require that the intent behind words and deeds be specified; therefore, it has no bearing on matters whose ruling is already evident and whose purpose is clear. Since the proofs decisively forbid insurance, custom cannot be invoked against them.
(e) The contention that commercial insurance is a form of muḍārabah (profit-sharing partnership) or akin to it is incorrect. In a muḍārabah the capital never leaves the owner’s estate, whereas the premium the insured pays passes, by the very terms of the policy, from his ownership to that of the company. In a muḍārabah the capital devolves upon the owner’s heirs when he dies; in insurance the heirs may, by regulation, receive the entire insured sum even if their predecessor paid only a single premium, and they may receive nothing at all if the beneficiary is someone other than the policy-holder or his heirs. In a muḍārabah profit is divided between the two partners according to an agreed percentage, while in insurance both profit and loss on the capital belong to the company; the insured is entitled only to the indemnity, or to an amount that is in any event undefined.
(f) Analogising insurance contracts to the pact of walāʾ al-muwālāh, for those who recognise that pact, is likewise invalid, for the cases differ. Insurance seeks monetary gain marred by uncertainty, gambling, and gross ambiguity, whereas the primary aim of walāʾ al-muwālāh is Islamic brotherhood—mutual support and cooperation in hardship and ease under all circumstances; any material benefit that follows is merely incidental.
(g) Equating commercial insurance with a binding promise, according to those who uphold such a promise, is also unsound. The promise to grant a loan, to lend property, or to shoulder a loss is pure benevolence; fulfilling it is either obligatory or a mark of noble character. Insurance contracts, by contrast, are commercial exchanges motivated by material profit, and the levels of ignorance and uncertainty excused in acts of charity cannot be excused here.
(h) Drawing an analogy between commercial insurance and a guarantee of the unknown, or a guarantee of what has not yet