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Is Working as an Insurance Underwriter Halal?

04 October, 2026
Q My question consists of two parts. 1. I currently work as an insurance agent, and I want to switch jobs, either to become a claims adjuster or an underwriter, and I just wanted to make sure the job itself was OK. It would be in insurance as well. 2. I know late/NSF fees are haram and considered interest, minus the admin side of the fee. As an underwriter, or even in insurance in other fields, sometimes you have to apply a surcharge if someone has a bad history of missing payments, has tickets/accidents, or if the risk is higher, the premium is higher because of that surcharge. Would this be considered impermissible, as you are insuring based on risk? We are applying surcharges on a daily basis in our insurance job and may have to in the other jobs as well, so I just want to make sure first.

Answer

Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf
04 October, 2026

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:

Working as an insurance underwriter in conventional insurance is controversial because most Muslim scholars disapprove of conventional insurance contracts. In Takaful, a risk-based surcharge may be permissible when agreed upon during negotiation and included before the contract is signed, but adding a surcharge after signing is not permissible.

Responding to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance & Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Management, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Turkey, states:

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Working in conventional insurance is very controversial, as most Muslim scholars disapprove of the insurance contract, and these days there are many Takaful or Islamic insurance companies that exist in many parts of the world. Of course, when comparing an underwriter and an adjuster, a fair adjuster has a better job than an underwriter. The latter establishes and sets the insurance contract, while the former makes its results fair and just.

For the second question, adding a surcharge to the contribution in a Takaful contract because of added risk is permissible when it is done during the negotiation and before the contract is signed, but any surcharge after signing the contract is not permissible.

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    Almighty Allah knows best.