Question:
Asalam Alikum. I have been offered a position as actuarial analyst in insurance consulting department at a firm. This consulting firm provides services to insurance and takaful companies. I wanted to know that is it halal to work there? I have been searching job for months and still i am unable to find a better alternative. JazakAllah.
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
The permissibility or impermissibility depends, if such a job as an actuarial analyst entails engaging in interest related matters e.g. calculating risks and costs of insurances, suggesting new insurance contracts, calculating insurance premiums, analysing statistical data on insurance contracts, then it will not be permissible to keep such a job.
Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (Radhiallahu Anhu) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed the one who accepted usury, the one who paid it, the witness to it, and the one who recorded it. (Sunan Abi Dawud)
One should also refrain from such a job due to the issue of the source of one’s income. If the firm pays one’s salary from the profits it makes through the sale of insurance policies, the salary will be impermissible, as the company’s source of profit was through unlawful means.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Arshad Ali
Darul Iftaa, Jaamia Madinatul Uloom (Trinidad)