Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterSolidarity funds: guidelines and preventative factors
Question
Regarding the fellowship and solidarity funds where subscribers pay annual or monthly premiums in return for receiving an agreed upon amount in case of death, total or partial disability, are they lawful or forbidden?
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, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It is permissible to establish a cooperative and solidarity fund from which the participants benefit in case of death, total or partial disability, or an accident that befalls any one of them. The fund must be governed with the standards of the Sharee‘ah, and thus it must be void of unfairness to anyone, and it must not be invested or exploited in what is forbidden by Allaah The Almighty.
Furthermore, the fund must be based on the principles that make it dissimilar to gambling. It must show the spirit of cooperation, compassion, and social solidarity, so as to prevent dispute or disagreement among the participants over entitlement and the like.
The following are principles that would achieve these purposes:
-
There must be a clear intention to effect cooperation and solidarity, and this must be included in the establishing contract signed by the participants to the fund.
-
There must be no connection between what is paid and what is received, for due reasons, and thus a person may receive more or less according to his condition.
-
The conditions targeted by the help of the fund must be defined so as to preclude future disputes.
-
There must be a supervising committee that processes the cases that deserve entitlement after each case takes place and specifies the necessary amount while considering the financial status of the beneficiary, so as to highlight the intention of cooperation and leniency, not bartering.
-
It is permissible to pay a subscription of a definite or an indefinite amount of money, and there is no harm if the participants pay different rates.
Allaah Knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
