Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Asalam o alaikum brother Burhan

I have a question for you that on the basis of which my friend will be able to decide his future.

This friend of mine is currently enrolled in first yeart engineering. But he does not like engineering. he like mathematics. so he wants to change into a mathematical field called actuarial sciences. basically the main application of actuarial sciences is in insurance companies, though it is not limited to it. an actuarial scienitist has to deal with speculation most of the time. his main function is to predict future problems for a company, design ways in order to prevent these events, and deal with these events if and when they actually occur.

as you can see it involves a lot of speculation. the main thing is prediction of the future, but by using a scientific method. please let me knw if actuarial sciences is a halal way to earn a living or not. jazak Allahi khairan

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Answer:

Science halaal

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

There is absolutely no harm and absolutely no restriction in Islam if one wishes to study sciences on the basis of which one may use his knowledge of the present, and through its sciences of applications and trends comes to a determination of what might happen in the future. This sort of knowledge is not and cannot be called the ‘knowledge of the unseen’, but rather it is a calculated and scientific determination of the knowledge gained by man based on the assumptions, applications and trends.

What is absolutely and specifically prohibited in Islam is to falsely create a ‘knowledge of the unseen’ by assuming that man’s fate is documented in his palms, or man’s fate has something to do with the movement of the heavenly bodies, or to determine an individual or nation’s fate based on absolutely baseless and false assumptions of the ‘unseen’.

For example, if a doctor, using his modern technological tools examines a pregnant woman and predicts she will have a baby-boy or girl, it is not considered knowledge of the ‘unseen’. But when a person looks at a three or five year old girl and starts predicting by looking at her palms or her face or the stars and declares that she will grow up to give birth to three boys and three girls; that would be considered stating something from the ‘unseen’!

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan