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Insurance
Policies
Question:
Is it permissible for Muslims who live as minority communities
in non-Islaamic countries and who have no supporter or guardian
other than Allaah, to take out insurance policies? The insurance
company, through monthly payments, will take care of a person's
children after his death?
Response:
According
to my knowledge, insurance policies are based on winning and
losing. Every policy or contract that is based on this is
in fact gambling, which Allaah has forbidden in His Book (Qur.aan)
and has placed alongside wine and the worshipping of idols.
He, the Almighty, says: {O you who believe! Alcoholic drink,
gambling and divining with arrows are an abomination of Satan's
doing. So avoid them in order that you may be successful},
[Soorah
al-Maa.idah, Aayah
90].
Let
me give you an example, You insure a car and pay one thousand
dirhams every year in order that the insurance company guarantees
to cover the cost of whatever might happen to the car, whether
it is written-off or just damaged. If a year passes and the
car has neither been written-off nor damaged, then the insurance
company is the winner and the insurance policy holder is the
loser. If, however, the car is written-off or badly damaged,
the policy holder will get back more than he paid to the company.
In this case, he is the winner and the insurance company is
the loser. Every contract which is based on this is gambling
and hence forbidden.
However,
it has been mentioned to me that in some countries people
are forced to take out insurance policies. So what can Muslims
do if this is the situation? In my opinion, he should pay
whatever money that he is forced to pay for insurance but
he should not consider that it is a legal contract or agreement,
but rather that it is money paid unjustly under pressure.
If no loss occurs, this is by the Grace and Mercy of Allaah
towards him and the money has been taken from him unjustly
and he shall find it on the Day of Resurrection. In the event
that he suffers some loss to his property and the insurance
company intends to reimburse him, then, if the amount he is
due back is equal to what he paid for his policy, he can justly
take it. If, on the other hand, what he is due from the insurance
company is more than he paid, he should not take more than
the amount that he paid them. In this way, the process will,
in my opinion, be in accordance with Islaamic law.
Shaykh
Ibn 'Uthaymeen
al-Aqalliyaat al-Muslimah - Page 63, Fatwa No.3
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