Is Opening a Real Estate Business Permissible If Insurance Is Legally Required?

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Question

Is opening a real estate business permissible where insurance is legally required?

Answer

I pray you are well.

Yes, this can be permissible in situations where insurance is legally required and comes under indemnity and liability laws.

Sometimes, property insurance or public liability insurance is required to operate. In many countries, one cannot run certain services without it.

For example, in places like England, one cannot even have a madrasa teaching children without public liability insurance, in case someone is injured and requires compensation.

Insurance as a Secondary Requirement

In such cases, this type of insurance is not taken as a primary objective, but rather as a legal requirement tied to earning a livelihood or serving the community.

The scholars mention the principle:

“In secondary matters, what is not permissible in the primary matter may be overlooked.”

So when insurance is a necessary secondary condition for something permissible, it may be allowed.

Examples of Permissible Situations

This can apply in cases such as:

• Property insurance required for a real estate business;
• Public liability insurance for community projects;
• Insurance needed for youth clubs or events;
• Legal insurance requirements for driving.

In such circumstances, it would be permissible.

[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began studying Arabic Grammar and Morphology whilst studying for a degree in English and History. After graduating, He traveled to Damascus and studied Arabic, Hanafi Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Theology, and Logic with Shaykh Adnan Darwish, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahman Arjan al-Binsawi, Shaykh Husayn Darwish, Shaykh Muhammad Darwish, the late Shaykh Rashad Shams, and others. He then moved to Amman to continue his studies in those fields, as well as in Tafsir, Quranic Sciences, Hadith Methodology and Commentary, Prophetic Biography, Prophetic Perfections and Traits, Rhetoric, Arabic Literature, and Tajwid. His teachers include Shaykh Ali Hani, Dr. Hamza al-Bakri, Dr. Salah Abu al-Hajj, Dr. Mansur Abu Zina, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Ahmad Jammal, and others.