Lucknow: The Darul Uloom Deoband has declared that opting for an insurance policy went against the tenets of Islam.
The "insurance policy is unlawful as it is based on interest and gambling," claimed the fatwa issued by the country's largest Islamic seminary.
The edict issued by Darul Ifta department of Darul Uloom seminary was in response to a query whether it is lawful to take an insurance policy in the light of the Sharia.
Millions of Muslims in India opt for insurance policies, which is a contract that pledges payment of an amount to a person assured or his nominee against losses or perils.
"The clerics who issue fatwas should also explain the context in which it is being issued to avoid any confusion," Maulana Afroz Mujtaba, a Delhi-based cleric, said.
Meanwhile, leading Islamic body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind's spokesman Abdul Hameed Nomani said that fatwas should not be generalised and they should be seen in the context in which they have been issued.
"People must read between the lines and not generalise the fatwas," Nomani said.
Earlier, Darul Uloom had declared the job of writing and calculating interest based work in banks and insurance companies as unlawful. The fatwa was in response to whether Muslims can do job in bank or insurance company.
The recent fatwas have drawn flak from many clerics and progressive leaders.
The seminary had also decreed that it was illegal according to the Sharia or Islamic law for a woman to work and for a family to accept a woman's earnings.
However, clerics at the largest Sunni Muslim seminary said the decree was based on the fact that the Sharia prohibited proximity of men and women in the workplace.
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