Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions. Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As to what follows: In response to your question, we say: (Commercial) insurance is among the transactions on which the scholars have differed. Most of the scholars are of the opinion that it is an unlawful transaction. A group of scholars have said that it is permissible. If your relative entered into this transaction while he was ignorant of the fact that it is impermissible, then nothing is due from him. You may take the amount that the insurance company and hand it over to the relatives of the deceased. This is the ruling if you were compelled to register for the insurance. As for expiation; if the boy was run over because of the driver’s mistake, or negligence in following the rules of traffic, then he should expiate, and this involves freeing a slave. If he cannot find a slave or afford the price to free him then he should fast for two consecutive months. He may begin this fasting at any time that he wishes, and he may also delay this fasting to a time where the day is short and the weather is cool, because the correct opinion is that fasting in expiation for killing a person by mistake is not immediately compulsory. This was the opinion of the majority of the scholars from the Hanafites, the Shaafi’tes and an opinion of some Hambalites. And Allah knows best. Dr. Khalid al-Mosleh 06/09/1424