Hejaz vs Salaam Super: Australia's Islamic Super Funds Compared (2026)

Two groups have built branded Shariah-compliant superannuation for Australians: Hejaz, the Melbourne-based Islamic finance group founded in 2014, and Salaam, the rebranded continuation of Crescent Wealth, which pioneered Islamic super in Australia and relaunched under the Salaam name in April 2024. On paper this is the natural head-to-head of Australian halal retirement saving. In practice, 2026 has a thumb on the scale, and we will get to it immediately.

The fact that frames everything

At our verification on August 5, 2026, Hejaz's super and pension pages both carried a notice that the fund is taking 'a short pause on accepting new members' while it reviews the offering. Existing members continue as normal; new savers can only register interest. However the comparison below falls out, a fund you cannot currently join does not win it for new money. If you are reading this after the pause lifts, the rest of the analysis stands on its own.

Structure: who actually runs each fund

Neither group is the trustee of its own fund, and understanding the plumbing matters. Salaam is the sponsor and promoter: the product legally sits as a division of the Russell Investments Master Trust, with Total Risk Management Pty Ltd (AFSL 238790) as trustee and Russell's administration machinery - including the Super Tracker app and mandatory multi-factor authentication - behind it. Salaam Wealth Funds Management (AFSL 365260, previously named Crescent Wealth Funds Management) sponsors the offering. Hejaz's product sits within AMG Super, with Acclaim Management Group as fund promoter, administration novated to SS&C Solutions, Deloitte as auditor, Atchison Consultants as asset consultant and AIA Australia as group insurer; Hejaz Asset Management is the promoter of the Islamic options and investment manager of the underlying funds. Both are real APRA-regulated environments; neither is a boutique trust run from a back office.

Investment options

Neither fund gives us a clean performance comparison. Salaam publishes an annualised since-inception figure on its performance page, but it renders dynamically and our crawl could not capture the number - check it directly. Hejaz publishes a performance page with an 8 August 2023 inception. Both histories are under three years old, which is too short to prove anything about manager skill either way; the honest basis for choosing is fees, governance and structure, not two years of returns.

Fees, like for like

Salaam: administration of 0.21% of balance plus $60 a year; investment fees and costs of 1.13% (Defensive), 1.36% (Balanced), 1.34% (Growth); transaction costs 0.02-0.03%; and no establishment, withdrawal, contribution or termination fees. Hejaz (published as of 21 February 2025): administration of $65 a year plus an estimated 0.49% of balance; investment fees of 1.00% (Growth), 1.06% (Balanced), 1.15% (Conservative); transaction costs 0.02-0.05%.

Run the arithmetic on a $100,000 balance in each growth option. Salaam: roughly $210 admin percentage plus $60 fixed plus $1,340 investment and $30 transaction - about $1,640 a year, or 1.64%. Hejaz: roughly $490 admin percentage plus $65 fixed plus $1,000 investment and $50 transaction - about $1,605, or 1.61%. At balanced settings the gap narrows the other way. Practically, the two funds price within a whisker of each other, and both sit clearly above cheap mainstream defaults - the compliance premium is real in either case. Larger balances shift the math slightly toward whichever percentage admin fee is lower, which is Salaam's 0.21% against Hejaz's estimated 0.49%.

Shariah governance

Both funds screen to AAOIFI standards. The difference is who checks. Salaam's arrangement: Dar Al Sharia - the Dubai-founded global advisory firm - independently reviews, certifies and audits annually, with quarterly re-screens, divestment rules, purification to charity and a published compliance letter; Salaam is also an AAOIFI member and layers on RFI Foundation, RIAA and Tobacco Free Portfolios memberships. No individual Dar Al Sharia scholar is named on Salaam's site. Hejaz names its people: a group Sharia board of Dr Faizal Ahmed Al Manjoo, Dr Samir Alamad and Bilal Omarjee, with Minarah Consulting as external Shariah supervisory board, a downloadable Sharia certificate covering super and investments, and a published AAOIFI screening methodology with divestment cycles. Pick your preference: named scholars with a group-level structure (Hejaz) versus an arm's-length global advisory firm with an annual audit cadence (Salaam). Both are serious; neither publishes the underlying audit reports.

Extras that decide edge cases

• Insurance: Hejaz's fund carries AIA group cover including income protection; Salaam's site refers insurance detail to the PDS rather than publishing a cover menu
• Pension phase: both offer it - Salaam through iQ Retirement inside the Russell trust, Hejaz through its account-based pension (also paused to new members at review)
• Employer friction: Salaam publishes a compliance letter for employers; useful when payroll asks questions
• Member tech: Salaam members get Russell's Super Tracker app and MyTracker tools
• Community posture: Salaam runs foundation and community arms and fronts its brand with cricketer Usman Khawaja; relevant to some members, not a financial factor

Verdict

Scenarios that change the answer

Head-to-head tables hide the cases where circumstances flip the verdict, so here are the ones we would actually flag. Existing Hejaz members considering a move to Salaam: the case is weak on published information - fees are comparable, governance is comparable, and a switch crystallises no benefit while triggering the insurance and administrative frictions of any rollover; the pause affects new members, not you. Members who want insurance clarity up front: Hejaz's published AIA arrangement (for its existing members) is more visible than Salaam's PDS-referred cover, so ask Salaam for the insurance guide before joining if cover matters to your family. Savers who want an adviser attached to the decision: neither fund's direct channel provides one - that is Meezan Wealth's model, at its own fee stack. Employees whose payroll demands paperwork: Salaam's employer compliance letter is a small practical advantage that has resolved real onboarding friction. And anyone comparing either fund against simply staying in a cheap default: the fee gap is real, but it is the price of the screening, auditing and purification machinery this comparison takes for granted - the is my super halal analysis is where that decision actually lives.

We will update this comparison when Hejaz reopens, when either fund publishes fuller performance data, or when a third branded option enters. The Australian Islamic super market is two-and-a-half products deep; it deserves to be deeper, and the fastest route there is members who read PDS documents and ask both funds hard questions. Fee arithmetic above uses each fund's published schedules at August 5, 2026 on a $100,000 illustration; your balance changes the percentages, so redo the two-line calculation with your own number before deciding.

For new money in August 2026 the comparison answers itself: Salaam is open, Hejaz is paused, and Salaam's combination of Russell Master Trust infrastructure, Dar Al Sharia auditing and marginally lower percentage admin fee makes it a defensible default rather than merely the last option standing. For existing Hejaz members there is no published reason to move: fees are competitive, governance is named and documented, and the pause explicitly does not affect current members - though the product review behind it is worth watching. Meezan Wealth's advised Super Simplifier portfolios remain the third path for those who want an adviser relationship, and the SMSF route suits the fully hands-on; both are covered in the halal super guide. Whichever you choose, check your insurance before consolidating - cover can lapse on rollover, as Salaam's own FAQ warns. Figures verified August 5, 2026 from provider disclosures; read both PDS documents before acting.