Ruling on participating in a social solidarity fund for a group of doctors

Firstly:

It is
permissible for an employee to pay a fixed monthly sum to be invested in an
Islamic bank, and when resigning, the participant may take back the amount
of money that he paid, in addition to any profits. This comes under the
heading of permissible investments, and there is nothing wrong with the
employees cooperating in that.

It is stipulated
that the bank in question should adhere to Islamic guidelines in its
dealings. The conditions of shar‘i investment have been discussed previously
in the answers to questions no. 114537 and
264895

For more
information, please see the answer to question no.
153578.

Secondly:

It is
permissible for employees to donate a part of their wealth when one of their
colleagues passes away, so that this money may be given to the family of the
deceased, and there is nothing wrong with setting up a fund for this and
similar needs, such as marriage, Hajj and the like. That comes under the
heading of cooperative insurance, not commercial insurance, on condition
that the intention be to donate and help one who is in need, not to gain
something. If the money in the fund is invested, then this must be done in
accordance with shar‘i guidelines.

The Standing
Committee for Issuing Fatwas was asked: Because there are so many accidents,
almost every day or every month, due to accidents on the road, which may be
fatal or cause head injuries and other injuries, and because Islam obliges
the ‘aaqilah (male relatives on the father’s side) to pay the diyah (blood
money) that becomes due from the tribe in the event of mistaken killing,
quasi-intentional killing and injury, as a result of that the tribe has
decided to set up a charitable fund to which every member of the ‘aaqilah
will pay an agreed-upon sum of money annually, in order to deal with
whatever may happen in the future of calamities that incur payment of the
diyah (blood money), so that the members of this tribe can work together as
a single ‘aaqilah. When one year has passed since the wealth was acquired,
is zakaah due on it?

They replied:

Firstly, the
agreement of the men of the tribe on the matter mentioned is regarded as a
good and charitable deed, because of what it involves of cooperating in
carrying out an obligatory duty.

Secondly: When
one year has passed since the money was collected for the purpose mentioned
above, then no zakaah is due on it if what was collected will not go back to
being the property of those from whom it was collected if the project should
fail, for example; rather it will be spent on the purpose for which it was
collected or on other charitable causes.

End quote from
Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (9/457)

Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about a charitable
organisation that was set up for a similar purpose, and he replied:

I have studied
the constitution of the charity in question, and I have not seen anything in
it that would disallow the setting up of this charity, if the common purpose
is to cooperate, without any gains or benefits from the fund, because if it
is done with the intention of cooperating and helping one another, then it
comes under the heading of doing good, whereas if it is done with the
intention of gaining and benefitting, it comes under the heading of
gambling, which is haraam.

End quote from
Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (18/183)

For more
information, please see the answers to questions no.
134353 and 154549

And Allah knows
best.