Representative image | Photo Credit: Indiatimes

Meerut: The Deoband ulemas or clerics are back at doing what they do best: issuing fatwas. This time, the clerics have issued a fatwa against life insurance policies, stating that buying such a policy or getting property insured was against the tenets of Islam as a Muslim should have faith in Allah, and not in any insurance companies. The fatwa was issued in response to a query posed by a Ghaziabad-based man.

The fatwa read, "Life and death are in the hands of Allah and no insurance company can guarantee a man's longevity. On the contrary, these insurance companies invest the premium paid by the purchaser of the policy and earn interest on the same, later distributing some of it among their clients. And any income earned through interest is haram (forbidden)."

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Speaking to the Times of India, Maulana Najif Ahmad, a senior cleric and head of Deoband-based Madrasa Darul Niswah said that the God was the supreme being to decide on matters of life and death and thus a Muslim should have faith in him. He said, "The fatwa has been issued in the light of Islamic Shariat and has clear directions that a Muslim must put his trust in Allah and not in any insurance company because ultimately it is God who reigns supreme when it comes to life and death."

Prior to this, in a controversial fatwa, Deoband ulemas had asked Muslim families to avoid marrying men/women working in banks as "money earned through interest is illegitimate in the eyes of Islam", the Times of India reported.

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Since the start of the new year, the Deoband has issued several fatwas against several practices that it deemed 'un-Islamic', including women wearing body-hugging or designer burqas. Stating that wearing such a burqa was 'haraam' or 'forbidden' in Islam, the fatwa read, "Veil and burqa are supposed to protect a woman from prying eyes. So, a woman wearing a designer burqa or body-hugging outfit is strictly not allowed in Islam."

Recently, the ulemas had also criticised a 15-year-old Muslim girl from Meerut, Alia Khan, for reciting slokas from the Bhagwad Gita at a state-government organised contest in Lucknow.