Takaful insurance
Takaful is insurance organised as a fund that belongs to its participants and is managed, for a fee, by an operator. It has been on sale in Morocco since 2022, mainly alongside participative bank financing.
Optional
At a glance
- Who needs it
- Customers of participative banks, and anyone who wants cover or savings that follow Sharia rules
- What it pays
- The same events as the matching conventional contract: death, disability, damage to the financed building, or savings paid back with their returns
- Legal basis
- Insurance Code (law 17-99) as amended by laws 59-13 and 87-18; opinions of the Higher Council of Ulema
- Who runs it
- Four licensed Takaful operators, supervised by ACAPS
- Where to get it
- Participative banks and the participative windows of conventional banks
What Takaful is
In conventional insurance you pay a premium to a company that carries the risk and keeps the profit. In Takaful, participants pay contributions into a common fund in order to help one another. The fund pays the claims. A separate company, the operator, manages the fund and is paid a fee for doing so.
Four rules follow from this.
- The fund belongs to the participants. Its accounts are kept apart from those of the operator.
- The operator is paid a management fee, set in advance. It does not profit from the gap between contributions and claims.
- Surpluses go back to the participants, under the rules of the fund, after reserves have been set aside.
- Money is invested without interest, in assets that comply with Sharia rules.
If the fund runs short, the operator must advance it the money without interest and is repaid from later surpluses. Each product needs a conformity opinion from the Higher Council of Ulema, and ACAPS supervises the operators as it does every insurer.
Where the money goes
Conventional insurance
- Surplus: the insurer's profit
- Shortfall: borne by the insurer
Takaful
- Surplus: shared back among the participants
- Shortfall: interest-free advance from the operator
- Takaful contributions in 2025
- about 141 million MADagainst 64.3 billion MAD for the whole market
- Licensed operators
- 4all linked to an established insurance group
- On sale since
- 2022
What you can buy today
| Product | What it does | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Death and disability Takaful | Pays what remains due on a financing if the participant dies or becomes totally disabled | With a Mourabaha financing for a home, a car or equipment |
| Building multi-risk Takaful | Covers the financed building against fire, water damage and similar events | With a property financing |
| Takaful savings and investment | Regular or single contributions invested in Sharia-compliant assets, paid back with their returns | Medium and long-term savings, education, retirement |
The range is still narrow. In autumn 2026 Takaful cover for cars, health and travel was not generally on sale. Ask the operators what has been added since.
How it differs
| Conventional insurance | Takaful | |
|---|---|---|
| Who carries the risk | The insurer | The participants together, through the fund |
| What the company earns | The difference between premiums and claims, plus investment income | A management fee announced in advance |
| Surplus | Belongs to the insurer, apart from profit sharing in life insurance | Belongs to the participants |
| Shortfall | Borne by the insurer | Covered by an interest-free advance from the operator |
| Investments | Any authorised asset, including interest-bearing bonds | Sharia-compliant assets only |
| Religious conformity | Not assessed | Opinion of the Higher Council of Ulema on each product |
| Capital on death | Paid to the beneficiary you name, outside the estate | Paid according to inheritance rules, or to the people you designate by will or gift within the limits of those rules |
| Time limit to claim | 2, 5 or 10 years depending on the contract | No time limit |
Your day-to-day duties do not change: you answer the questionnaire truthfully, pay your contribution, and declare a claim within the same time limits.
Who sells it
Four operators are licensed: Wafa Takaful, Takafulia Assurances, Taawouniyate Taamine Takafuli and Al Maghribia Takaful. Each belongs to an established insurance group: see Insurers and contacts.
Takaful is sold almost entirely through participative banks and the participative windows of conventional banks, when you sign a financing or open a savings plan. Ask for the fund's rules, the level of the management fee and how surpluses have been shared so far.
Questions
Is Takaful cheaper than conventional insurance?
Not necessarily. Contributions are close to conventional premiums for the same cover. The difference lies in what happens to any surplus and in how the money is invested.
Can anyone take out Takaful?
Yes. It is open to every customer, whatever their religion.
Must I take Takaful with a participative financing?
Participative banks pair their financings with Takaful because conventional insurance does not fit their model. Ask the bank which operators it works with and compare the contributions.
What happens to my Takaful savings if I die?
They are paid according to inheritance rules, or to the people you designated by will or gift within the limits those rules allow. Ask the operator how to record your wishes when you sign.
Is there Takaful car insurance?
Not on general sale in autumn 2026. Compulsory motor liability is still bought from conventional insurers.
Does this guide say whether conventional insurance is permitted?
No. This guide explains how each product works and what the law says. For a religious opinion, turn to a competent authority.