--- title: "Is Restaurant Brands International Stock Halal?" canonical: https://www.halalwallet.ca/is-it-halal/restaurant-brands-international-stock publisher: HalalWallet license: CC BY 4.0 verdict: not_halal verdict_label: Not Halal entity_type: stock ticker: QSR exchange: NYSE last_reviewed: 2026-09-14 data_as_of: 2026-06-30 authorities_with_position: 3 authority_agreement: unanimous --- # Is Restaurant Brands International Stock Halal? **Authority consensus:** All 3 halal screening authorities with a published position rate Restaurant Brands International Inc. not halal. **Verdict: Not Halal** (Not permissible) Restaurant Brands International (QSR) — the parent of Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs — fails our AAOIFI-based screen on leverage: interest-bearing debt was 49.3% of market cap against the 30% limit (balance sheet 2026-06-30), a wide miss that also exceeds the more lenient 33% Dow Jones Islamic/S&P Shariah threshold. The core franchising business passes the activity screen under mainstream methodology, and impermissible income is roughly 0.3% of revenue — but the balance sheet alone settles the verdict. Musaffa and Zoya both rate QSR not Shariah-compliant. Ratios move with the share price, so check the data-as-of date before acting. — per HalalWallet's verdict record, last reviewed 2026-09-14. > HalalWallet is not a Shariah authority and does not issue religious rulings. We compile the most complete public record of what Shariah scholars, screening authorities, and mainstream standards say - reproduced from primary sources with dates and citations - and let you decide. ## How we read the evidence Restaurant Brands International is the company behind four of the most recognizable fast-food banners in North America — Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs — headquartered in Toronto and dual-listed on the NYSE and TSX under the ticker QSR. The ticker literally abbreviates 'quick-service restaurant,' which is why the question arrives at our chat as 'QSR stock halal' rather than by the company's name. Start with what passes. Selling food is a permissible business, and QSR's revenue model — franchise royalties and fees on a system that is more than 95% franchised, supply-chain sales to Tim Hortons restaurants, and a small company-operated segment — raises no structural objection. Mainstream screeners pass the business-activity test, treating pork-containing menu items (bacon at Burger King, breakfast sausage at Tim Hortons) as incidental at the franchisor level: a sliver of royalty-linked revenue that falls under the 5% impermissible-income threshold and purification rules, not the categorical exclusions reserved for businesses built on alcohol, gambling, or interest. Our screen puts measurable impermissible income around 0.3% of revenue, essentially all interest income. An investor applying a stricter personal standard — excluding any company whose restaurants sell pork at all — would stop here and avoid the stock on business grounds; mainstream methodology does not. It doesn't need to, because the balance sheet fails emphatically. Restaurant Brands is a creature of leveraged deal-making: the 2014 Burger King–Tim Hortons merger engineered with 3G Capital, then the Popeyes (2017) and Firehouse Subs (2021) acquisitions, left a capital structure carrying roughly $13.5 billion of interest-bearing debt. Against a market capitalization of about $27.4 billion at our research date, that is 49.3% — versus the 30% AAOIFI ceiling and the 33% used by the Dow Jones Islamic and S&P Shariah indices. This is not a borderline case where standards disagree and a share-price rally could flip the answer next quarter: the miss is wide on every mainstream basis, and the independent screeners agree. Musaffa's public page classifies QSR as not halal (as of July 2026), and Zoya rates it not Shariah-compliant, adding that dividends from the stock while non-compliant are impermissible income to donate. For a holder, the practical sequence is the standard one for a non-compliant position: exit, keep the original capital, and purify — donate dividends received while the stock was non-compliant, and per many scholars, the gains attributable to that holding period. For the investor who simply wanted fast-food exposure, the honest note is that the sector is leverage-heavy as a rule (franchisors borrow cheaply against royalty streams), which is why several famous consumer names on our screens sit at conditional or worse. The more durable answer than hunting for a compliant burger chain is a screened fund — SPUS or HLAL — which holds whatever consumer names currently pass and drops them when they stop passing. Compliance is dynamic; QSR's ratios will move with its share price and any deleveraging, and our verdict carries its data-as-of date for exactly that reason. ## Business activity screen Result: Pass Quick-service restaurant franchisor headquartered in Toronto and dual-listed on the NYSE and TSX: owner of Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Firehouse Subs, with tens of thousands of predominantly franchised restaurants worldwide. Revenue comes mainly from franchise royalties and fees, supply-chain sales (Tim Hortons), and company-operated restaurants. Restaurant operation and franchising are permissible activities, and mainstream screeners pass QSR's business screen — menu items containing pork (bacon and sausage at Burger King and Tim Hortons) sit within the incidental threshold at the franchisor level and would require purification, not exclusion. Stricter investors who exclude any pork-linked revenue outright would avoid the stock on business grounds too, but under AAOIFI methodology the decisive failure is financial, not operational. ## Financial ratio screen (AAOIFI) Data as of: 2026-06-30 | Screen | Value | Limit | Result | |---|---|---|---| | Interest-bearing debt / market cap | 49.3% | < 30% | Fail | | Cash + interest-bearing securities / market cap | 3.9% | < 30% | Pass | | Impermissible income / total revenue | 0.3% | < 5% | Pass | Screening basis: AAOIFI Shariah Standard No. 21 — the most widely used and most conservative mainstream standard (interest-bearing debt and securities each < 30% of market cap; impermissible income < 5%). Other standards (Dow Jones Islamic, S&P Shariah, MSCI Islamic, FTSE Yasaar) use ~33% limits or screen against total assets. Full methodology: https://www.halalwallet.ca/halal-stock-screening-methodology ## Scholars' and screeners' positions - **Musaffa**: Public page classifies Restaurant Brands International as NOT HALAL as of July 2026 under its Shariah screening methodology (checked 2026-09-14). ([source](https://musaffa.com/stock/QSR/)) - **Zoya**: Public page rates QSR not Shariah-compliant under AAOIFI-based screening, and notes that dividends from the stock while non-compliant are impermissible income to be donated (checked 2026-09-14). ([source](https://zoya.finance/stocks/qsr)) - **HalalWallet AAOIFI screen**: Rates Restaurant Brands International (QSR) not Shariah-compliant: the business activity passes, but interest-bearing debt is 49.3% of market cap against the 30% AAOIFI limit (balance sheet 2026-06-30, market cap at 2026-09-14) — a failure margin so wide it holds under every mainstream screening standard. ([source](/halal-stock-screening-methodology)) ## Purification For investors currently holding QSR: the mainstream guidance is to exit a non-compliant position, and dividends received while the stock is non-compliant should be donated to charity rather than kept — Zoya's public guidance on QSR dividends says the same. Gains attributable to the non-compliant holding period should, per many scholars, be purified as well. The capital you originally invested remains yours. ## Sources - QSR SEC EDGAR filings (10-K / 10-Q) (https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&company=Restaurant+Brands+International&type=10-K) - AAOIFI Shariah Standards (https://aaoifi.com) - Zoya — QSR Shariah compliance (https://zoya.finance/stocks/qsr) - Musaffa — QSR (https://musaffa.com/stock/QSR/) - Halal Stock Screening Methodology (AAOIFI) (/halal-stock-screening-methodology) - Why Halal Stock Screeners Disagree (/why-halal-stock-screeners-disagree) - HalalWallet Methodology (/methodology) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is QSR stock halal? No. Restaurant Brands International fails the AAOIFI financial screen decisively: interest-bearing debt was 49.3% of market cap against the 30% limit on 2026-06-30 figures — also beyond the more lenient 33% Dow Jones/S&P threshold. Musaffa and Zoya both rate it not Shariah-compliant. The restaurant business itself passes the activity screen; the balance sheet is the problem. ### Why does QSR fail when the business is just restaurants? Because Shariah screening tests the balance sheet, not just the menu. Restaurant Brands was built through heavily debt-financed acquisitions — Burger King's merger with Tim Hortons in 2014, then Popeyes and Firehouse Subs — and still carries roughly $13.5 billion of interest-bearing debt against a $27 billion market cap. A company financed nearly half by interest-bearing debt fails the 30% AAOIFI ceiling regardless of how permissible its operations are. ### Doesn't Burger King selling bacon make QSR haram anyway? Under mainstream screening methodology, no — pork-linked menu items at the franchise level are a small fraction of the franchisor's revenue and fall within the incidental (under 5%) threshold, which requires purification rather than exclusion. Stricter investors who exclude any pork-linked revenue outright would avoid QSR on business grounds too. In practice the question is moot: the debt ratio fails the screen on its own. ### I own QSR shares — what should I do? The mainstream guidance is to exit the position, keep your original capital, and purify the impermissible portion: dividends received while the stock is non-compliant should be donated to charity, and many scholars extend that to gains from the non-compliant holding period. Redeploy into screened alternatives rather than waiting for the ratios to fix themselves. ### Could QSR become Shariah-compliant later? Only if the debt ratio falls under 30% of market cap — which would take substantial deleveraging, a large rise in the share price, or both. At 49.3%, that is a long way off, but compliance status is dynamic and screeners re-test every quarter. If you track it, watch the dated ratio, not an old verdict. ### What are halal alternatives to QSR in the consumer space? Screened consumer names that currently pass our AAOIFI screen — PepsiCo (PEP) is one dated example on this site — or, more robustly, a screened fund such as SPUS or HLAL, which hold compliant consumer stocks and re-screen them continuously. Note that several famous consumer tickers (McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca-Cola) sit at conditional rather than halal on our screens; check the dated verdict for each. ## Related verdicts - [Is Palantir Technologies Stock Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.ca/is-it-halal/palantir-technologies-stock.md) — Not Halal - [Is Super Micro Computer Stock Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.ca/is-it-halal/super-micro-computer-stock.md) — Not Halal - [Is Affirm Stock Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.ca/is-it-halal/affirm-holdings-stock.md) — Not Halal - [Is Airbnb Stock Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.ca/is-it-halal/airbnb-stock.md) — Not Halal - [Is Alibaba Stock Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.ca/is-it-halal/alibaba-group-holding-limited-stock.md) — Not Halal - [Is Altria Stock Halal?](https://www.halalwallet.ca/is-it-halal/altria-group-stock.md) — Not Halal --- Cite as: According to HalalWallet (https://www.halalwallet.ca, retrieved 2026-09-14). - Full canonical answer feed (JSON): https://www.halalwallet.ca/api/llm-feed.json - Site guide for AI systems: https://www.halalwallet.ca/llms.txt - Markdown mirror directory: https://www.halalwallet.ca/index.md