Date : 01-12-2016

Question :

I work for a non-Islamic insurance company which has three funds: Education, savings, and investment. Could you kindly clarify the ruling of Sharia as regards working there?


The Answer :

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.



Having thoroughly examined the system of the aforementioned life insurance company, it was made clear that it is a non-Islamic insurance contract based on a commutative relationship between the insured and the company.



In fact, non-Islamic insurance is forbidden by consensus of the Muslim scholars as well as the Islamic Fiqh academies because it rests on gambling. Allah, The Almighty, said: " O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan’s handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper."{Al-Maidah/90}.



Accordingly, it isn`t permissible for a Muslim to work for a non-Islamic insurance company because its transactions are based on the unlawful. As regards the investment program, it seems that there many accounts of lawful and unlawful investments; therefore, it is permissible to invest only in the lawful ones. Moreover, working in investment funds takes the same ruling as investment accounts themselves; therefore, if the lawful investment accounts are independent, then it is permissible to work in them, but if they aren`t then it is not.



In conclusion, it isn`t permissible for a Muslim to work for non-Islamic insurance companies as well as unlawful or mixed investment accounts. And Allah knows best.