Insurance broker

6-1-2001 | IslamWeb

Question:

Dear Shaikh, I work as an insurance broker for a lot of insurance companies and gain my income from the commission that these insurance companies give me in return for selling their insurance policies. 1 - is there any "Shobha" (doubt) in this kind of work ? 2 - Can I sell insurance policies to hotels, clients that import "Haram goods", like pork, alcoholic drinks, etc. or sell policies to restaurants that serve them ? 3 - Can I sell insurance policies to clients that import goods that are mainly used by Christians, like Christmas trees, or flowers which are mainly used in so called Valentine's day?

---

Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

The contemporary insurance is an invalid contract in the eye of the Islamic law. Please refer to the questions 82013,81909.       Therefore, a person should not be a broker in this field, and he should not accept any other job in it. Allah Says (Interpretation of meaning): {Help you one another in AL-BIRR and AL-TAQWA (virtue, righteousness), and do not help one another in Sin and transgression}.       What is earned from this work is Haram. The questioner should know the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). He said: “A servant of Allah will remain standing on the Day of Judgment till he is questioned about his age, how he spent it, and about his knowledge, how he utilised it, and about his wealth from where he acquired it and in what activitis he spent it, and about his body as how he consumed it" al-Termizi. This situation becomes much worse when the official sectors deal in Haram.

Allah knows best.