13 · Voting Rules — community signal (advisory)

Donors earn status and voting points and signal which vetted startups they favour. Voting is advisory and never binding — the Sharia Investment Committee decides (doc 08 §B4). Points carry no ownership and no economic value. Pending SSB confirmation (doc 09 §G, Q23–31).

Canonical. This document defines the mechanic. PRODUCT.md §3 mirrors it; where they diverge, this document wins.

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1. Why advisory

A fiduciary duty to a perpetual endowment cannot be crowd-sourced, and halal verification is a matter of scholarship, not popularity. The community filters; the committee decides. Principle: community filters, committee decides.

2. Status tiers

Status is recomputed daily from contributions over a rolling 365 days.

Status is non-financial, non-transferable, revocable, and confers no claim on any asset, profit or distribution.

3. Eligibility to vote

Registered and has made at least the minimum contribution. Contributions to Flow 2 (platform) and, once open, Flow 3 (waqf) both count. Investors (SAFE) receive no voting rights by virtue of investing — the two worlds stay separate.

4. Round mechanics

Rounds ("grants") run in stages: intake + moderation → moderation → qualifying → semi-final (≤50) → final (top 5) → results/archive.

1. A vote pool is issued at round start according to status.
2. One vote per project per stage.
3. Votes cannot be withdrawn once cast.
4. A cast vote's weight is locked even if the voter's status later drops.
5. Unspent votes expire at round end (use it or lose it).
6. Votes are reset and re-issued each new round — they never accumulate.
7. Project rating = sum of vote weights → drives the ranked shortlist given to the SIC.

5. Reputation (separate from votes)

A cumulative, cross-round Reputation score records loyalty and good conduct. It grants perks only — badges, priority, eligibility to serve as independent observer (doc 08 §B7) — and never extra votes. This deliberately separates ephemeral voting power from lasting standing.

6. Anti-collusion

1. No voting for your own project, or any project you are involved in.
2. Cross-votes between participants in the same round are limited or discounted.
3. Vote-trading patterns are audited; anomalies are investigated.
4. Final-stage voting may be restricted to non-participants.
5. One account per person. Multi-accounting → forfeiture of status and points.
6. Sanctions: warning → vote annulment → status reset → ban.

7. Transparency

Live ranking and vote counts are visible during the round. After the decision, the SIC publishes the outcome and its reasons, including where it departed from the community ranking (doc 08 §B7).

8. What voting is not

Not shareholding, not a security, not a governance right in U21C, not a claim on the Waqf, not a promise that the top-voted project will be funded. The SIC's decision is final.

9. Review

Rules reviewed each round; material changes announced before the next round opens.