Is it permissible to include one's wife and children in the insurance provided by companies, given that it is not mandatory for them?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
A man works for a company, and this company deducts two dinars from his monthly salary for health insurance. This deduction is mandatory for the employee, but for the wife and children, it is optional.
The Shaykh : Optional.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And the question?
The questioner : The question is whether it is permissible for him to include his family in this insurance?
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for him to include his family in this, because he might pay them a sum for this deduction and his family might not fall ill. Or his family might fall ill frequently, consuming more than what he paid them several times over. Thus, this contract revolves between profit and loss, and every contract that revolves between profit and loss is of the forbidden gambling.
As for him, as long as the matter is mandatory, let him consider it an injustice on their part. Then, if he encounters a need for treatment, he is treated by them only to the extent of what he paid them.
The questioner : The amount is small.
The Shaykh : Two riyals a month means twenty-four riyals a year.
The questioner : In the first year.
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : He might fall ill in the first year.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He falls ill in the first year!
The Shaykh : This is the aspect in which it is forbidden. He might fall ill in the first year and his treatment might cost thousands, or he might never fall ill at all. Yes, and therefore we say that it is forbidden. What is taken from him by compulsion, let him accept it. And if it is decreed that he falls ill, he is not treated by them except to the amount he paid them. Yes.
A man works for a company, and this company deducts two dinars from his monthly salary for health insurance. This deduction is mandatory for the employee, but for the wife and children, it is optional.
The Shaykh : Optional.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And the question?
The questioner : The question is whether it is permissible for him to include his family in this insurance?
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for him to include his family in this, because he might pay them a sum for this deduction and his family might not fall ill. Or his family might fall ill frequently, consuming more than what he paid them several times over. Thus, this contract revolves between profit and loss, and every contract that revolves between profit and loss is of the forbidden gambling.
As for him, as long as the matter is mandatory, let him consider it an injustice on their part. Then, if he encounters a need for treatment, he is treated by them only to the extent of what he paid them.
The questioner : The amount is small.
The Shaykh : Two riyals a month means twenty-four riyals a year.
The questioner : In the first year.
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : He might fall ill in the first year.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He falls ill in the first year!
The Shaykh : This is the aspect in which it is forbidden. He might fall ill in the first year and his treatment might cost thousands, or he might never fall ill at all. Yes, and therefore we say that it is forbidden. What is taken from him by compulsion, let him accept it. And if it is decreed that he falls ill, he is not treated by them except to the amount he paid them. Yes.