Yasir Qadhi – What Type of Prizes Are Permissible in A Competition? Ask Shaykh YQ #214
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
The next question we have brother wires from Birmingham, UK, he says that what type of prize money's is acceptable than a competition if he goes into a competition, and he wins money, what type of prizes are acceptable? And when will it not be considered gambling? wama
ami, Kobe, Nika in Reja. No, hey, la him first.
Lake Erie,
Jones?
So the answer to this question is that if you participate in a competition, which is of course, Hello, we're not talking anything hard on whether it is soccer, whether it is a karate competition, whatever it might be. Obviously, if you participate in a how long competition like gambling, I mean, obviously, we're not talking about that, if the sport or the competition is headed, and the prize money is being given by a third party, you are not giving your money, which is then being pooled together and then being given to the winner No, rather, you're participating as a free for all you walk in, you register your name, you know, and a third party accompany you know, multi billion
dollar corporation or the local Masjid or you know, somebody else who's saying, hey, whoever comes first will get this prize, whoever comes second will get this prize work comes third, we'll get that price. In this case, it's all held in digit no problems, no question asked, however, if everybody is giving money, and their own money is going to be used for themselves. So if somebody gives $10, everybody gives $10. And then the price is going to be if 10 people give $10 each, and the price is going to be $100. Now we get the semblance of gambling. And according to this, if not Kareem and others, they have a very simple fatwa. Again, because this rapid q&a, I'll just give you the final
verdict. And if you want more details, you know, read it, and I'll tell you has an entire book on this and other Roma have given their photos on this bottom line summary. If the people are paying money, everyone is paying a part of the prize money. And the goal is that their own money is going to be pooled, so that you know the top winners get that money. In this case, if the competition is about a generic sports, let's say for example, soccer, okay, there's 10 soccer teams, and they're all giving 100, you know, euros, 100 pounds, $100. And the winning team will take 1000. So there's 10 teams playing. In this case, it is not allowed to have all of the teams pay money. And then the
winner takes all unless at least one or more of the teams is not paying. So if 10 teams come together at random in an Islamic land or place at random, we should say okay, that team, you pick a law, lottery, whatever, whichever, you know, is you draw lots of shizune up, you draw lots, and Whichever team draws that one card or whatever, you're not going to pay the 100 pounds. So now nine teams are going to pay. So 900 pounds for the winner, one team did not pay, we don't know which of the teams is going to win. Now we have removed the semblance of gambling, however, it will pay him and others they say one exception can be made. And that exception is if the competition is
inherently Islamic, ie memorizing the Quran, memorizing Hadith, and something of that nature, we may in fact open the door and say no problem. Everybody gives their fees. And then the winner takes all are the top three takes, you know, percentage wise, no problem, because we want the oma to benefit in this manner. So this is the position.
To summarize to conclude this question to summarize, if the prize money comes from a third party, it's not coming from the pooled resources of the contestants that you're not paying money, and then you wanting you know, a larger amount if it's your free competition, you know, and I mean, if there's a small fee for just registration $5, but that's not you know, the point is that it's just the that money is not being pulled together for the prize and nobody gives the that money for registration for the prize money. If that's the case, and the prize money is coming from a third party, no problem. However, if the prize money is the cumulative amount that everybody puts in, then
scenario one, if it's a generic competition, it would not be allowed unless at least one person or more is not paying the money or scenario to it is allowed if the competition is inherently benefiting the oma such as the foreign competition and other competitions and Allah azza wa jal knows best.
Yeah, man
He
he can