subject: Origin Of Takaful: First Constitution Of Madinah [print this page] With growing insecurity, due to lack of good governance, across the world, the question of self security and the security of property is growing with every coming day. No one can get 100 percent security. No one can be sure of absolute immunity. Besides natural calamity, disaster or happening, there is a mounting problem of terrorism which has cast a big question mark on the security of every person. Unfortunately, most of the Muslim countries are subject to terrorist activities and its devastating effects. The security concern is looming large on these countries. In this scenario, the need of insurance of life and property is being felt at large.
Not only are the insurance companies of a great help to the people concerned of the fragile personal security conditions in their counties, but also there is a great room for business for insurance companies. But as far as the Muslim masses are concerned they seem less attractive to conventional insurance companies. The main reason is that economic instrument, the insurance companies invest in, basically involve interest, and interest is categorically forbidden in Islamic Shariah. So the majority of the Muslim masses abstain from making any investment through insurance companies and institutions, hence, not only they deprive themselves of the benefits of insurance in terms of mitigating security threats and losses of their life and property, but a formidable amount of Muslim money remains hidden and unused, which is, in fact, a great loss; as their wealth and property is liable to pay Zakat, in addition to usual expenditures and consumption of wealth.
Islamic insurance or Takaful (Takaful is an Arabic term, used to describe Islamic meaning of insurance, which means mutual cooperation or compensation for the possible losses between the partners or participants) provides an alternative for the conventional interest based insurance. But, since the conservative Islamic scholars and the Muslim masses are yet not very well aware of the Islamic concept of insurance or Takaful, mostly, they choose to negate it without fully comprehending the concept and the practice of Takaful companies.
Now, here comes the responsibility of the good governance of the Islamic insurance or Takaful companies to make people aware of the Islamic concept and practice of Islamic insurance, proper to say Takaful. But it needs proper executive education to meet the challenges in its way.
Islamic concept of insurance or Takaful is fundamentally different from the conventional insurance. Takaful is not a new or foreign concept in Islam. The traces o Takaful can be seen in the First constitution of Madinah. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) ruled out in the constitution of Madinah that:
"The emigrants of Quraish shall be responsible for their word and they shall pay their blood money in mutual collaboration..."
This was under the Islamic rule of "Aquila" which means that the close relatives of the guilty one were supposed to pay the blood money to save him or her from death punishment. It is the form of social contract of mutual security. Same can be inferred from the article of first constitution of Madinah which states that:
"The emigrants of Quraish shall be responsible to make their prisoners (their people in enemy's captivity as war prisoners) release by paying their ransom, so that the mutual collaboration among the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice."
The Prophet (S.A.W) made it an obligation of Aquila, the close relatives, to pay for the freedom of the prisoners of war. It is, too, an evidence of social contract of mutual security.
In the third article of the First constitution of Madinah it was made obligation of the people of Madinah to make a joint venture with mutual understanding in order to provide assistance and sustenance to the ill, poor and the people in need. The essence and origin of Takaful is there in the very first constitution of Islam.
Theexecutive education in Takaful needs to know a great deal of evidences from Quran, Hadith and Islamic history to make Muslim masses convince of the fact that Takaful is in complete compliance with Islamic Shariah.
