Lottery
Question: These are various numbers that are issued in the form of papers bearing numbers, in very large quantities. Then a draw is held for them, and on the day of the draw some people make a profit and some a loss. What does Islam say about buying these profit-bearing papers? Especially since a person buys them for a very small sum, but he may reap extraordinary profits from them, and he may also incur a loss. Can this profit be given in charity to the poor and needy?
Answer: This act and practice is forbidden in Islam. Allah the Exalted has presented it together with shirk and drinking wine, because it is maysir (gambling).
Allah the Exalted says:
«يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِّنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ»
“O you who believe! The truth is that wine, gambling, the stone altars set up for shirk, and the divining arrows are utterly filthy, from the work of Satan, so avoid it, so that you may succeed.”
Therefore, it is not permissible for a person to gamble, whether in this way or in any other way, because betting is undoubtedly gambling, and gambling is forbidden. It is classed alongside drinking wine, idol worship and seeking fortune through arrows, and charity from this filthy profit is not acceptable, because it is charity from forbidden and filthy earnings.
It is established from the Prophet ﷺ that he said:
“Indeed Allah the Exalted is Tayyib (good) and pure, and He accepts nothing except what is tayyib.”
However, whoever repents of this act should give in charity the profit he earned in this way, or spend it on works of public welfare, but his intention should be to be rid of this wealth and not to earn reward from it, because there is no other means of being rid of it. Allah the Exalted says:
«فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ»
“So fear Allah as much as you are able.”
Because if he intended to attain nearness to Allah, he would be giving it in charity on the basis that the wealth was in his ownership, and not on the basis that he wished to remove it from his ownership. In such a case he cannot be free of it, nor will that wealth be accepted from him, because it is filthy and forbidden earnings, and Allah accepts nothing except what is pure.
I advise and urge my Muslim brothers to adopt taqwa (piety), for Allah the Exalted has also urged His servants to adopt piety, and to abandon all those dealings that are based on deception and gambling in any form or under any name.
Realities do not change because their forms change or because they are given attractive names. With the dealings Allah the Exalted has made lawful for us, such as buying and selling and leasing and the like, there is no need for these forbidden dealings.
