Saturday, 11 February 2012

Dar es Salaam — Tanzania may have Islamic insurance services in the market if an on going study gathers enough evidence on the potential for demand and supply for the services in the country.
The Islamic insurance, Takaful, is based on Sharia - Islamic religious law - whereby members contribute money into a common pool to guarantee each other against loss or damage on the principles of mutuality and cooperation.
This would be the alternative to conventional insurance services. Almost a half of the Tanzanian population is Muslim.
The 2010 insurance annual market performance report released recently shows that the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (Tira) is conducting a study on viability of the introduction of Islamic insurance products and associated regulatory framework.Tira is collaborating with the Association of Tanzania Insurers (ATI).
The study also seeks to carry out a comparative study of Takaful insurance regulatory frameworks of selected jurisdictions where both Takaful and Conventional Insurance operations are regulated, with the view to identifying regulatory models that may be feasible for Tanzania.
"The study will also identify legislative and operational gaps as far as introduction of Takaful Insurance and associated regulatory framework in Tanzania is concerned and propose legal and regulatory initiatives to eliminate the gaps to be identified," reads the report in part.
Tira is also conducting a study on the awareness, perception, and use of insurance services by investors and business entities in Zanzibar.In 1985, Muslim jurists met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for seven days to discuss all types and forms of conventional insurance and resolved that "the commercial insurance contract is prohibited (Haraam) according to the Shariah."
The jurists also recommended that alternative contract which conforms to the principle of Islamic dealings is the contract of cooperative insurance (Takaful), which is founded on the basis of charitable donation and Shariah compliant dealings.

Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur:
www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia:
www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com