The Ruling on Medical Insurance
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Yes. The two questions are about the ruling on medical insurance, especially when it is not the individual who pays the amount, but rather the company and the like? If the company is the one paying it, then he is not asked about it; it is they who are asked. But if it is an individual among the people...
The Shaykh : ...who insures himself.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is forbidden. It is not permissible. Have you considered if he pays five hundred riyals every month? Multiply five hundred by twelve, how much is that? And throughout the year, he did not need the hospital. Who is the winner? The company or the person? The insured? The company. Good. A person insured for six thousand riyals a year and suffered from severe illnesses that required sixty thousand. Who is the winner?
The company loses. Every contract that fluctuates between profit and loss is of the gambling (maysir) that Allah the Exalted has forbidden, and He associated it with intoxicants (khamr) and the idols (ansar and azwa'). One verse:[Al-Ma'idah 5:90].
Do not be deceived, my Muslim brother, by the large number of people who do this. The truth is truth, even if all people oppose it, and falsehood is falsehood, even if all people do it.
Yes, and then, what does the believer actually rely upon? In his sickness and his health.
It is strange, people, that he does not rely upon Allah, but relies upon the company. He says, "If I get sick, the company is responsible for treating you." So his heart becomes attached to other than Allah, and this may compromise the creed (aqidah), because this is not a trade; this is attached to the heart. And if the hope of the heart and the fear of the heart become attached to the created being, the person is lost. Make your affair attached to your Lord, the Exalted and Majestic, and rely upon Him and place your trust in Him. And Allah the Exalted says:[At-Talaq 65:3].
The Shaykh : ...who insures himself.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is forbidden. It is not permissible. Have you considered if he pays five hundred riyals every month? Multiply five hundred by twelve, how much is that? And throughout the year, he did not need the hospital. Who is the winner? The company or the person? The insured? The company. Good. A person insured for six thousand riyals a year and suffered from severe illnesses that required sixty thousand. Who is the winner?
The company loses. Every contract that fluctuates between profit and loss is of the gambling (maysir) that Allah the Exalted has forbidden, and He associated it with intoxicants (khamr) and the idols (ansar and azwa'). One verse:
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
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِّنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُDo not be deceived, my Muslim brother, by the large number of people who do this. The truth is truth, even if all people oppose it, and falsehood is falsehood, even if all people do it.
Yes, and then, what does the believer actually rely upon? In his sickness and his health.
It is strange, people, that he does not rely upon Allah, but relies upon the company. He says, "If I get sick, the company is responsible for treating you." So his heart becomes attached to other than Allah, and this may compromise the creed (aqidah), because this is not a trade; this is attached to the heart. And if the hope of the heart and the fear of the heart become attached to the created being, the person is lost. Make your affair attached to your Lord, the Exalted and Majestic, and rely upon Him and place your trust in Him. And Allah the Exalted says:
And whoever relies upon Allah - then He is sufficient for him.
وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، حكم التأمين الطبي — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.