The aims of this empirical study are twofold. First, we investigate whether religiously motivated Sharia-compliant IPOs influence the initial returns of IPOs under the signalling theory assumptions. Second, we examine the influencing effect of prestige signals on IPO initial returns for both Sharia- and non-Sharia-compliant IPOs. Our study sample covers the period from January 2000 to December 2018 and includes a total of 453 IPOs, of which 267 IPOs operate under Sharia-compliant status. The results find compelling evidence that Sharia-compliant status does not significantly influence initial returns, but board reputation and underwriter reputation does impact initial returns under both the Sharia sample and non-Sharia sample, respectively. In addition, Sharia-compliant IPOs are predominantly driven by demand, supply, offer price, and listing board, while non-Sharia IPOs are motivated by demand, supply, offer price, and risk.