[Chlomc]

I've just had a year of studying Islam for my GCSE's which I really enjoyed
I have my exam on it this week and if anyone could help me with this question that would be great!

(So just a bit of background information, for this exam to get higher grades i have to take quotes from the Hadith and Quran and use them to base arguments for and against things)

One of the tricky examples where there's hardly any arguments that it's halal is gambling, because most Muslims view that this is outright wrong and there's nothing in the Hadith or Quran that is for it. In fact it's a sin to commit.

However I've been thinking of a possible reason why few muslims may think gambling can be acceptable under certain circumstances (Please forgive me if i am wrong) Because giving to charity is a BIG thing in islam, its very very important and is one of the five pillars (Zakah) and giving additional money to charity other than Zakah (Sadaqah) is seen as a very good thing to do.

So i was wondering at charity events where raffles/tombola's etc happen where ALL money go to charity would it be considered Halal or Haram for a muslim to take part in raffles/tombolas because theoretically they are gambilng as there is no assured outcome of getting something in return for your money which goes against this quote "do not squander your wealth" (Quran) however if your "wealth" is going to a charity would that still count as "squandering" it?





Sorry for the amount of writing here, and if i'm wrong thinking this. Please if you have any personal views on this please share it with me! (Also if you could let me know if my application of key words/quote used were correct that would be greatly apprieciated!)

I'm probably going to do a few questions on here to do with Islam as it helps me revise :3 Stuff to do with IVF, Euthanasia, Contraception, Crime/Punishment etc
so keep and eye out!

Thanks

[ct2k7]

Put simply, Haram.

From the internet.

"O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper. Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of God, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?" (Sura Ma'idah 5:90,91).

"'They asked the Prophet (S.A.W) about khamr (intoxicants) and games of chance (gambling). Say, in both of them there is great harm although there is some advantage as well in them for men, but their harm is much greater than their advantages."

Basically, is the harm greater than the benefit?

[Chlomc]

(Original post by ct2k7)
Put simply, Haram.

From the internet.

"O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper. Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of God, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?" (Sura Ma'idah 5:90,91).

"'They asked the Prophet (S.A.W) about khamr (intoxicants) and games of chance (gambling). Say, in both of them there is great harm although there is some advantage as well in them for men, but their harm is much greater than their advantages."

Basically, is the harm greater than the benefit?

From the example I gave I'm not sure, it depends on the person. As the benefit of helping give money to others is hugely important ("He who eats and drinks while his brother goes hungry is not one of us" Hadith) suggests that any form of helping others should be done if possible.

However to some people the prospect of perhaps winning one of these harmless 50p raffle's/tombola's may lead them to an addiciton where they gamble 1000's where no charity is involved. So it's difficult to judge whether the harm is greater than the benefit which could be seen as a gamble in itself

Thanks for answering I enjoyed reading your view!

[Chlomc]

Any other opinions/views? :3

[member910132]

(Original post by Chlomc)
Any other opinions/views? :3

What you are saying is basically this:

Get some money via a haram means and then give it to charity which is a good deed. Extending your logic we could steal, kill, cheat and do many other things in the name of giving that money to charity.
Secondly from an Islamic perspective, the person doing what you have described is sinning because it is a sin to gamble and the money he gives to charity will not count as a good deed because the money was from a haram source, meaning it has no blessing in it.

[Chlomc]

(Original post by member910132)
What you are saying is basically this:

Get some money via a haram means and then give it to charity which is a good deed. Extending your logic we could steal, kill, cheat and do many other things in the name of giving that money to charity.
Secondly from an Islamic perspective, the person doing what you have described is sinning because it is a sin to gamble and the money he gives to charity will not count as a good deed because the money was from a haram source, meaning it has no blessing in it.

I'm not saying that it's a good deed at all, I was just wondering whether there was a tolerance when it's done with charitable intentions where there's also not 1000's of pounds involved just merely 1 pound at the most. Purely as there is involving two extremes: giving to charity which is extremely good and gambling which is extremely bad just to see if there is a different view i could write about in my exam.

But now I know that gambling is a clear cut no for Islam, thanks for your view it was really helpful Especially the last bit about it having no blessing as it came from a haram source, that is really useful information for my exam. Terribly sorry if I came across really ignorant, but atleast now i know.

Thanks again

[tazarooni89]

(Original post by Chlomc)
I'm not saying that it's a good deed at all, I was just wondering whether there was a tolerance when it's done with charitable intentions where there's also not 1000's of pounds involved just merely 1 pound at the most.

If you do commit the sin of gambling, and you end up winning, then (I think) you're supposed to give all those winnings to charity rather than keep it yourself.
Having said that gambling is prohibited in the first place, even if it was for the sake of charity.

If you're planning to try and win money via gambling, and then give your winnings to charity, it's prohibited because the chances are you're not going to win in the first place, and just end up throwing your own money way. If it's participating in a raffle or something, where you can win something but the main purpose is for the proceeds (i.e. the money that other people have lost) to go to charity, then this is also prohibited - because you have a better alternative which is to just give the money to the charity directly, without asking for the chance to win something in return.

[Chlomc]

(Original post by tazarooni89)
If you do commit the sin of gambling, and you end up winning, then (I think) you're supposed to give all those winnings to charity rather than keep it yourself.
Having said that gambling is prohibited in the first place, even if it was for the sake of charity.

If you're planning to try and win money via gambling, and then give your winnings to charity, it's prohibited because the chances are you're not going to win in the first place, and just end up throwing your own money way. If it's participating in a raffle or something, where you can win something but the main purpose is for the proceeds (i.e. the money that other people have lost) to go to charity, then this is also prohibited - because you have a better alternative which is to just give the money to the charity directly, without asking for the chance to win something in return.

Thanks for this I was just trying to see if there was another side to it to put into my exam (Normally i'm suppose to have two different argument: for and against) and if i can use the same quote in different ways to back up both arguments even better. eg: Q: What are Muslim views on euthanasia A: argument against euthanasia may be that most Muslims believe it is wrong as "do not take life allah made sacred" (quran) suggests it would be against Allah to take the life of someone, however some Muslims may think that if someone is in complete agony that their life may not be viewed as "sacred" anymore when the person is in complete misery and believe it is the Halal thing to do to put them out of their misery. That's just one point i would normally write about a page for that kind of question.

So its tricky when questions about gambling come up because there isn't really any argument i can think of that would be to allow it :/

[tazarooni89]

(Original post by Chlomc)
Thanks for this I was just trying to see if there was another side to it to put into my exam (Normally i'm suppose to have two different argument: for and against) and if i can use the same quote in different ways to back up both arguments even better. eg: Q: What are Muslim views on euthanasia A: argument against euthanasia may be that most Muslims believe it is wrong as "do not take life allah made sacred" (quran) suggests it would be against Allah to take the life of someone, however some Muslims may think that if someone is in complete agony that their life may not be viewed as "sacred" anymore when the person is in complete misery and believe it is the Halal thing to do to put them out of their misery. That's just one point i would normally write about a page for that kind of question.

So its tricky when questions about gambling come up because there isn't really any argument i can think of that would be to allow it :/

From a Muslim perspective, this is a very tricky excercise, because the whole point of the Qur'an is to provide clear, definitive guidance rather than the opportunity for two completely opposite rules to be extracted from it.

For example, in the case of gambling, the simple fact is that the Qur'an prohibits it explicitly, and there is no verse which explicitly permits it. So even if you were to find a verse or argument that could possibly be interpreted to suggest that gambling may be allowed, you already know that the author didn't mean for you to get that idea from it - and he tells you so by clearly stating that it is prohibited.

If you're only dealing with the Qur'an alone, then the issue of euthanasia might be a bit easier, because the Qur'an doesn't address it directly as far as I'm aware. But it was still categorically prohibited by Muhammad, according to Hadith. And the Qur'an categorically requires all Muslims to obey Muhammad. So again, it'll be quite difficult to find an argument for euthanasia in the Qur'an which you can show to be valid.

[Chlomc]

(Original post by tazarooni89)
From a Muslim perspective, this is a very tricky excercise, because the whole point of the Qur'an is to provide clear, definitive guidance rather than the opportunity for two completely opposite rules to be extracted from it.

For example, in the case of gambling, the simple fact is that the Qur'an prohibits it explicitly, and there is no verse which explicitly permits it. So even if you were to find a verse or argument that could possibly be interpreted to suggest that gambling may be allowed, you already know that the author didn't mean for you to get that idea from it - and he tells you so by clearly stating that it is prohibited.

If you're only dealing with the Qur'an alone, then the issue of euthanasia might be a bit easier, because the Qur'an doesn't address it directly as far as I'm aware. But it was still categorically prohibited by Muhammad, according to Hadith. And the Qur'an categorically requires all Muslims to obey Muhammad. So again, it'll be quite difficult to find an argument for euthanasia in the Qur'an which you can show to be valid.

I can take quotes from both the Hadith and the Quran and yeah when i write my answers i just have to make assumptions that people may interpret it differently so even if something is stated very clearly that doesn't mean EVERYONE will agree/see it like that. That's why i use the words "Some" and "Most" because not all people will think the same

Same as how the Quran clearly states sex before marriage is wrong "those who abstain from sex, except with those joined to them in the marriage bond... are free from blame. But those that go beyond that are transgressors" Now even though this is clear some may not agree although most may in fact do agree.

But yeah, it's pretty much assumptions really

[TheGrinningSkull]

(Original post by Chlomc)
I've just had a year of studying Islam for my GCSE's which I really enjoyed
I have my exam on it this week and if anyone could help me with this question that would be great!

(So just a bit of background information, for this exam to get higher grades i have to take quotes from the Hadith and Quran and use them to base arguments for and against things)

One of the tricky examples where there's hardly any arguments that it's halal is gambling, because most Muslims view that this is outright wrong and there's nothing in the Hadith or Quran that is for it. In fact it's a sin to commit.

However I've been thinking of a possible reason why few muslims may think gambling can be acceptable under certain circumstances (Please forgive me if i am wrong) Because giving to charity is a BIG thing in islam, its very very important and is one of the five pillars (Zakah) and giving additional money to charity other than Zakah (Sadaqah) is seen as a very good thing to do.

So i was wondering at charity events where raffles/tombola's etc happen where ALL money go to charity would it be considered Halal or Haram for a muslim to take part in raffles/tombolas because theoretically they are gambilng as there is no assured outcome of getting something in return for your money which goes against this quote "do not squander your wealth" (Quran) however if your "wealth" is going to a charity would that still count as "squandering" it?





Sorry for the amount of writing here, and if i'm wrong thinking this. Please if you have any personal views on this please share it with me! (Also if you could let me know if my application of key words/quote used were correct that would be greatly apprieciated!)

I'm probably going to do a few questions on here to do with Islam as it helps me revise :3 Stuff to do with IVF, Euthanasia, Contraception, Crime/Punishment etc
so keep and eye out!

Thanks

Money gained from forbidden sources would be considered "foul" money so even giving it away wouldn't actually count for your deeds anyway, you'd have to give away (if you were to follow Islam properly) anyway and not live your life on forbidden sources.