✅
• Haram Revenue / Total Revenue: Defense segment ~30-40% ⚠️

The financial ratios are clean, but the business activity screen is where Palantir fails for most Islamic screening methodologies. Defense-related revenue exceeds the 5% threshold by a wide margin.

The Defense Problem

Islamic finance has a nuanced view on defense investments. Providing neutral services (food, logistics, software) to militaries is generally viewed differently than manufacturing weapons. However, Palantir's Gotham platform is specifically designed for military targeting, intelligence gathering, and counterterrorism operations — not neutral infrastructure.

When a platform is designed to help armies make targeting decisions, it occupies a different moral category than a cloud provider hosting general government workloads. This is the core concern scholars raise.

Screening Agencies' Verdict

• Zoya App — Not Compliant ❌
• MSCI Islamic Index — Excluded ❌
• Most Islamic ETFs (HLAL, SPUS) — Not held ❌

Bottom Line

Palantir's high-quality financial ratios aren't enough to overcome its core business activity concern. If you're committed to avoiding defense-adjacent companies, PLTR should be excluded from your portfolio. For investors who take a more lenient view on technology service providers to governments, it remains a gray area — but the mainstream Islamic finance consensus leans toward avoiding it.

If you're bullish on AI and data analytics, consider alternatives like Snowflake or MongoDB that focus on commercial applications.