By Fatima Iqbal

May/Jun 25

Studying and attaining knowledge is a form of active participation in Islam. As the Quran states, “They could devote themselves to studies in religion, and admonish the people when they return to them – that thus they (may learn) to guard themselves (against evil)” (9:122).

There is no denying that college degrees have long played a crucial role in opening doors to opportunity for many Muslim families. However, with increasing workforce competition and unprecedented economic pressures, the pursuit of higher education has become costlier than ever before. 

For Muslims, attaining a degree in higher education can become even more challenging as they try to navigate away from riba (interest-based) loans in an attempt to decipher the halal and haram aspects of financial aid packages.   

Most college students rely heavily on riba-based loans, including private and subsidized student loans. For Muslims, it is our responsibility to protect our families from the dangers of riba and find meaningful ways to invest for our children’s education outside of the interest-based loan system. Grants, work-study, deferred interest loans (if paid before graduation), or gifts from grandparents and relatives may provide students with some financial help. However, these options may still not cover the entirety of the costs. Saving and investing are therefore at the heart of any successful college financing plan.

Understanding How Much to Save 

For decades, college costs have risen faster than inflation, and this trend is expected to continue. Annual college costs are expected to increase at a rate of 3 to 5% per year. As a result of these increases, average annual costs are estimated to reach as high as nearly $100,000 for private colleges and $47,000 for public in state schools by the 2033-34 school year.

There are several considerations that will influence the total amount required to fund your child’s college education. First, consider the type of school they might attend. Will it be a public or private institution? Do you want to save for 2-year, 4-year or graduate level degrees? Regardless of whether your child is old enough to have a plan for their higher education, it’s important to set a realistic and attainable financial goal for their educational future. 

As such, it may be worth asking yourself, “How much education would I ideally want to pay for my child?” Second, consider your child’s cost of living during college. Their living costs could vary substantially based on whether they live at home, on campus, or in off-campus housing. Finally, it is important to consider the number of years they have left before they start college. The more time they have before college, the more opportunity there is to save and invest. College savings calculators can be a very helpful tool to understand how much you should save based on your child’s age and goals.  

Next to buying a home, funding a college education is often the largest purchase that parents make for their children. The key to overcoming such a daunting task is to start early and take small steps towards this financial goal.  

1. Regular and recurring contributions can go a long way toward saving for a major purchase like college. By automating your savings, your money can work for you gradually over time without the psychological stress of making large lump sum deposits. Review your budget and set up manageable, recurring, and regular contributions to your child’s education account. Monthly contributions reformulate the price of college into bite-sized monthly “payment amounts.” In doing so, the cost of a $200,000 education becomes more attainable when saving and investing gradually over many years.  
2. In addition, starting to save early maximizes the amount of time you have to invest, giving you as much time as possible to build up returns in your child’s college fund. It’s best to open your child’s account as soon as they’re born but it’s never too late to start.
3. College Savings Vehicles are accounts geared towards saving for college education. Many of them offer benefits to reduce tax on money put away for education. However, these plans each have their pros and cons..

 College Savings Plans

529 Plans are a common tax-advantaged college savings option. These are state government-sponsored plans with some states offering state income tax deductions on contributions. 529 contributions also grow tax-deferred, and earnings can be withdrawn tax-free when used for qualified education expenses. However, the biggest drawback of 529 plans for Muslim families is the lack of halal investment options.  

UTMA/UGMA Custodial Accounts are a way for your child to hold assets in his or her name with an adult acting as custodian. Assets in the account can then be used to pay for college or anything else for the child’s benefit. All contributions to the account are irrevocable, and your child will generally gain control of the account when he or she turns 18 or 21 depending on your state’s rules. 

But earnings and capital gains generated by assets in the account are taxed each year. Under the 2025 “kiddie tax rules” for children under the age of 19, and for full-time students under the age of 24 who don’t earn more than one-half of their support, the first $1,350 of earned income is tax-free, the next $1,350 is taxed at the child’s rate. Anything over $2,700 is taxed at the parent’s rate.

While UTMA/UGMA Custodial accounts do not offer the same tax benefits of 529 plans, you can select halal investments that have more flexibility for uses other than just education. For example, if your child does not use the account for education expenses, they can use it for future wedding expenses, buying their first home, or starting a business. UTMA/UGMA Custodial accounts can also have a larger impact on your child’s eligibility for need-based financial aid.  

Coverdell Education Savings Accounts are accounts named for their primary champion in the United States Senate, the late Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.). These unique savings vehicles allow contributions up to $2,000 per year per child. The money grows tax-deferred, and earnings are tax-free if the money is used for qualified elementary, high school, or college expenses. With Coverdell, you can invest in the full marketplace of halal funds and investments. However, individuals with incomes over certain thresholds may not be eligible to contribute and not all national brokers offer this type of account.

Planning for the Future

Establishing a college savings plan for your children while they are young can help cover educational expenses and minimize their reliance on interest-bearing loans. More importantly, it is an investment in your child’s future helping them to achieve one of the most valuable assets they can have – an education. 

Parents must prioritize their retirement savings as well in order to avoid placing a financial burden on their children down the line. Remember, there is no financial aid or federal grants available for retirement. While parents may be able to tap into retirement savings in an emergency, it’s best to have a well-thought-out plan in place. Consider working with a financial planner who can help you balance these competing priorities while creating a customized plan that supports all your financial goals.

Fatima Iqbal, CFP, is senior investment strategist and financial planner with Azzad Asset Management, Inc.

The post Three Sharia-Compliant Ways to Fund Your Child’s College Education appeared first on Islamic Horizons.

By Cynthia Griffith 

May/Jun 25

The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation. This prison population increased substantially during the Nixon Administration (1969-1974) after he declared a “war on drugs” in 1971. By his last days in office, the incarcerated population in the American prison system exploded from 300,000 to 2.3 million. 

This staggering rise in incarceration has been championed by every president since Nixon and has disproportionately affected American communities of color, especially the African American community.  

“Politicians from both parties used fear and thinly veiled racial rhetoric to push increasingly punitive policies,” said a report from the Brennan Center for Justice. “Nixon started this trend in 1971, declaring a ‘war on drugs’ and justifying it with speeches about being ‘tough on crime.’”

A Harper’s Magazine article reported that Nixon’s domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, admitted the war on drugs was designed to have precisely this impact on Black Americans. It amplified the presumption of guilt assigned to Black people since slavery and entrenched the racialization of criminality that began in earnest with lynchings. 

In January 1973, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller – who unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination of his party three times – launched his campaign for the Rockefeller Drug Laws. He demanded tough prison sentences even for low-level drug dealers and addicts. It was an idea that quickly spread, influencing state and federal law across the U.S. 

Extending these harsh policies while decrying that “gangs and drugs have taken over our streets and undermined our schools,”  President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, allotting $12.5 billion to states to increase incarceration. Today, the nation’s prison population includes nearly two million men and women behind bars in 2025.

Like the corrupt dynasties mentioned in the Quran, including that of the arrogant Pharoah, much of this nation’s wealth is built on the backs of the poor and the systematically oppressed. One source of exploitation is Muslim Americans’ forced participation in underpaid prison labor. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-economic-exploitation-shaped-americas-landscapes-disadvantage 

Incarcerated Muslims: Uncounted but Profitable

The U.S. extracts $11 billion annually from an underpaid prison labor force that contains a disproportionate number of Black Americans, many of whom are Muslims. Both PBS and The Atlantic reported that forced prison labor has bolstered corporate America for at least 60 years, catapulting capitalism to newfound heights, and laying the foundation for the superpower it has since become. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to believers, for God in his perfect Book warned us of such affairs, giving the example of the Pharaoh, the dictator who still serves as a symbol for power-hungry politicians, who set out to manipulate the Banī Isrāʾīl (Israelite) into oppressing and committing injustices against one another (Quran 17:5-7). Pinning members of the same sect against one another is a tactic that might be as old as time. The pressing question for America’s prison population though is: whose hands are assembling the military equipment that is massacring Muslims overseas?

Mass Incarceration and Coerced Labor: A Shameful Legacy on which to Build an Empire 

The destruction wrought in the aftermath of the United States’ “forever wars” cannot be understated. Millions have been killed, rendered permanently disabled, or forced to abandon their livelihoods and homes. Entire school systems have been dismantled. Children’s limbs have been amputated, and they have been terrorized and starved. But what makes the U.S. wealthy and powerful enough to wield oppressive forces over the historically Islamic world? The answer to this question lies in an unlikely source – the prison industrial complex.

Behind the bars of government-run and privatized correctional facilities lie innumerable untold Muslim stories, as 2 million incarcerated Americans dwell there in a perpetual state of captivity. With limited data available on the subject, imagine how many millions of Muslims have, for decades, toiled away, building vanity sets, army helmets, textiles, and military-grade surveillance equipment. Imagine how many of them potentially lived and died in their cells, the only worldly mark left to identify them is etched into a picnic table they put together for 13 cents an hour. Was it their forced labor that paved the railways, coal, and iron, that heralded this young nation to the forefront of global wealth?

While wealthy private prison profiteers reap the benefits of cheap labor, the incarcerated Muslim polishes their weapons in a bizarre, barbaric scene that one inmate likened to slavery movies of the past. A recent Wired exposé revealed that Unicor, alternatively known as Federal Prison Industries, forced more than 20,000 inmates across 70 different prisons to build everything from military electronics to Patriot missiles and more for only 23 cents an hour. The Patriot missiles they built sold for a whopping $5.9 million each, further cementing America as a military and financial superpower. 

Another such example of prisoner exploitation is the GEO Group, a for-profit prison corporation headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. that faced criticism and legal challenges over its business practices. These legal challenges included California federal appeals court Judge Vince Chhabria’s decision of Jan. 6, 2021, upholding a $23 million judgment against the company for paying detainees $1 a day for their labor. For profit jailers not only lease prisons from the government but also own many of their own. GEO owns prisons in Florida, Colorado, and Washington State Following President Trump’s recent victory and his declaration for the imprisonment of undocumented immigrants, their stock rose from $14.45 per share to $35.35.

Prison Labor is Forced Labor

An Aspen Institute documentary dispelled the myth that prison labor is a voluntary activity. “Today, the majority of incarcerated workers in the U.S., who are disproportionately Black and people of color, are often required to work or face retaliation such as solitary confinement, denial of opportunities to reduce their sentence, and loss of family visitation,” stated the Aspen Institute researchers.

Renowned prison reform advocate Terrance Winn, described the grim scenario he endured while serving part of a life sentence at the notorious Louisiana prison known as Angola, where he was sent at the age of 16. Angola, a converted plantation, has its own graveyard due to the high death rate of its inmates. Prisoners are pushed to work in unfathomable conditions and forced to pick cotton under the threat of being beaten or sent to solitary confinement where more horrors await. Winn, who was tried as an adult, claimed that life at the largest maximum-security penitentiary in the United States “was like taking a step back into history.” A two-year PBS investigation revealed that facilities like Angola supply millions of dollars’ worth of crops to major companies such as Tyson Foods, Ballpark hotdogs, PepsiCo, Frosted Flakes, and Louis Dreyfus.

Waging Wars on Muslims Abroad while Stifling Muslims in the U.S.

As the corporate rolodex spins, American capitalism reigns, and much of this is to the detriment of Muslims in America and abroad. Muslim Americans are disproportionately impoverished, with a third of them living below the poverty line. Some experts correlate extreme poverty with a 15-fold increased risk of being charged with a felony. Impoverished Muslims face an increased risk of being forced into prison labor, where their hands will work for meager wages crafting products that bolster the American economy and are used to wage wars on Muslims abroad. And while they are under this institutionalization, they will not be counted as Muslims in America at all, effectively rendering them invisible wheels in the unrelenting war machine. 

Cynthia C Griffith is a social justice journalist with a passion for environmental and civil rights issues. She’s a regular contributor at Invisible People, where she broaches the subject of homelessness from a human-centric perspective.

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