Insurance and Medical aid

Faking an accident and claiming from the insurance company

Q: A while back a friend invested in a car but got financially stuck and became maqrooz of many people. Another friend of his suggested to insure the car via Takaful and get the money through them.

So the process would go like this, for a while the car was insured and then after 3 or 4 months they faked an accident and lodged a claim. During this process they had to lie about the accident and where and how it took place. The insurance accepted the claim and gave them the sum of the car.

Now I want to know if this money is halal for them or not?

Taking out medical insurance to do a liver transplant

Q: I currently live in Bangladesh. My father suffers from liver cirrhosis. I have plans to do Masters or PhD in USA. It is recommended for my father to do liver transplant but currently the liver transplant is not available in Bangladesh and in India it will cost 1-1.5 crore Bangladeshi Taka(currency), which is out of my reach.

When I start PhD in US, will it me permissible for me to buy an insurance for my father, take him to US and do the liver transplant and then send him back to Bangladesh? I cannot find any Takaful Health Insurance in US and don't know how the rest of the insurance work there.

Will it be permissible in a case like this? 

Using money and calculating zakaat from a life insurance payout

Q: I had taken out a life insurance policy with a dread disease cover many years ago. (I call that my pre-hidayat days). I have now been paid out part of the money for a dread disease, which is part of the life cover. Can I calculate all the premiums I paid over the years and take the money out of the payout as halaal money for myself? Can I use the balance of the payout for Income Tax payment. I would then cancel the policy. 

Also, what are the zakaat implications regarding this money if it is halaal. Do I need to calculate zakaat from the time I started paying the premiums or not?

The shar'ee ruling regarding medical aid and hospital plan

Q: I recently read an article which claims that it is permissible for a Muslim to take out a medical aid contract. The article explained that if a stipulated monthly fee is paid to the medical aid company in return for which they assume responsibility for the client’s hospitalization or medical expenses, it will be permissible.

The reason for this medical aid contract being permissible in Shari’ah is that it is regarded as an ijaarah contract (i.e. hiring of services) between the member and the medical aid scheme. The ijaarah works in this manner that the member pays a fixed and mutually agreed amount monthly, and in exchange, the scheme takes responsibility for his treatment and wellbeing.

The article also stated that the medical aid scheme can be compared to hiring the services of a barber and a wet nurse. In many villages of India, it is a common and well-known practice for a family to give the barber a stipulated amount of grain or cash at the time of harvest. In exchange, the barber takes responsibility to cut the hair of the family whenever they wish during the year. In this case, although the number of haircuts that he will give to the family is unknown, this ambiguity is tolerated and overlooked as it does not lead to any dispute.

Third party insurance

Q: A person wishes to take out third-party insurance. He claims that this form of insurance is permissible because the insurance company will not pay him anything in the event of an accident but will rather pay out the third party. Is third party insurance permissible?

Insurance, medical aid and using banks in Western countries

Q:

1. Are all forms of insurance haraam in the west? If a person doesn’t have car insurance in a western country and they have an accident, they have to pay $10,000 to cover the costs of not only their own vehicle but the other vehicle if it is their fault? Where can a Muslim who doesn’t have insurance, get all that money from?

2. Is medical/dental insurance haraam in the west? There are Muslims in the west that live with their elderly parents and they always have to go to hospital and if they didn’t have medical insurance, they would have to pay so much thousands of dollars of money that they simply wouldn’t have it. Where would they go to get their medical treatment. Would they do nothing?

3. Many people say that when you earn money in the west and go to banks to withdraw that money, that money is interest money which the bank runs on so you can’t do anything?