Zakat on Life Insurance Policy Savings

Short answer: (1) Conventional life insurance combines riba and excessive uncertainty (gharar), so evidence-based scholars ruled it impermissible — do not start new policies and exit existing ones where possible; the shariah alternative is takaful. (2) Zakat: the surrender value you could withdraw today is your accessible wealth — adding it yearly to your reckoning is the safer, weightier course; if surrender is truly impossible, reckon upon receipt. (3) At maturity, only up to your total paid premiums is yours — the excess (bonus/profit) is interest-sourced and must be given away without expecting reward; it is not zakat. Evidence: Quran 2:275 and 2:279; Quran 5:2 (no cooperation in sin); Sahih Muslim 1513 (the Prophet ﷺ forbade gharar sales); the Permanent Committee and Shaykh Ibn Baz on conventional insurance and takaful. For complex individual cases, consult a qualified scholar.