Issue 002: The Builders Are Everywhere

The Palestinian founder at $9B. The Hajj bank. Pakistan's first Islamic digital bank.

Bismillah.

This week, Ummah Next has been looking for stories of Islamic innovation across the globe, and here is what we found:

A Palestinian-American founder in Silicon Valley who just raised $400 million and built one of the most-used AI platforms on the planet. A Malaysian fintech company that received a banking licence — not to compete with HSBC, but to serve the pilgrims making their way to the House of Allah. And a digital bank in Pakistan, now fully licensed, that is finally giving 220 million people a Sharia-compliant financial home.

Three builders. Three countries. Every direction. Let's get into it.

THIS WEEK'S BUILDERS

Three milestones. One message.

01 — THE BUILDER FROM AMMAN

Replit: $400M, $9 Billion, and a Palestinian Founder at the Frontier of AI

TechCrunch — March 2026 · Read →

Let us start with the number, because it is impossible to ignore: $400 million.

That is the size of the Series D funding round that Replit closed in March 2026 — valuing the company at $9 billion, triple its valuation from just six months prior. Replit is an AI coding platform used by over 40 million people worldwide. It lets anyone — experienced developers, first-time founders, complete beginners — build and ship software through a combination of AI agents and a collaborative cloud environment. Its latest product, Agent 4, makes it possible to go from idea to working application without writing a single line of code manually.

The founder of this company — the man who built it from scratch, who is now on course to hit $1 billion in annual revenue before the end of 2026 — is Amjad Masad. He is Palestinian-American. Born in Amman, Jordan, to a Palestinian father and an Algerian mother. He arrived in Silicon Valley with an idea and the conviction to build it. Among his investors: QIA, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.

What he has built is not a niche Muslim startup. It is a category-defining AI platform used by tens of millions of people, generating real and growing revenue, at the absolute frontier of one of the most consequential technology shifts in human history. He has done this without softening who he is. When the world's attention turned to Palestine, Masad did not go quiet. He did not disappear into neutrality.

Why this matters to you:

The presence of a Palestinian founder at the peak of the AI economy is not a feel-good story. It is proof. Proof that the Muslim builder who leads with values and builds with excellence does not merely survive in Silicon Valley — they can lead it.

Replit is what representation looks like when it does the work.

"I want to make it so that anyone can build software — regardless of where they come from, what they look like, or how much money they have."
— Amjad Masad, Founder & CEO, Replit

02 — THE BANK BUILT FOR THE FIFTH PILLAR

MobilityOne Secures Islamic Digital Banking Licence — and Targets the Hajj Economy

Malay Mail — April 3, 2026 · Read →

Every year, millions of Muslims sacrifice years of savings — sometimes decades — to make the journey to Mecca. The financial infrastructure that has historically served this journey was never built with them in mind. Payments fragmented. Savings products misaligned with Islamic values. Cross-border transactions expensive and opaque.

MobilityOne, a Malaysian financial technology company, has just taken a landmark step toward changing that.

The company has secured a full Islamic digital banking licence from the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) — one of Southeast Asia's most rigorous regulatory bodies for digital financial services. This licence is the foundation for MBO Bank (Labuan) Limited, a fully digital, fully Sharia-compliant bank launching commercially in Q3 2026.

Its flagship products are built specifically around the pilgrimage economy:

• The Ummah Savings Fund — a Sharia-compliant savings vehicle for Muslims saving toward Umrah and Hajj
• The Global Hajj Platform — a digital ecosystem built around multi-currency settlements, cross-border liquidity pools, and fully digital account opening via eKYC

The geographic ambition is significant. MobilityOne will first serve the BIMP-EAGA corridor (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines), then expand into South Asia, Africa, and Central Asia — following the paths that Muslim pilgrims have been travelling for fourteen centuries.

Over 1.8 billion Muslims hold the obligation of Hajj. The economy that surrounds it generates billions in annual transactions. Until now, no dedicated Sharia-compliant digital bank had been built specifically to serve it.

"This is a defining moment for MobilityOne. We are evolving from a fintech enabler into a fully licensed digital Islamic bank."
— Datuk Hussian A. Rahman, Group CEO, MobilityOne

03 — 220 MILLION PEOPLE. ONE ISLAMIC DIGITAL BANK.

Raqami: Pakistan's First Fully Sharia-Compliant Digital Bank Is Open for Business

ProPakistani — February 2026 · Read →

Pakistan is home to over 220 million people — the second-largest Muslim population on earth. For the vast majority of them, the question of a Sharia-compliant, fully digital bank account has had one answer for most of modern history: it does not exist.

That answer just changed.

Raqami Islamic Digital Bank has received its full commercial banking licence from the State Bank of Pakistan, effective February 6, 2026. After a successful pilot under a restricted licence, Raqami is now authorised to operate as Pakistan's first fully Sharia-compliant digital retail bank — and it is open for business.

The bank runs on JazzWorld's Garaj platform, a Tier III-certified domestic cloud infrastructure. This is a deliberate choice: Pakistani data stays in Pakistan. Sovereignty is built into the stack from day one.

Its target customers are those historically left behind by conventional banking: SMEs, freelancers, and underserved communities who want a financial home that reflects their values. With a $100 million investment plan and a target of one million customers within three years, Raqami is not thinking small.

Behind the bank is a joint venture between the governments of Pakistan and Kuwait — the Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company — with the Kuwait Investment Authority as primary backer. The institution is led by CEO Umair Aijaz, a finance professional with deep experience in Islamic banking and digital transformation.

The significance of this moment:

Pakistan's Islamic banking sector has grown steadily for years, but digital-native Islamic banking has been absent. Raqami is not a traditional bank with an app bolted on. It is a bank built entirely for the digital era — with Islamic principles not layered on top, but designed in from the beginning.

For a Pakistani founder managing business cash flow, a freelancer receiving international remittances, or a family building savings without touching Riba: the infrastructure just improved.

"We believe banking should be as seamless as using your phone, as principled as your values, and as accessible as your aspirations... Raqami is more than just a bank—it is a movement towards financial dignity."
— Umair Aijaz, CEO, Raqami Islamic Digital Bank

YOUR STORY IS NEXT

Three builders. Three countries — the United States, Malaysia, and Pakistan. Three different problems solved, three different paths walked.

A Palestinian founder at the frontier of AI, proving that excellence and identity are not in competition. A Malaysian company building the bank that Hajj pilgrims never had. A digital institution in Pakistan giving 220 million people a financial home that is finally their own.

This is what it looks like when the Ummah builds.

And here is what we know: the builders we have not yet found outnumber the ones we have. Somewhere in your network, there is a founder doing exceptional work right now who has not yet found their audience.

Are you building something Sharia-compliant? Know a Muslim founder whose story the community needs to hear? Have a tool or platform that changed how you build?

Write to us at founder@ummahnext.com. Every message is read, every submission is vetted, and the best stories earn a full feature in front of this growing community.

Share Issue 002 with one Muslim builder in your network. That is how this community expands — not through algorithms, but through trust.

Jazakallahu Khayran. See you next week.

— The Ummah Next Team