ABSTRACT

This study has shown that insurance is not completely forbidden by the Shari’a. Islamic finance is becoming a major force in the Islamic world and is beginning to play a significant role in the West, one that will increase in extent and influence. Islamic contracts, as construed and expounded by the Shari’a, are neither understood nor ignored by Western scholars. Modern Islamic authors and legislators have endeavoured to build a systematic Islamic law of contract similar to Western law but benefiting from the flexibility of the general principles contained in the Shari’a (Moghaizel 1990: 270). In addition to this, and as part of the same trend, efforts have been made to establish an all-embracing ‘Islamic’ economic doctrine, comprising modern concepts and practices such as insurance, presented as an alternative to available economic systems. As far as the concept of insurance is concerned, the existence of an economic system based on the Shari’a is tangible and specialist in nature.