Islamic Insurance (Takaful)

Islamic insurance, or takaful, is the Sharīʿah-based discipline of mutual protection: pooling risk through donation (tabarruʿ) and cooperation (taʿāwun) rather than selling risk for profit. This course builds practical capability across the field — the economic and Sharīʿah rationale for takaful, the concerns of gharar, maysir and ribā, and the operating models of wakālah, muḍārabah, waqf and cooperative. Learners examine participants' and shareholders' funds, qarḍ, surplus and deficit governance, family and general takaful, underwriting, pricing and actuarial foundations, claims, exclusions and fraud control, retakaful and climate risk, cross-jurisdictional regulation, financial reporting under AAOIFI and IFRS 17, and emerging TakafulTech. Taught at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, it is valuable for takaful and retakaful operators, actuaries and underwriters, Sharīʿah advisers, regulators, and product, claims and compliance professionals.

This course approaches takaful as ʿilm nāfiʿ: knowledge that helps a community carry one another's burdens and meet misfortune with dignity rather than despair. By studying mutual protection, tabarruʿ and taʿāwun, fund governance, claims justice and retakaful alongside their Sharīʿah foundations, learners reflect on solidarity, trust (amānah), fairness, and the relief of hardship. These themes connect to the maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah — especially the protection of life, wealth and family (ḥifẓ al-nafs wa'l-māl wa'l-nasl) — and to the Qurʾānic call to cooperate in righteousness and God-consciousness. Without issuing legal determinations, the course helps learners weigh substance over form, honour the amānah that a takaful label carries, and see shared protection as an act of mercy and stewardship before Allah.