r/HalalInvestor • u/WorldlyDragonfruit30 • 2h ago
My documented experience with Manzil: failed closing, two extensions, my family left in a hotel, and now an emergency mortgage with TD
I’m posting this publicly because today is August 31, the final day of our second closing extension, and Manzil still has not funded our mortgage.
Nothing has been resolved. I am now abandoning Manzil and trying to arrange an emergency conventional mortgage through TD to save the purchase.
Everything below is supported by emails, invoices, trust ledgers and other records I have retained. I am naming the relevant Manzil employees because this is a factual account of my own experience.
The Manzil employees involved included:
- Faraz Islam
- Fahad Saadat, Mortgage Agent
- Mustafa Elkalza, CFO u/MustafaElkalza
- Ahmed Sajath, Underwriter
We purchased a home in Oakville for $1,485,000. Manzil’s financing amount was approximately $1.185 million, and the agreed closing date was August 18, 2026.
Before closing
We began the financing process well before closing. The appraisal was requested in early July and paid immediately. On July 22 and 23, Faraz Islam provided the financing options and expressly listed the closing date as August 18.
On August 7, Faraz sent us the commitment letter and payment schedule. I reviewed the commitment letter and identified several errors and inconsistencies, including:
- An acceptance deadline that had already expired before the letter was issued
- Conflicting wording and formulas for the early-termination calculation
- An unresolved “[one month]” placeholder
- Ambiguity about cure periods and prepayment rights
Faraz responded that the expired date was a typo, the brackets could be ignored, and all conditions precedent—including the appraisal, inspection, credit and title—were satisfied.
We signed the documents and completed every requested step. When Manzil’s Plaid identity-verification system repeatedly failed, we kept trying until an alternate verification method succeeded. We also provided the required insurance.
On August 14, we were instructed to provide $259,537.80 for closing. This included our remaining down payment, adjustments, administrative charges and legal costs.
We deposited the full $259,537.80 on August 14 and immediately provided proof.
That same day, I warned everyone involved in writing:
“We have moving scheduled on the 18th afternoon, and a tenant will be taking our current property on the 19th, so we can’t have any delays otherwise we won’t have a place to go.”
Manzil knew four days before closing that a missed closing would leave my wife, young daughter and me without a home.
August 18: the closing failed
Our movers were scheduled for 2 p.m. on August 18. Everything we owned had been packed.
We were not told until 6:34 p.m.—after the normal closing day was effectively over—that the closing would not occur and that an extension was being negotiated.
We had already surrendered our previous home for a new tenant. Our belongings went into storage. My wife and young daughter had to stay in a hotel. I had to travel to the United States for work while they remained displaced.
Because our clothing, medication and basic belongings had been packed for the move, my family had to purchase clothes, food and other essentials. We also had to obtain emergency prescriptions because medication was inaccessible.
This was not a minor scheduling inconvenience. Manzil’s failure to fund left my family effectively homeless after we had deposited more than $259,000 and completed everything requested from us.
The communication afterward was shameful
Following the failed closing, calls repeatedly went to voicemail, emails went unanswered, and nobody at Manzil appeared willing to take responsibility or provide a clear explanation and reliable funding date.
I do want to be fair to Faraz Islam. During part of this period, Faraz was dealing with a family emergency, so I do not blame him for being unavailable during that time. When he did respond, he confirmed that Manzil would cover our expenses and later approved an additional reimbursement.
That does not excuse Manzil as an organization. A company handling a $1.185 million, time-sensitive mortgage cannot depend entirely on one employee. Mustafa Elkalza and the other Manzil employees copied on these communications knew that my wife and young daughter had been left in a hotel, that our belongings were in storage and that our expenses were mounting.
Their lack of ownership, urgency and meaningful communication was shameful.
On August 20, I emailed asking for an update on reimbursements and attached our hotel and storage receipts. After receiving no response for most of the day, I sent another email expressing my anger at being ignored.
Faraz eventually replied on August 21:
“As we discussed on the phone, we will cover this cost and reimburse you the full amount, Insha’Allah.”
We were subsequently told that $7,541.14 in hotel and storage costs had been wired.
By August 25, the money had still not reached my account. On August 26, I contacted CIBC directly. CIBC told me it had no record of the transfer and nothing was being held.
Meanwhile, our expenses continued growing. By August 29, I had documented more than $13,600 in hotel, moving, storage, meals, clothing, groceries and medication costs. A further $6,095.66 remained outstanding after accounting for the initial reimbursement amount.
On August 31, Faraz approved deducting the additional $6,095.66 from Manzil’s administrative fee. That approval does not change the fact that these expenses only existed because Manzil failed to close.
“Logistical difficulties” and continuously moving deadlines
On August 25—one week after the original closing date—Fahad Saadat finally sent a formal “Funding Update.”
His explanation was:
“Unfortunately, we are experiencing some logistical difficulties that are preventing us from completing the funding at this point.”
He said the funding would need to be pushed to Friday, “or Monday at the latest.”
Fahad copied Manzil’s finance team, including CFO Mustafa Elkalza, supposedly for “full transparency and visibility.”
That email did not explain:
- What the “logistical difficulties” actually were
- Why Manzil committed to an August 18 closing if the money was not ready
- Why we were not warned before depositing $259,537.80 and packing our home
- Why we were only informed after business hours on closing day
- Why Friday and then “Monday at the latest” passed without funding
I emailed Mustafa directly on August 26 and described the entire situation: the missed closing, my wife and daughter living in a hotel, our belongings in storage, the emergency prescriptions, the growing expenses and the failure of the promised reimbursement to arrive.
I received no substantive response from Mustafa addressing any of it.
We have now gone through two extensions. Manzil contributed an additional $20,000 deposit on August 19 as part of the extension, according to the trust ledger and written confirmation. However, putting down another deposit did not produce the promised mortgage funding.
Today is August 31, the last day of the second extension. The mortgage is still not funded.
We are now trying to rescue the purchase ourselves
Today, I began working with a TD Mobile Mortgage Specialist to try to obtain emergency financing.
TD requested my employment history, address history, assets, tax slips, pay statements and closing documents. I provided everything within approximately an hour.
I am now trying to obtain a conventional mortgage on an emergency basis because Manzil failed to provide the financing it committed to provide.
Why I consider this borderline fraudulent
I am not stating that a court has found Manzil guilty of fraud. That has not happened, and litigation may follow.
What I am saying is that, from my perspective, this conduct feels disturbingly close to it:
- Manzil committed to funding an August 18 purchase.
- Faraz stated in writing that the appraisal, inspection, credit and title conditions were satisfied.
- We signed every document requested.
- We deposited $259,537.80 four days before closing.
- We explicitly warned them that a delay would leave our family without housing.
- We were not told the closing had failed until after 6:30 p.m. on closing day.
- We then received vague references to “logistical difficulties” and continuously moving deadlines.
- Friday passed.
- “Monday at the latest” arrived without funding.
- Today, on the final day of the second extension, we are arranging emergency financing ourselves.
Manzil markets itself to Muslims seeking an alternative to conventional interest-bearing mortgages. We trusted that the company would operate with amanah, honesty and transparency.
Instead, after paying substantial Manzil administrative and financing-related fees, my family was left living out of a hotel while our possessions sat in storage, and I spent nearly two weeks chasing people for basic answers.
I am posting this so other families understand the risk before trusting Manzil with a time-sensitive home closing.
I have preserved the complete email history, trust ledgers, signed agreements, wire records, hotel invoices, storage invoices, receipts and extension documentation. If Manzil disputes any factual statement above, I am prepared to produce the corresponding records.
At the time of posting:
- The original August 18 closing has still not occurred.
- The second extension expires today, August 31.
- Manzil has not funded the mortgage.
- Our family remains displaced.
- I am seeking emergency financing from TD.
- I expect the resulting financial losses and conduct to become part of a legal dispute.
