What is the ruling on taking blood money for murder from insurance?

The questioner : Also, O Shaykh, there is a question related to what came before. A man was driving his car and ran over a person on the road. As is known, the blood money is taken from social insurance, not from the one who ran him over; rather, social insurance pays the blood money on his behalf. What is the ruling on taking this blood money from social insurance?

The Shaykh : Do you mean by social insurance any of the insurance companies?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : The ones that insure cars, real estate, life, and the like.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : We say, first, that this insurance, in terms of the reality we know, is divided into two categories: one is compulsory and the other is voluntary. As for what is compulsory, there is no blame on the one who is insured, such as those taxes imposed on Muslims—and I do not say on citizens. However, if it is voluntary, we advise every Muslim not to insure anything of what is usually insured, whether it is what I mentioned just now or otherwise. This is the first point. This, although it is not related to the question, but this explanation and detail is necessary. As for the answer to the question, we say: if the insured has paid the amount that the company will pay, because the one who caused the accident was paying the salary imposed on him—if the value of the blood money is what he has paid, then there is no harm in taking it, according to His saying, the Exalted, even if not on this occasion: But if what he paid is less than that, he has the right to recover only what he paid, and he must pay the rest from his own pocket and his own purse. This is the answer to the entirety of the question, as for anything else.