Sponsorship and partner-content policy

Effective 15 October 2026 · Version 2026-10-15

Paid exposure never buys a halal verdict. These rules apply to sponsors, partners, affiliate commissions, gifts and in-kind arrangements.

1. Purpose and non-negotiable boundary

IsItHaram helps people make informed, Islamically permissible choices. Sponsorship can purchase clearly disclosed exposure to relevant, eligible products. It cannot purchase a halal verdict, certification, favorable comparison, suppressed criticism, editorial ranking or access to users' private information.

No Islamically prohibited product or activity may be promoted. No payment, partnership, charity association or owner exception overrides that rule. Unresolved religious eligibility means hold publication for qualified review, not assume approval. This sponsorship rule does not declare every unreviewed product haram; neutral editorial coverage can explain uncertainty.

Some additional exclusions below are business decisions for this platform. They must not be presented as a claim that every excluded category is universally prohibited in Islam.

2. What may be sponsored initially

Initial formats: a labelled plain-text offer card, or a separate sponsorship acknowledgement supporting useful editorial content. No sponsor-written advertorials, arbitrary uploads, embedded advertising scripts or automatically published supplier feeds in the initial scope.

Financial products, supplements/medical treatments, travel, entertainment, general fundraising and unrelated businesses are outside the initial scope even when potentially permissible. Expansion requires a separate owner-approved policy; a commercial agreement alone cannot expand eligibility.

Mixed retailers may qualify for a specific permissible offer. A business primarily engaged in a prohibited activity may not use an eligible-looking product, subsidiary campaign or brand extension to advertise that business indirectly. Review the sponsor's identity, linked page and purchase path, not just the displayed headline. Reject destinations that promote prohibited products through the campaign or its associated upsells; do not approve a whole mixed catalogue as a substitute for a scoped landing page.

3. Prohibited sponsors, activities and creative content

The following are excluded from sponsorship, partner promotion, affiliate links and indirect brand promotion:

1. Prohibited food and drink: pork and its prohibited derivatives, blood as food, meat known not to meet applicable halal requirements, intoxicating beverages and foods promoted for intoxication. Ambiguous animal ingredients require review, not a fabricated halal claim.
2. Pornography and sexual exploitation: explicit sexual material, sexual services, prostitution, exploitation or trafficking. Reject sexualized advertising even for an otherwise eligible product. Factual food or health education is not pornography merely because it discusses the human body.
3. Gambling: casinos, betting, lotteries, paid games of chance and gambling-like paid prize mechanics, including disguised affiliate or influencer campaigns. Initial policy also excludes promotional prize draws pending a separate rules review.
4. Intoxicants and harmful substance promotion: recreational drugs, drug paraphernalia, tobacco, vaping and nicotine products. Tobacco/vaping are explicit platform exclusions regardless of disputes about individual formulations or religious classifications; clinical cessation services are outside this initial food scope.
5. Riba-based and exploitative financial promotion: interest-bearing lending, payday lending, deceptive debt relief, pyramid/Ponzi schemes and speculative get-rich-quick schemes. All financial promotion is outside the initial scope, including products claiming Islamic compliance.
6. Occult commercial services: fortune-telling, divination, paid predictions of the unseen, magic services, and products marketed with supernatural guarantees.
7. Political promotion: candidates, parties, election fundraising, paid lobbying and political issue campaigns, including third-party campaigns disguised as neutral education. This is the owner's platform-neutrality rule, not a blanket religious judgment on civic participation.
8. Hate, intimidation and violence: extremist recruitment, incitement, sectarian abuse, dehumanization, harassment, weapons promotion and services facilitating violence or abuse. Legitimate religious differences may be discussed respectfully in independent editorial content.
9. Fraud and exploitation: scams, counterfeit or stolen goods, forged certificates, bribery, human trafficking, forced labor and knowingly exploitative business practices. Credible material concerns trigger a hold and investigation; allegations are not published as established fact without evidence.
10. Privacy abuse and unlawful goods/services: malware, surveillance abuse, sale of personal data without proper authority, illegal products, and offers that evade applicable restrictions. No promotion aimed at exploiting children or vulnerable users.

These exclusions cover images, slogans, logos used as indirect advertising, destination pages and campaign mechanics. Educational discussion of a prohibited activity is allowed when relevant; advertising it is not.

4. Evidence and prohibited claims

Before approval, staff must retain the evidence supporting each material claim, its source, check date, applicable product/region and review or expiry date.

For a halal-certification claim, verify the issuer, certificate validity and scope against the exact product, relevant facility and market. A certificate for another product or expired certificate is insufficient. “Vegan,” “vegetarian,” “pork-free” and “kosher” must not be rewritten as “halal-certified.” Where certification is not applicable or available, use only independently supportable wording and obtain specialist review for uncertain ingredients or processes.

Never publish:

• “IsItHaram certified,” “Halal Inspector approved,” or an equivalent seal implying certification the platform has not actually performed and is not authorized to provide.
• Unsupported claims of universal scholarly agreement, unconditional halal status, religious superiority, guaranteed reward, or sin for not purchasing/subscribing. No guilt-based religious sales pressure.
• Claims that a competitor is haram, unsafe or inferior without appropriate evidence and independent review. Payment cannot select the outcome of a comparison.
• Disease cures, miraculous health benefits, guaranteed weight loss, guaranteed earnings or other unsupported outcome promises.
• Fake testimonials, invented users, manipulated reviews, false scarcity, fabricated discounts, misleading prices, hidden recurring charges, or unverified stock/delivery promises.
• Misleading environmental, ethical, origin, ingredient, allergen or safety claims; material limitations must not be hidden.
• “Independent recommendation” or similar language for paid promotion. A disclosure cannot repair a false substantive claim.

Price and stock claims require a short, recorded validity period and check date. Do not promise live availability when there is no live verification. Remove the claim when its approved validity ends unless rechecked and reapproved.

5. Where it may appear

Our commercial placement limits:

The one-unit limit applies across all commercial formats on a page. No pop-ups, forced redirects, autoplay, sponsor takeovers or intrusive overlays. Membership does not remove these protections or create additional advertising inventory.

Every placement must name its sponsor and show “Advertisement — sponsored by [name]” before the promotional copy. Disclose commission or in-kind relationships when applicable; “Partner” by itself is insufficient. An editorial funding acknowledgement must say who funded it and that the sponsor does not control conclusions. Use visible boundaries so an offer cannot be mistaken for our own research.

Approve exact pages/topics, product, country, placement and destination URL/path in advance. No category-wide blast where page relevance cannot be enforced. External navigation requires the existing clear destination warning and affirmative user choice. No hidden redirects or unapproved tracking. Do not disclose account data, private searches, religious preferences or contact submissions to sponsors; use only non-identifying aggregate reporting under the site's privacy rules.

6. Who approves and publishes — mandatory two-person control

Every real campaign and its final content require two distinct human approvals.

Minimum staffing is two people when the commercial approver also prepares the draft and the independent reviewer is qualified for the subject. More people are needed when authorship or specialist requirements prevent that separation. Two accounts belonging to one person do not satisfy the rule. AI checks can assist; they do not count as either approval. If an independent reviewer is unavailable, the promotion waits.

Both approvals must cover the actual agreement scope and exact final content version. Record actors, timestamps, evidence and reasons. Material changes to claims, products, destination, scope, dates or creative invalidate the corresponding approvals and require review again. The owner may reject any campaign, but cannot waive the independent check to publish it.

7. Publication, stopping and expiry

Workflow: draft → commercial approval → independent content/policy approval → scheduled publication → expiry, suspension or cancellation. A reviewer may return a draft for changes or reject it at either approval stage.

Publication requires all of: approved active agreement; approved matching content version; eligible product and sponsor; permitted page/region/destination; current evidence; valid dates; and any contractual prerequisites satisfied. A partnership can involve non-cash value, but still needs an approved agreement and disclosure.

The effective end is the earliest of agreement end, placement end or the validity limit of required supporting evidence/claims. New adverse evidence, changed ingredients/certification, destination changes, misleading claims or credible serious complaints trigger suspension pending review. Provide a way to report a promotion and retain the investigation outcome privately.

One authorized staff member may suspend immediately; a second approval must never delay stopping harm. Reinstatement requires both approvals and resolution of the cause. Cancellation is terminal for that agreement; a replacement needs a new agreement and review.

After expiry/cancellation, remove promotional pricing, purchase buttons, sponsor branding, promotional prominence and affiliate tracking. Independently useful basic information may remain only after editorial review, with necessary evidence citations and no retained marketing copy. Never silently relabel an advertisement as neutral editorial content. Historical funding disclosure may remain where needed to explain the provenance of retained work, without an active promotional link or offer.

8. Example decisions

Basis: Islamic prohibitions guide eligibility; additional business exclusions protect the focus and neutrality of this site. Uncertain religious questions require qualified review.

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