Additional premium payment for double life insurance coverage
28-5-2007 | IslamWeb
Question:
Our office has a group insurance (life insurance) policy for all the employees, which is also part of our pay package. Recently company have given option for the employee "If you pay XX amount of money per month, than your insurance coverage will be double". So my question is - Any of the following is acceptable under Sharriaya? If not what should I do? a) Company group insurance under pay package. b) Additional premium payment for double coverage.
Answer:
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.
Life insurance like all other types of commercial insurance is forbidden as it includes deceit and gambling since it is an aleatory contract. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 81901 and 81425.
As regards the employees in different companies, then it is not permissible for them to enter an insurance contract by their own choice whatever the offers of the insurance companies might be, like the offer which you mentioned in the question which states that if one pays a given instalment, he receives a double insurance cover; all this is a lure from the devil. However, if the employee is hired on an insurance contract and the company deducts the insurance share from his salary, then he is not sinful In this case, he is only permitted to take from the insurance the equivalent of the instalments which are taken from his salary throughout his work in the company, and anything more than this amount is ill-gotten money. Nonetheless, the most preponderant opinion regarding the money that more than what he paid in instalments is that one should spend it on the general benefit of the Muslims.