A credit card built on interest cannot be halal, so Malaysian Islamic banks rebuilt the product on different legal foundations. Two structures dominate. Under Ujrah, the bank charges a fee for the card's services rather than interest on revolving debt; Maybank Islamic's Ikhwan Visa Infinite page names it in its own words, this ujrah based credit card. Under Tawarruq, the credit line rests on a commodity sale: Public Islamic describes its cards as Commodity Murabahah via Tawarruq, an arrangement of two sale and purchase contracts. The structures matter, but so do the numbers, and the printed rewards on Malaysian Islamic cards now compete with anything on the conventional shelf. Everything below was verified from bank websites on 6 August 2026.
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The January 2026 event: CIMB's Ujrah-to-Tawarruq conversion
The most instructive Shariah governance story on the Malaysian card shelf happened this year: effective 1 January 2026, CIMB Islamic converted its entire credit card book from the Ujrah concept to Tawarruq, with dated notices (21 November 2025 and 31 December 2025) printed on its product pages. The bank published the change rather than a rationale; both structures are BNM-recognised, and what cardholders should take from it is the process: a documented, dated structural migration with terms, rebates and fee waivers carried through is what active Shariah governance looks like from the outside. If your card issuer cannot show you which contract your card uses, that is the red flag, not the choice between Ujrah and Tawarruq. How committees make these calls is covered in our BNM Shariah governance explainer.
The rewards leader: CIMB PETRONAS Visa Infinite-i
On printed numbers, CIMB Islamic's PETRONAS Visa Infinite-i is the strongest Islamic card in the country: up to 12% cash rebate on PETRONAS transactions including Setel and EV charging, up to 6% on groceries, dining and cashless parking, unlimited 1% overseas (on statement balances of RM1,500 or more), capped at RM1,440 rebate a year, with principal and supplementary annual fees waived and up to RM300,000 of travel Takaful when tickets go on the card. The income gate is the catch: RM120,000 a year standard, halved to RM60,000 through CIMB@Work. Its sibling, the Platinum-i, is the accessible entry: RM24,000 income, fees waived, 1 point per ringgit, and a 5x points campaign on Zakat and charity payments running to 28 February 2027, a rewards design actually built for its customer base.
The rest of the field
RHB Islamic's Cash Back Credit Card-i prints the highest category rates: at RM2,500-plus monthly retail spend, 5% back on petrol, dining, utilities and groceries and 10% on online dining and groceries. Then comes the cap: RM10 per category per month, so a maxed-out card returns about RM50 a month. Spend tiers below RM1,000 earn just 0.2%, and the RM70 annual fee from year two is only waived at RM10,000 annual spend. Bank Islam's seven-card family is the choice for customers who want an Islamic-only issuer: Visa Platinum with up to 5% cash back on online, auto-billing, grocery and dining spend (RM36,000 income), Visa Gold up to 3% (RM24,000), a Mastercard Inspire with a lifetime fee waiver, and the most professional document trail on the shelf, a PDS effective 1 August 2026, T&Cs versioned April 2026 and published profit-rate revision notices. Maybank Islamic's Ikhwan family spans Visa, Mastercard and American Express, the only Amex on Malaysia's Islamic shelf, with TreatsPoints converting to Enrich, KrisFlyer and Qmiles; its gap is numbers, with no fee table printed and some visibly stale page content, so confirm current benefits before applying. Public Islamic's shelf trades rewards for substance: modest earn rates, but the Tawarruq structure spelled out on the listing and a Gold MasterCard-i that automatically donates 0.1% of dining spend to Yayasan Waqaf every month.
The cards compared
| Card | Structure (as printed) | Headline rewards | Income gate | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIMB PETRONAS Visa Infinite-i | Tawarruq (converted 1 Jan 2026) | 12% PETRONAS, 6% daily categories, RM1,440/year cap | RM120,000 (RM60,000 CIMB@Work) | Waived |
| CIMB Platinum-i | Tawarruq (converted 1 Jan 2026) | 1 point/RM1; 5x on Zakat and charity (campaign) | RM24,000 | Waived |
| RHB Cash Back Card-i | Islamic PDS (contract in PDS) | 5% essentials, 10% online food; RM10/category cap | RM24,000 | Free year 1; RM70 after unless RM10,000 spend |
| Bank Islam Visa Platinum | Per PDS (Islamic-only issuer) | Up to 5% cash back, capped categories | RM36,000 | Per PDS |
| Bank Islam Visa Gold | Per PDS | Up to 3% cash back | RM24,000 | Per PDS |
| Maybank Ikhwan Visa Infinite-i | Ujrah (named on page) | 2 TreatsPoints/RM1 local, 5 overseas; lounge visits | Not printed | Not printed |
| Public Islamic Gold MasterCard-i | Commodity Murabahah via Tawarruq | 0.1% of dining auto-donated to Waqaf | Per PDS | Per PDS |
How to choose, honestly
Match the card to your spending shape, not the headline. PETRONAS fuel or EV charging spend makes the CIMB Infinite-i unbeatable if you clear the income gate; without that ecosystem, its 6% daily categories still lead, but check the RM1,440 cap against your actual spend. Households that order food and groceries online and reliably spend RM2,500 a month can extract RHB's 10% tier, but the RM10-per-category caps mean the realistic ceiling is around RM50 a month; irregular spenders fall to 0.2% and should hold a fee-free CIMB card instead. Customers who want their issuer, not just their card, to be Islamic have Bank Islam's family at accessible income gates. And if the fiqh details matter to you, note who prints what: Maybank names Ujrah in the product copy, Public Islamic explains its double-sale Tawarruq in a sentence, CIMB documents its conversion with dates, and RHB and Bank Islam leave the contract to the PDS.
Whatever you hold, the discipline is the same as with any credit line: pay in full, because the Shariah structure changes the legal basis of the charges, not the wisdom of revolving a balance. The profit and fee schedules in the PDS are real costs, and the ta'widh late-payment framework, while capped and non-compounding, is not free money. A card is a payment tool and a rewards engine; as a borrowing instrument, the personal financing shelf prices far better.
Frequently asked questions
How can a credit card be halal at all?
By changing what you pay for. Under Ujrah you pay defined fees for the card's services; under Tawarruq the bank creates the credit line through commodity sale contracts and earns a sale profit rather than interest. Both structures are recognised by BNM, approved by the issuing banks' Shariah committees, and documented in each card's PDS. The practical markers to check: a named structure, Takaful rather than insurance on travel benefits, and capped, non-compounding late charges.
Was CIMB's conversion a sign something was wrong with Ujrah?
The bank published dated notices rather than a rationale, so we will not speculate. What is observable: Ujrah remains in live use at Maybank Islamic, both concepts are BNM-recognised, and CIMB's terms, rebates and fee waivers carried through the migration. The takeaway for cardholders is procedural: structures can and do evolve under active Shariah governance, and good issuers document the change with dates.
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Do Islamic cards cost more in fees than conventional cards?
Not on the printed evidence. CIMB waives annual fees on both cards reviewed here, Bank Islam's Inspire carries a lifetime waiver, and RHB's fee is waivable on spend. The costs that matter sit in the PDS: the profit or fee schedule on unpaid balances and cash facilities. Read those numbers exactly as you would interest rates on a conventional card, because that is the cost you avoid by paying in full.