Insurance policy unIslamic, says Deoband fatwa

NEW DELHI: Darul Uloom Deoband, the most influential Sunni Muslim seminary in the subcontinent, has issued a fatwa decreeing that opting for an insurance policy went against tenets of Islam. The “insurance policy is unlawful as it is based on interest and gambling,” said the fatwa.

The edict issued by Darul Ifta department of Darul Uloom seminary was in response to a query whether it is lawful to take an insurance policy in the light of the Sharia. Millions of Muslims in India opt for insurance policies that pledge payment of an amount to a person assured or his nominee against losses or perils.

“According to the tenets of Islam, Muslims must not work in banks because as employees they would have to deal with transactions involving interest and also make interest entries in bank ledgers,” Debani clerics said explaining the fatwa.

According to them, banking tools were violation of Sharia. “Interest is strictly banned under Sharia law. Anyone having anything to do with interest is clearly committing an illegal act,” they said.

The seminary has been advocating introduction of Islamic banking. In Islamic countries, customers who are granted a loan do not pay interest and customers who save do not earn interest on their savings.

A month ago, the seminary had issued a Taliban-type fatwa that decreed it was “haram” and illegal for a family to accept a woman’s earnings. “It is unlawful (under the Sharia law) for Muslim women to work in the government or private sector where men and women work together and women have to talk with men frankly and without a veil,” the fatwa had said. The clerics at the seminary had said that the decree was based on the fact that the Sharia prohibited proximity of men and women in the workplace.

The recent fatwas have drawn flak from many clerics and progressive leaders of the community. Darul Uloom, which was established in 1866, is believed to have inspired Muslim hard-liners and leaders of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. Many of its top leaders attend Deobandi-influenced seminaries in Pakistan.