Insurance vs Takaful
People always ask me whats the difference between insurance and takaful... almost everytime I met with new people.. that would be among the first question asked..
first of all, takaful is also means insurance. so both terms mean the same things; PROTECTION.
whats makes takaful operator and product Syariah Compliant?
First, Insurance is a contract of buy and sell. company sell protection, policyholder buy insurance. In Islam, buying and selling something that is not certain is wrong. Protection is uncertain. If a person get sick or die then only the insurance company will pay him or her or the nominees. If not, he or she might get some money back. Because of that, Takaful is a concept of donating. Not buying and selling. A takaful plan is like a program, who ever participate in this program is called participant (not a policyholder), the policy book is called certificate, the monthly premium is called contribution and the organization handling this program is called takaful operator not a company..
Second, of course the investment and the way of a takaful operator manages their fund follow islamic law and rules. The law is govern by bank negara. So when bank negara release any takaful licences, we can rest assured that those operators are syariah-compliant. Tak kisah la kalo nama operator tu ada nama omputih pun.. tapi kalo dah namanya takaful memang sumer whole company(operator) pun syariah-compliant
Third, there will be no product which gives fixed interest, which has riba' and such.
Now most people know Prudential got a takaful licence from bank negara about 2 yrs back. It is called Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd. Its a different company from the old Prudential but have similar investment-linked product.
huwargh ngantuk.. esok esok kita belajar benda lain pulak eh..