The Spiritual Harms of Insurance

The following question was sent in by a Muslim brother:

“My shop is situated in a high risk area. Burglaries are quite rife in this area. Am I allowed to insure my business?”

We will discuss the Islamic legal ruling on insurance in a separate article. Here we would like to focus on the spiritual aspect of the matter. We cannot ignore the fact that insurance of property is fraught with many spiritual dangers. Regardless of whether insurance is lawful or haraam, the harm this causes to the heart and soul of a Believer is serious enough to demand complete abstention from this act.

The Roohani Dangers of Insurance

1. TRUST
When property is insured the owner sees no need to place his trust in Allah. There is no urgency to do so because he is content in the knowledge that should the property suffer damage, he will be compensated. He thus feels satisfied that in the event of loss, he has compensation to fall back on. The loss is therefore no loss in reality.

On the other hand, one who has no monetary support to fall back on will be forced to rely solely on Allah Ta’ala. His support is Allah, and his insurance against loss is his trust in Allah. He depends entirely on Allah Ta’ala. This is the great quality of Tawakkul, which to a certain degree is Wajib (obligatory) on every Muslim. In many places in the Qur’aan-e-Kareem Allah Ta’ala speaks of Tawakkul and commands the Believers to adopt this important spiritual characteristic.

One who indulges in insurance is sadly deprived of this quality. Such a person will not have the faintest idea of what it means to repose trust in Allah.

2. DUA
The second harm that Muslims suffer through insurance is discontinuance of dua. When one is assured of compensation for loss, then he or she will not make dua to Allah Ta’ala for protection of the asset. One who has no insurance lives in constant fear of losing the asset without any compensation, so he is constrained to make regular dua to Allah Ta’ala for protection against loss. In other words, dua is his form of insurance against loss or theft.

Though lack of dua is not deliberate, it is a necessary result of insurance. Naturally one who has secured assets through insurance will feel no need or urgency to ask Allah Ta’ala for its protection. Only the one who fears will turn to Allah in dua. Neglect of dua in turn leads to diminished communication with Allah Ta’ala. For a Mumin (Believer) this is unbearable.

3. SABR
The third spiritual loss in insurance is deprivation from sabr. Since the loss is not really a loss, one will never experience true sabr for this is only experienced on the occasion of a loss. Hence one who sustains loss or damage to an insured asset will not feel the loss because of the knowledge that such loss will be compensated for through insurance. When this is the case, there is no question of sabr. The need for sabr is only perceived when one has suffered total loss of property.
Consequently, such a person remains deprived of the tremendous reward of sabr that has been promised for losses in this world.

4. ABSTINENCE
Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said: “Abstinence in this world is that you do not have more trust in what you possess than in that which is in the Possession of Allah.” (Ibn Majah, Tirmizhi) Zuhd is an important spiritual quality which was very prominent in the life of Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. It thus becomes a sunnah to adopt this characteristic. This hadith speaks of abstinence or zuhd in worldly possessions. A person who has insurance can never achieve the true feeling of abstinence, for he has placed more trust in his insurance than in the Possessions of Allah.

5. LOSS OF BARAKAAT
Payment of premiums in the hope of gaining compensation when a loss occurs is akin to gambling. The punter pays a sum of money in the hope that he will realize a larger sum of money in return. Insurance is thus a refined form of gambling. There is, therefore, no barkaat in money spent or earned in such a manner.
It is time Muslims focused only on Allah Ta’ala in all their financial dealings. Develop conviction that Allah is the Sole Provider, Protector, and Compensator. To achieve this, the Auliyaa advise that one should meditate a lot on the Power and Might of Allah Azza Wa Jall.