Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
There is nothing wrong with a Muslim working in these companies, so long as he himself does not deal directly with, or help others with, the unlawful activity.
Answering your question, the Fatwa Center at Islam Q and A, states:
With regard to companies whose activities are basically permissible, such as the companies that you mentioned (oil and gas companies), but they engage in some unlawful transactions, such as dealing with riba and other unlawful things, there is nothing wrong with a Muslim working in these companies, so long as he himself does not deal directly with, or help others with, the unlawful activity.
So his work should be in permissible sections of the company, that have nothing to do with managing the unlawful activities of the company.
Dealing with credit cards for which interest is charged to the customer in the event of late payment is unlawful. This is riba which Allah has emphatically forbidden.
But one of the principles of Shari`ah is that if the Muslim is compelled to do some unlawful thing, there is no blame on him for doing it, so long as he does it reluctantly and is compelled to do it, and is not doing it by choice.
Allah says regarding disbelief, which is the worst of prohibited actions:
“Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief… except for one who is forced [to renounce his religion] while his heart is secure in faiths” (An-Nahl 16:106)
If the company compels an employee to take out this unlawful credit card, there is no blame on him for that, but it is not permissible for him to use it unless he is certain that he is able to pay it off before the end of the time limit after which interest will be charged.
Something similar may be said with regard to the obligation on an employee to take out commercial insurance. There is no blame on him so long as he is compelled to do that, but he should not benefit from insurance payouts, except to the equivalent of the amount that he paid in premiums only.
But what appears to be the case with regard to the insurance that these companies require for their employees is that the insurance contract is between the company and the insurance company, and the employee is not party to it; rather he is the beneficiary only.
If that is the case, then there is nothing wrong with the employee benefiting from the insurance in full, because this is something that was offered by his company, either as a favor to the employees, or in return for deducting part of the salary to which the employee is entitled, and he is not responsible for the insurance contract and is not a party to it.
There is nothing wrong with you setting up a shipping company. The requirement of insurance in that case is a kind of compulsion, which allows the Muslim to accept such contracts, as explained above.
But in this case, it is not permissible for you to benefit from the insurance company except to the equivalent of the amount you paid in premiums only.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Source: www.islamqa.info