The overpayment on a 3 million tenge (about $6,500) loan from Zaman Bank for five years is 3.62 million tenge, according to a Threads user named nur.kanatuly.kz.
«Islamic Bank Zaman-Bank JSC. Islamic finance. Just for fun, I calculated it in their mobile app: Loan amount: 3 million tenge. Interest on the loan for five years: 3 million 620 thousand tenge. Total payment: 6 million 620 thousand tenge. This is our Islamic finance! Is this halal?» he wrote.
According to the user, the resulting interest rate is 120% over five years, or 24% per year.
Commentators were divided. For example, rauan.appasuly argued that Kazakhstanis should not confuse Islamic banks with charitable foundations.
«Islam does not prohibit banks from making money. It prohibits riba — income derived from a monetary loan with interest,» he wrote.
Another user, viper_dider, added that an Islamic bank cannot charge interest on a loan.
«Either installment plans or musharaka (investment, where the bank bears both profit and loss),» he wrote.
Aibol.bolatbekuly, for his part, cited the example of an Islamic mortgage in which a bank helps a client purchase a home for 20 million tenge and the client ultimately pays 34 million tenge.
«It’s not interest, it’s a fixed amount,» he wrote, explaining that the additional 14 million tenge is a pre-agreed «rahmet» («thank you») to the bank rather than traditional loan interest.
Another user, jamaladdinabdurakhman, agreed, explaining that under a murabaha arrangement, the bank purchases the goods or property and then sells them to the client in installments at a higher price. The difference is a «trade markup,» rather than interest, he said. He believes the markup is justified because the bank assumes the risk while it owns the goods or property.
Another user, diasmte, said it was a regular bank, but with «different terms,» while taiganaksirganak noted that «halal is not a freebie.»
«We wanted to get money at 0% interest? How naive we are,» wrote another user, quvtzhvn.
Another user, mr.shakenov, called the financing terms «worse than in [traditional] banks.»
VAT issue holds back Islamic mortgages
Progress on launching Islamic mortgages has been gradual due to unresolved value-added tax (VAT) issues, Gulfairuz Assayev, CEO of Zaman Bank, told Kursiv.media in late 2025. She explained that under Islamic financing, the bank purchases an apartment in its own name and then transfers ownership to the client at the end of the process, resulting in double taxation.
