How does family takaful work, and how is it different from life insurance?

Family takaful is life cover arranged on Islamic principles. Under UAE law, takaful is cooperative insurance: each participant pays a “contribution” into a takaful fund, every member is insured on a takaful basis, and the fund’s investment returns can be shared among members by agreement.¹

What are you paying for?

Your contribution goes into the participants’ fund, which pays claims, and part of it pays the takaful company to run the fund. That payment is the wakala fee. The Central Bank’s life insurance and family takaful instructions cap it for short-term products, one year or less, at 35% of the year’s contributions and investment revenue, including all commission. The company’s shareholders then bear all its operating costs.² For long-term products the fee is set by the company’s actuary, who must take account of what participants can reasonably expect.²

Sukoon Takaful’s Family Takaful Term charges a wakala fee of 25% of the cost of protection.³

Ask for the wakala fee in writing, as a percentage, before you sign.

What do the published family takaful plans offer?

Two examples from the takaful companies’ own documents, as of 12 November 2026:

Sources: Salama⁴ and Sukoon Takaful.³

Contributions rise with age and term. Salama’s published monthly contribution for AED 500,000 of cover at ages 30 to 39 is AED 103 over 5 years and AED 188 over 15 years.⁴ Salama’s life takaful page also lists Hemaya Plus, a term plan priced on your health and lifestyle, and two lifetime plans, Hyat Superior and Hyat Secure, where you choose the funds your contributions are invested in.⁵

Ask for the contribution on the same cover with and without a maturity return before you decide.

Do takaful plans follow the same consumer rules as life insurance?

Yes. The Central Bank’s instructions cover life insurance and family takaful together and apply to takaful companies.² You get the same free-look period of at least 30 calendar days. Sukoon Takaful’s document gives 30 days from the earliest of issue, cover start or the date you receive the policy documents, with a refund less any medical examination cost.²³

For takaful cover sold with a loan, any surplus or profit commission from the portfolio must go back to the participants’ fund, not to the bank as an incentive.²

See the rules that protect you for the full list.

Which companies sell takaful in the UAE?

The Central Bank’s directory of insurers lists each company as traditional or takaful, and its classes of business. Takaful companies listed in the class “Insurance of Persons and Fund Accumulation Operations”, the same class as MetLife and Zurich International Life, include Salama (Islamic Arab Insurance Company), Sukoon Takaful, Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance (Aman), Abu Dhabi National Takaful, Watania Takaful General and Takaful Emarat.⁶ The class also covers health insurance, so a company being in it does not show it sells individual family takaful.

Ask a company for the key facts document of its individual family takaful plan. See Salama’s profile for one company’s plans.

The small print

• The law. Takaful is defined in Article 967 of Federal Decree by Law No. (25) of 2025, in force from 1 June 2026.¹
• The instructions. Wakala and mudaraba fees are Article 16 and credit life surplus Article 15 of Decision No. (49) of 2019.²
• Sukoon Takaful exclusions. The document lists suicide within a year of issue or reinstatement, murder by the beneficiary or an heir, concealment of a medical condition that caused the death, and war.³
• Hemayati Plus contributions. The annual contribution is 11 times the monthly one. Contributions must be paid within 60 days of the due date.⁴