LUCKNOW, India — One of South Asia's most influential Islamic seminaries has issued an edict telling Muslims not to buy life insurance policies because they violate Islamic law.

Clerics at the Dar-ul-Uloom seminary said Muslims should not invest in life insurance as "life is given by Allah and to insure it or assure it, is a crime in the eyes of Allah."

 "A true Muslim should never ever go for life insurance policies. This is against the wishes of Allah," Maulana Shahid Rehan, a senior cleric at the seminary, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Dar-ul-Uloom is in the town of Deoband, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital, New Delhi, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The edict was issued early this month following a query from a Muslim resident of Lucknow, Saleem Chisti.

Chisti said he had been approached by a private company to become an insurance agent and to buy insurance policies for himself and his wife.

"I thought it prudent to ask Deoband before agreeing to the proposal," said Chisti, a Sunni Muslim.

The edict from the seminary, issued Aug. 7, said: "Insurance is not permissible because it is a sort of gambling. Moreover, it also involves interest money which is illegal under Shariat," or Islamic law.

While Sunni Muslims welcomed the religious directive, Shia Muslims say the decree is not binding on them because Dar-ul-Uloom is a Sunni institution.

Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, is home to 180 million people, about 30 million of whom are Muslims. A majority of the Muslims are Sunnis, with Shias accounting for about 30 percent of the Muslim population in the state.

Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, a Shia Muslim cleric, said insurance is not illegal for Shia Muslims because there is no edict against it.

The issue of insurance evoked mixed reactions in neighboring Pakistan, which has a Muslim majority.

Mufti Muneebur Rehman, a leading Pakistani religious scholar, said life insurance policies in their present form are un-Islamic because they are based on interest, but called for changes to make them compatible with Islam.

"There is no harm in protecting your life through the income earned, or through fair means under Islamic laws," Rehman said.

However, Mufti Muhammad Naeem, another prominent cleric in Pakistan, said life insurance schemes were un-Islamic and could not be made Islamic through any change.

"All religious scholars of Muslim sects are unanimous that all kinds of life insurance prevailing in our society are haram (forbidden) ... they are either based on interest or there is gambling involved in it," he said.

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By BISWAJEET BANERJEE Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

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