Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother Burhan

I am still not sure over the concept of the legality of Life Ins. The Muslim ulema are giving very contradictory statements about this topic. Only yesterday, there was a Article in Arab News, a daily issued in Saudi Arabia, which clearly said that Life Insurance is permissible. This is not the first time such an Article has appeared in the press. Saudi Arabia is the leading Muslim country and has made motor and medical insurance compulsory. If we cannot get these things considered as Haram in this country, then we can forget about the Western world. Would appreciate your comments.

Salams

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Life Insurance legal in KSA

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Beloved brother, to the best of our knowledge, all the scholars of all schools of thought in Islam are absolutely unanimous in their opinion that life insurance is not permissible in Islam. We humbly request you, if it is possible, to scan the article of the Arab News and send it to us, or give us the name of the scholar in whose opinion life insurance is permissible in Islam. We would reserve our comments until we have read the article; but we re-affirm that all the respected and well-known Islamic scholars of Saudi Arabia and the whole world are unanimous in their opinion that life insurance, in its present form and concept, is against the principles of the Quran and Sunnah, and thus not permissible in Islam.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan