Date : 30-07-2013

Question :

Please clarify the religious stand/ruling on insurance contracts for the purposes of education.


The Answer :

Praise be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon His Prophet.



 After studying this system, it has become clear that it is a commercial insurance contract in which the relationship is based on exchanged compensation between the insured and the insurance company directly.



Commercial insurance is forbidden (Haraam) according to the majority of scholars and jurisprudence councils because the contracts are based on betting and gambling. Allah, The Exalted, Said (What means): “O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful .” (Al-Ma’ida /5).



It also includes certain articles about usurious loans where the regulation states that the "Company agrees to grant a loan on the document ... and the company has the right to redefine the interest rate on existing and new loans."



Based on this, it is forbidden to buy such insurance until the regulations are switched into Islamic cooperative insurance. And Allah knows.