The Ruling on Insurance Contracts
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
A man works for a company, and this company deducts two dinars from his salary every month as the value of health insurance. This deduction is mandatory for the employee, whereas for his wife and children it is optional.And the question is: Is it permissible for him to enroll his family?
It is not permissible for him to enroll his family in this; because he may pay them the equivalent of this deduction and his family may not fall ill, or his family may fall ill and consume more than what he paid them several times over, so this transaction would be fluctuating between gain and loss, and every contract that fluctuates between gain and loss is from the forbidden gambling.
As for him, as long as the matter is mandatory, let him consider this an injustice from them, and then if something requiring treatment befalls him, he is treated by them only to the extent of what he paid them.
The questioner: But the amount is small, O Shaykh! The Shaykh: You pay two riyals a month, meaning twenty-four riyals a year.
The questioner: For example, an illness in the first year, the twenty-four riyals are little.
The Shaykh: This is the forbidden thing,Meaning: He may fall ill in the first year and his treatment consumes thousands, or he may never fall ill;And therefore we say: It is forbidden, and what was taken from him by way of compulsion, let him return it, and if it happens that he falls ill, he is not treated by them except to the amount he paid them.
It is not permissible for him to enroll his family in this; because he may pay them the equivalent of this deduction and his family may not fall ill, or his family may fall ill and consume more than what he paid them several times over, so this transaction would be fluctuating between gain and loss, and every contract that fluctuates between gain and loss is from the forbidden gambling.
As for him, as long as the matter is mandatory, let him consider this an injustice from them, and then if something requiring treatment befalls him, he is treated by them only to the extent of what he paid them.
The questioner: But the amount is small, O Shaykh! The Shaykh: You pay two riyals a month, meaning twenty-four riyals a year.
The questioner: For example, an illness in the first year, the twenty-four riyals are little.
The Shaykh: This is the forbidden thing,Meaning: He may fall ill in the first year and his treatment consumes thousands, or he may never fall ill;And therefore we say: It is forbidden, and what was taken from him by way of compulsion, let him return it, and if it happens that he falls ill, he is not treated by them except to the amount he paid them.