Fatwa - Ambulance Coverage

QUESTION:

We live in Australia and wanted to find out if ambulance coverage is allowed or is it like any other type of insurance? If I get ambulance coverage for my family it will cost about $170 per year and without coverage for a single trip in an ambulance up to $1000. Without coverage, a helicopter ambulance could cost up to $10 000. Sometimes an ambulance is called without our consent by the doctor and we receive the bill. Would my intention at the time of getting ambulance coverage make a difference in it being permissible or not? Like if I intend to give the fee of the ambulance coverage as a gift and the service they offer as an exchange of that gift?

ANSWER:

In the Name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

In principle, the ambulance coverage is similar to any other type of insurance. A person pays a monthly or yearly premium, in this case $170 per year. In lieu of this payment, a person will receive a payout to cover the cost of his ambulance fees, if and when the need occurs. These types of transactions contain elements of  riba (usury), gharar (uncertainty), and qimar (gambling) which are all corruptive factors in Shar’i transactions. The element of riba takes place when the company pays the client an amount greater than the amount of the premium paid by the client. The element of gharar takes place because it is uncertain whether the client will ever receive any form of compensation for his payment. If certain conditions set out in the policy are not met, the client will have lost all of his money and not receive any form of exchange for his payments. The element of qimar takes place because the payout of the policy will only take place if a contingency or an unforeseen event takes place which has been conditioned in the contract. This is similar to lotteries and other forms of gambling where the payout will only take place if certain unforeseen conditions are met, such as drawing the exact numbers of a lottery ticket.

In regards to your intention at the time of acquiring the ambulance insurance, it will not render the transaction permissible. The Shariah considers the overall effect of transactions as opposed to the individual words (or intentions) used. Had this not been the case, even interest would be made permissible by intending to give banks a gift in exchange for them returning the gift of a higher amount.

And Allāh knows best.

Muftī Yusuf Ibn Yaqub
Washington, DC (USA)

Concurred by:

Muftī Abrar Mirza

Chicago, IL (USA)

Under the Supervision of Muftī Ebrahim Desai (South Africa)