If a community of families saves money into a mutual pot that will provide for the maintenance of a family if its breadwinner dies. This is a mutual way of saving for hard times that may befall anyone. Surely, this is a prudent, which is not forbidden and is not considered gambling.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is permissible to set up a cooperative fund whereby the people who contribute to it benefit from it in case of death or when one becomes fully or partly paralyzed or in similar hard situations.

However, such a fund must abide by the conditions set by the Sharee'ah. So, such a fund should not result in any unjustice or inequitable treatment and it should not be invested or used in what Allaah has forbidden.

This cooperative fund should also be set on principles that are free from any kind of gambling.

Also, the spirit of cooperation should predominate in it and it should be characterized by kindness and social welfare. The rules should be clear enough to ensure that no future conflicts or disagreements take place between the members.

Among such principles that can achieve these objectives are the following:

1- The aim of this cooperative fund should be clearly defined and stated in the institutional contract that is signed by the participants in this fund.

2- There should not be any proportionality between what the participants pay and what they get - if there is a reason for that. In fact, the amount can be more or less, depending on the circumstances of the beneficiary.

3- The situations where the fund should intervene must be clearly stated beforehand as to avoid any future disagreements.

4- There should be a committee that runs the fund and decides on the cases presented to it and how to intervene according to the necessity but not based on other reasons, in order to show that the purpose is really kindness and cooperation and not trade or exchange of benefits.

5- There is no objection to limit the contributions on monthly basis or leave them open (voluntary) and there is no objection that the contribution be unequal.

Allaah Knows best.