Protection in Islam

There are numerous references to Ta'awun and Takaful in the Quran in the context of co-operation and solidarity for the good of society. One widely quoted reference is from sura al-Maidah, as follows:

"...And help one another in righteousness and piety and do not help one another in evil deeds and enmity" (Al Quran : Al Maidah 2)

One of the approaches to social help and assistance practiced in Islam that relates to the first Constitution of Medina, stated that, "the emigrants from among the Quraish shall be responsible for their ward and shall pay the blood money in mutual collaboration and shall secure the release of their prisoners by paying their ransom themselves, so that the mutual dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of recognised goodness, justice and mutual responsibility".

Where a person inflicts bodily injury or homicide it becomes incumbent upon him or, as mutual responsibility, upon a group of people representing him, to compensate the injured party in cash or kind. This compensation is called "diya". Where homicide is intentional, the diya or blood money is payable by the person committing that act. A third party (aqila) pays blood money only where the act is unintentional or where it is offered by the aqila on voluntary basis. (Malik Al-Muwatta)

A fatwa by Dr. Yusuf Al-Qardhawi states that Islamic insurance may exist in a condition where each participant contributes into a fund used to support one another.

Islam aims at establishing a social order under universal brotherhood. The underlying concept is that of mutual co-operation and help. The Prophet (pbuh) stressed:

In mutual compassion, love and kindness you will find the faithful like a body, so that if one part feels pain, the whole body responds with wakefulness and fever.

A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim; he neither wrongs him, nor leaves him without help, nor humiliates him'

Other references to Ta'awun and Takaful in the Quran are as follows:

Protection

"(Allah) who prepares nourishment to prevent the fear of hunger and saves / puts at peace those who fear" (Al Quran : Al-Quraisy 106:4)

Co-operation

A Muslim is brother of a fellow-Muslim. He should neither commit oppression upon him nor ruin him and he who meets the needs of a brother, Allah would meet his needs and he who relieves his brother from hardship, Allah will relieve him from the hardships to which he could be put on the Day of Resurrection. Sahih Muslim

Takaful - sharing of responsibility

The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is like that of a body, when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches because of sleeplessness and fever Sahih Muslim

A believer is like a brick for another believer, the one supporting the other Sahih Muslim

And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah's favour on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace you became brethren; and you were on the brink of the pit of fire, and he saved you from it thus does Allah make His signs clear to you; that you may be guided. (AlQuran - Al Imran 103)

The believers are but a single brotherhood: so make peace and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers; and fear Allah, that you may receive mercy. (AlQuran - Al Hujurat 10)

(Their bearings) on this life and the hereafter they ask you concerning orphans. Say: the best thing to do is what is for their good; if you mix their affairs with yours, they are your brethren; but Allah knows the man who means mischief from the man who means good. And if Allah had wished He could have put you into difficulties: he is indeed exalted in power, wise. (AlQuran - Al Baqarah 220)

But those who before them had homes (in Medina) and had adopted the faith, show their affection to such as come to them for refuge, and entertain no desire in their hearts for things given to the (latter), but give them preference over themselves, even though poverty was their (own lot) and those saved from the covetousness of their own souls; they are the ones that achieve prosperity. (AlQuran - Al Hashr 9)

Serve Allah and join not any partners with him and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, they wayfarer (you meet) and what your right hands possess: for Allah loves not the arrogant, the conceited. (AlQuran - An Nisaa 36)

REFERENCE TO THE QURAN REGARDING BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF TAKAFUL

The system of takaful must avoid riba, maisir (the gambling element) and gharar (uncertainty).

Avoiding Riba

The funds of a conventional insurance company are mainly in investment activities that contravene the rules of Sharia. They invest in companies that may be involved in unethical activities and build their business through participating in riba. Also, loans may be granted on insurance policies and interest charged for that loan. This is not permitted in a takaful contract. Riba is prohibited in Islam and stated below are references in the Quran to this effect.

"Those who eat riba (usury) will not stand (on the Day of Resurrection) except like the standing of a person beaten by Shaitan (Satan) leading him to insanity. That is because they say, "Trading is only like riba or usury, whereas Allah has permitted trading and forbidden riba. So whosoever receives an admonition from his Lord and stops eating riba shall not be punished for the past; his case is for Allah (to judge): but whoever returns to riba, are dwellers of the Fire - they will abide therein. " Al-Quran, Al-Baqarah (2).- 275

"0 you who believe! Be afraid of Allah and give up what remains (due to you) from riba (from now onward), if you are (really) believers. And if you do not do it, then take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger but if you repent, you shall have your capital sums. Deal not unjustly (by asking more than your capital sums), and you shall not be dealt with unjustly (by receiving less than your capital sums)" Al-Quran, Al-Baqarah (2): 278-279

Avoiding Maisir

Maisir refers to gambling and to any form of business activity where monetary gains are derived from mere chance, speculation and conjecture. For example uncertainty of the timing of benefits in a pure life insurance contract creates an element of maisir. The basis of compensation must be clearly pre-defined. In its absence, the proceeds of a life insurance policy may not relate to premiums paid up to the date of death.

The Hadith of Sahih Muslim narrates that the Prophet (pbuh) forbade the sale called "Habal-Ala Habala" which was a kind of sale where one would pay the price of a she-camel which was not yet born but would be born as the immediate offspring of the expectant she-camel.

Al-Maisir is referred to in the Quran as follows:

"O you who believe intoxicants (all kind of alcoholic drinks) and gambling, and Al-Ansab (ways for seeking luck) are an abomination of Shaitan (Satan). So avoid strictly all that (abomination) in order that you may be successful." Al-Quran, AI-Maidah (5):90

Avoiding Gharar

An element of uncertainty or al-gharar may exist in both life and general insurance policies. One of the basic rules of a contract in Islam is that it must be clear (mu'ad'alaih). In a conventional contract the insured or the policyholder agrees to pay a certain sum of premium but it is never clear to him or her how the benefit of life cover is derived

According to Islamic jurisprudence, the element of gharar invalidates a contract if -

1. it is incorporated in a financial contract
2. its contractual impact is very large and substantial
3. there is no genuine need for such contract

A contract is not invalidated due to al-gharar if the following conditions are upheld in the contract:

1. insurance cover is genuinely required to safeguard insured's interests
2. such protection cannot be provided other than through insurance insurance avoids uncertainty through contract of takaful based on cooperative principles

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Takaful

Takaful, an Arabic word meaning "guaranteeing each other", is the same as insurance but approved under Islamic jurisprudence or Sharia guidelines. It represents the concept of insurance based on mutual co-operation and solidarity of people by participating in a takaful scheme.

Why was there a need to develop takaful (insurance)? This is because traditional insurance has certain features that contradict some of the essential values of an Islamic financial contract. This should be seen in the context of the fact that Muslims are directed by their faith to follow a path of righteousness in going through the activities of their daily lives. For example gambling and exploitation is strictly forbidden. Riba or usury is an extreme form of exploitation. Charging interest may not be exploitative but it can certainly lead to such forms of exploitation and hence is forbidden altogether. Moreover, a genuine sense of fair play is fundamental in an Islamic financial arrangement. A lender who lends purely to profit by charging interest is exploiting his position as owner of the principal amount without sharing in the risks associated with the use of that principal in business etc by the borrower. The traditional contracts of insurance are built on such features. Firstly, the investments and operations are based on debt and equity, debt being interest based. Also, where a loan is granted on traditional insurance contract, interest is charged. This is not permitted in an Islamic contract. Secondly, the situation is liable to exploitation where even though the contracts are priced at marketable level, the profit from insurance operations built from policyholders' money is owned by the shareholders. This point is also seen as policyholders gambling away their hard-earned savings for no return where there is no claim, whereas in a takaful contract a "no claim" scenario always leads to refund of some of the money to the policyholder.

The concept of protection is deeply embedded in the Islamic thought process through the system of blood money, an Arab tribal custom as well as through endorsement of the principle of compensation and group responsibility by the Holy Prophet. Islamic scholars recognise the system of Al-Aqila, which was encouraged by the Holy Prophet and practiced by Muslims of Makkah and Medina at the time, as the foundation of mutual protection or insurance or takaful.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on the concepts of protection in Islam

A takaful contract must be based on principles of co-operation, protection and mutual responsibility and must avoid acts of interest (riba), gambling (al-maisir) and uncertainty (al-gharar).

A takaful company conducts all its affairs in a manner that meets the Islamic Sharia tradition whether it is to do with investing its funds, in carrying out its business in all classes of insurance or in any other related financial field. The company's Memorandum and Articles of Association underlines this approach.

The company normally has a committee of prominent Sharia scholars. Their direct guidance and advice is essential at all stages of takaful operations, from the point of sale activities to payment of benefits, from accounting to investing the funds, from public dealing to serving the community through insurance and non-insurance activities such as supporting charitable work, etc. All operations and contracts are set-up to ensure that any element of speculation, uncertainty and gambling is eliminated or minimized from them. This is essential for maintaining the Caring and Co-operative principles of takaful.

A takaful company does not have policyholders. It has Contributors or Participants as they are participating jointly in a takaful fund for their mutual benefit. They are owners of the fund and the Company manages and operates takaful fund on their behalf.

The company ensures that interests of the participants (the insured) are based on mutual co-operation and solidarity. In the event a contributor suffers financial loss, he or she is paid an amount from takaful fund in accordance with the basis and underwriting principles of insurance. All the scientific methods that are normally used in insurance applications such as financial and medical underwriting, mortality and morbidity rates etc. are applied in takaful operations.

In upholding the principles of co-operation, participation in a takaful system is deemed to be on a voluntary basis. By signing a takaful contract, each contributor agrees to uphold this spirit of co-operation and mutual solidarity and help each other through the takaful system. Each participant's contribution is therefore part of a collective donation without prior expectation of individual fixed returns. This is essential to rid the system of doubt or give any semblance of gambling. In the Far East (Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei) this act of donation is known as tabarru. In the Middle East it is usually known as ta'awun contribution or takaful donation.

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TAWHEED

An artistic rendering of ‎the word Allah.‎

In order to provide a better understanding of Islamic Tawheed, we have provided a description of Allah and some of His attributes as it appears in a famous, classical text of Islamic knowledge. The following is an original translation of excerpts from Revival of the Religious Sciences by Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali ¹⁰:

Allah is singular in His essence with no partner, Unique with no equivalent, Absolute, no opposite has He, Alone without peer. He is beginningless without predecessor, perpetual of being without end, singularly sustaining everything without stop. He is not victim to termination or cessation, or to the elapsing of spans or the passing of interims. Rather He is the First and the Last; the Outward and the Inward – and He has knowledge of everything.

He is not a body with form, nor is He a confined or quantifiable substance. He does not resemble bodies in quantifiably or divisibility. Rather He resembles nothing existent, nor does anything existent resemble Him. There is absolutely nothing like Him, nor is He like anything.

No measure confines Him, no space contains Him, no direction encompasses Him, nor do the heavens surround Him.

He is above everything until the farthest reaches of the stars – an above-ness that does not increase His nearness to the heavens; rather He is exalted in degree above the heavens to the same extent that He is exalted in degree above the depths of the earth. Notwithstanding, He is near to all existence, and He is nearer to the bondsman than his jugular vein. His nearness, however, no more resembles the nearness of bodies one to another than His essence resembles the essences of bodies.

He is too sublime that space should encompass Him, as He is too hallowed that time should restrict Him. Rather He was, before He created time and space, and He is now as He was always. He is separate from His creation by His attributes. He is transcendentally holier than to be subject to change and movement. Rather He remains in His qualities of absolute majesty, not subject to abating, and in His qualities of perfection with no need of increase.

He is Living, Almighty, Irresistible, Overpowering; deficiency does not affect Him nor does incapacity. “No slumber can seize Him nor sleep.”¹¹ Extinction and death do not counteract Him. He is possessed of absolute dominion, sovereignty, and grandeur; to Him is creation and command.

He is matchless in creating and beginning, solitary in causing existence and originating. He creates all beings and their acts, decrees their sustenance and spans. Nothing possible is outside His grasp, and He is never detached from the absolute governing of all affairs. His abilities cannot be enumerated, and His knowledge is boundless.

True conviction in Allah’s existence and in His actual relationship with every one of us comes only with His mercy and guidance.

He knows all things knowable, encompassing all that transpires between the depths of the earths to the ends of the universe. Nothing of an atom’s weight in the earth and the heavens escapes His Knowledge; rather He knows the creeping of a black ant across a soundless stone on a lightless night. He knows the movement of the particles on a windy day. He knows the hidden and what is beyond. He presides over the thoughts of the conscience, the movements of the cerebrations, and the recondite subtleties of the psyche, with a beginningless, eternal Knowledge that has been with Him forever.

He is the willer of all that exists, and He is the director of all that occurs. Nothing occurs in the seen or unseen world, be it minimal or abundant, small or large, good or evil, beneficial or harmful, of belief or disbelief, knowledge or ignorance, triumph or ruin, increase or decrease, obedience or defiance, except by His decree, foreordainment, command, and volition. What He wills is, and what He does not will is not.

A servant has no escape from disobeying Him except through His conferred success and mercy; he has no power to obey Him except through His assistance and will. If all of mankind united together to move or retard a single atom in the universe without His will and volition, they would be unable to do so.

He hears and He sees. No audible thing, however faint, escapes His hearing, and no visible thing, however minute, is hidden from His sight. Distance does not impede His hearing and darkness does not obstruct His seeing. His attributes do not resemble the attributes of the creation to the same extent that His essence does not resemble the essences of creation.

Everything other than Him is an originated thing that He created by His power from nothingness, since He existed in eternity alone and there was nothing whatsoever with Him. He originated creation thereafter as a manifestation of His power and as a realization of His preceding Will, not because He had any need of it.

He is Magnanimous in creating and in imposing obligations upon His creation; He is not compelled to do it by necessity. He is Gracious in beneficence and reform, though not through any need. Munificence and Kindness, Beneficence and Grace are His. He rewards His believing worshipers for their acts of obedience according to generosity and encouragement rather than according to their merit and obligation, for there is no obligation upon Him in any deed towards anyone. Tyranny is inconceivable in Him, for there is no right upon Him towards anyone.¹²

While these are the Islamic beliefs on Allah in written form, it must be noted that a person is not accountable for his intellectual understanding of them, but rather he is responsible for truly incorporating them in his heart. True conviction in Allah’s existence and in His actual relationship with every one of us comes only with His mercy and guidance. As such, Muslims ask Allah in every prayer for guidance unto His Straight Path.

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