1. As objected that the insurer or insured arbitrates each other’s property in life insurance, in a life insurance the insurer insures the benefit over the paid premiums for the welfare of the insured for any unexpected loss of life or health. In all situations the life insurance policy contains an element of risk of loss on the part of insurer. Insured does not lose anything but gets benefit only. It is compensation only, not a profit or gain like in betting, so the question of arbitration is just not valid.

2. As objected that the life insurance involves Riba, the detailed answer has been given in the chapter ‘Misconceptions – Riba‘.
As a Hadith guides us:
“All acts depend upon the intentions.” (Innamal aamaalu binniyyath)
the prime purpose of the insurance is security, not gaining the interest or the profit. It is a social security as well as an act of mutual cooperation for the welfare of masses. This act is one of the interpretation of the Quranic verse:

وَتَعَاوَنُواْ عَلَى الْبرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى
سوره المائدة:5 , آيت:2 , جزء من الآية

And help one another in righteousness and in piety
(Chapter 5: Al-Mai’dah, part of Verse 2).

3. As objected that the insurance of one’s own life is illegitimate, it does not involve insuring one’s own life but it is a mutual financial transaction towards the welfare of orphans, widows and other dependents. Such an initiative is in fact well justified by the sayings of the holy Prophet Mohammad(ﷺ) :

“I and the person who looks after an orphan and provides for him, will be together in the paradise, together like the two fingers”

“Whosoever takes an initiative towards the welfare of another needy, Allah will lighten his difficulties in this world as well as in the hereafter.”

“One who looks after and works for a widow and for a poor person is like a warrior fighting for the cause of Allah, or like a person who fasts during the day and prays throughout the night.”

“It is better for you to leave your dependents independent than to leave them poor, asking others for help”

4. A life insurance policy does not contain any element of Gharar (uncertainty). Please see the detailed answer in the chapter ‘Misconceptions – Gharar‘. The assured believes that the subject matter of life insurance is his death. It is certain that the time of death is uncertain. The insured insures against this certainty. Moreover, the benefit over the policy in consideration of paid premiums is also available which is certain according to the principle of Al Mudhareba and thus there is no element of Gharar in it.

5. A life insurance policy is similar to a retirement pension scheme. Sheikh Mustafa Azzarqa and Sheikh Al Alwan apparently discovered that all contemporary scholars agreed on the validity of retirement pension scheme. It is very strange that the retired pensioners of the Government as well as of private organisations do not see any evil in the income of the pension. Most of them are in misunderstanding that the Government or the private organisations are doing a favour on them by bestowing upon them the pension. The pension comes directly from the insurance or the provident funds which itself is a form of life insurance as explained by Sheikh Adil Salahi in the chapter “Permissibility of life insurance in Islam”. The premiums are deducted from their salaries which the poor employees do not know.

Sheikh Adil Salahi acknowledges that:
“All important scholars and institutions approved the pension scheme because it gives the subscriber security for himself and his family in the age when the man becomes a burden on others due to the age, weakness etc”.

Sheikh Adil Salahi poses a question:
“Why should family security be lawful in one system (pension) and not in the other (life insurance) when the method of operation in both is practically same”.

One of the functions of the earliest Baitul Maal was to provide Pension to the old age people.

6. A life insurance policy is also justified based on the principle of “Ad Darura” (necessity). It is an important task for the guardian to work for the welfare of his own dependents. He buys houses, saves money for the daughter’s marriages, children’s education, etc. If his efforts get discontinued due to any misfortune, instead of letting his dependents selling out whatever they have or beg for help from others, he buys the security from the insurance company. There is nothing wrong in it. In fact, this is most essential arrangement one should make in the initial stage of his career.

It is also to be noted that in the case of necessity the unlawful becomes lawful. It is permitted by Shariah.

7. Those scholars, who do not consider India as Darul Harb and argue that the Muslims have the rights to perform prayers, vote, contest elections, etc, are at mistake. According to the definition of Imam Abu Hanifa, India fits into the definition of being a Harbi state. Since this topic has been discussed in detail in other chapters (please see the ‘Misconception – Riba), it is not fair to waste more pages here.

8. We find a deliberate attempt to undermine each other’s school of thought as we see in the case of life insurance and interest; most of the arguments are refuted just because the reference comes from the Imam of other school of thought. If this trend continues to oppose Imams, there will be no respect for the Holy Quran and Ahadith. The scholars as well as the ordinary people both will be responsible for demeaning Islam. But, unfortunately, those scholars and speakers and writers are popular in the masses who always love to raise the controversial issues. They dominate the masses from the stages and mimbers of the mosques. Their preaching in the name of Dawah contains condemning other Imams, Maslaks, schools of thoughts and declaring all others among the 72 misguided damned sects and presenting themselves as the only one successful sect which was blessed by the Prophet Mohammad(ﷺ) in the Hadith.

Most of the followers are unfortunately unaware of Arabic language. Once they see Godly looking fluent speakers or writers, they start following them without evaluating the speaker’s understanding of worldly subjects. A kind of personality worship in the Muslims too is common like the polytheists (Mushrik). Whatever logic and authentic argument be presented to them, they won’t accept unless and until their Jamaat, Murshid (Guru), leader, or priest will not accept. They will continue to oppose it.

Based on these clarifications, I would like to humbly remark that the views and Fatwas put forward by the scholars should be reviewed carefully.