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Fatwa CenterAny game that involves gambling is prohibited
Question
This is a follow up question 2501661: Can the prizes won through above means in soccer competitions be similar to those that are won through gambling and betting. As sports involve hard work and performance and are not 'a game of chance', but on the other hand gambling is!...Arethe prizes won through both means similar?...Please clarify this too, as your previous answered helped a lot!
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and messenger.
This contest is a form of gambling that is forbidden in Islam, because all the players pay money and all are either winners or losers. This is [exactly] what forbidden gambling is. Ibn Qudaamah 
said: “Any game that involves gambling is forbidden, whatever the game may be; indeed this is the gambling that Allaah ordered us to avoid. If a person plays such games repeatedly, his testimony is not accepted. As regards other games that are free from gambling, which are the games in which neither party pays any compensation, not even one party, then there are some games that are forbidden, and some are permissible thereof.” [End of quote]
The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: “The jurists unanimously agreed on the prohibition of a game that involves gambling. The Shaafi‘i School said that if money was conditioned from both sides so that the money will be for the winner of either of them, then this is forbidden gambling. They stated that in this case it is a major sin. Ar-Ramli, from the Shaafi‘i scholars, said: “What is forbidden is the contract and taking the money, because it is taking money unjustly by both sides or by either of them.” [End of quote]
The fact that football includes an effort, and not a stroke of luck does not necessitate the permissibility of gambling on it. Gambling is related to paying a compensation in the game by the players, and it is not related to how the game is played and whether or not it depends on luck.
Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said: “Football is of this kind, i.e. it is permissible without compensation and it is impermissible with compensation; because it is an entertainment for one’s soul, and a strength for the body, and a means to accustom oneself to seek to win. However, the permissibility is conditional on its being free from hateful fanaticism, as is the case of some people who go to extremes in backing a particular club against another, in such a way that may create an atmosphere of riot that ascends to striking [others] with hands, sticks and stones.” [ Ash-Sharh Al-Mumti’]
Allaah Knows best.
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