Is it halal to invest in a supermarket that sells alcohol and pork?

Start with what kind of company it is. AAOIFI Shari'a Standard No. 21 asks first what a company does for a living. A brewer, a casino or a conventional bank fails right there, and no ratio brings it back. A supermarket is a different case. Its trade is food and household goods, which is permissible, and the prohibited items are a few lines on a very long shelf. For a business like that the screen allows a small tolerance: income from impermissible sources has to stay under 5% of revenue. The two money limits apply as well, interest-bearing debt under 30% of market capitalization, and interest-bearing deposits and securities under 30%.

So the whole question is the size of that share, and this is where it gets awkward. Costco's annual report lists liquor and tobacco inside its Foods and Sundries category. Walmart's lists alcoholic beverages inside Grocery. Neither report puts a figure on them, and neither gives one for pork. Both companies sit comfortably inside the money limits: Costco's interest-bearing debt is 1.5% of market capitalization and Walmart's is 5.3%. The one number that would settle the 5% test is the one number that is missing.

When a filing confirms the product and leaves out the size, two shortcuts are tempting. One is to assume the worst and mark the stock Not Halal. The other is to borrow an industry average, call the share small, and wave the stock through. We take neither, because both put a number on the page that the company never gave. A share we cannot measure is not a share we can call small. So the verdict is Doubtful, and the stock page shows the line from the filing it rests on. Where a company does publish the figure, the screen uses it: Casey's, a convenience chain that reports its tobacco share, screens Not Halal.

Kroger is the reminder to read the reason and not only the verdict. It screens Not Halal, and the cause is borrowing: interest-bearing debt at 40.7% of market capitalization against a ceiling of 30%. Its shelves raise the same question as Costco's, but the debt settles the verdict before the aisle comes into it. That ratio is measured against the share price, so it can move without Kroger borrowing a dollar more.

Doubtful is not a quiet yes. It means the screen cannot settle the question from what the company has published. Many investors simply leave doubtful holdings alone, and caution with doubtful matters is taught in both the Sunni and the Ja'fari traditions. If you already own one of these, take the question to your own scholar, and those who follow Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani or another living authority should refer it to their marja'. Purification is for the small impermissible share inside a holding that passes, given away without seeking reward for it. It does not turn a failed screen into a pass.

Two cautions. First, these verdicts move. An annual report that states the alcohol share would settle Costco or Walmart one way or the other, and Kroger's verdict shifts with its debt and its share price. Second, screeners disagree about supermarkets, and the disagreement is usually about what to do with the missing figure, not about anyone inventing numbers. HalalScreener applies AAOIFI Standard No. 21 across US-listed stocks, ETFs and crypto (7,100+), plus major global companies via their US ADRs, and re-screens continuously, so read the live page before acting on any dated article, including this one. We screen; we do not certify.