Gambling

Dear brothers in Islam,

Allah created us to worship Him and bestowed upon us countless endowments. He made it an obligation upon us to be thankful to Him through believing in Him and obeying Him by fulfilling the obligations and avoiding the prohibitions. This is how one would be fulfilling the obligatory thanking to Allah.

It has been said that thanking Allah is achieved when the slave does not use the endowments bestowed upon him except in what the slave was created for.  Amongst the prohibitions that Allahforbade us from committing is gambling.

In verses 90 and 91 of Suratul-Ma’idah, the prohibition of drinking alcohol and gambling is confirmed through certain aspects; Alcohol and gambling were both mentioned along with the worshipping of idols to show their enormity and they were referred to as disgrace of the devil because they merely leads to evil.

Allah ordered the believers to avoid drinking alcohol and gambling and they were told that avoiding them is a path to success. Hence, if avoiding these two sins (i.e., alcohol and gambling) is a success, what would committing them be then? … It would only be a great loss.

Dear Muslim brothers, the evil consequences of gambling are not hidden from you. The ones gambling against each other would hate each other. They might end up killing each other, for the devil would whisper to the ones gambling to spread enmity between them and lead them to their destruction. Moreover, gambling may obstruct them from performing the acts of obedience to Allah such as to perform the Prayers in their due times.

Let it be known that the money earned and consumed from gambling would put one under a great danger of being tortured in Hellfire. Have you not heard of the saying of the Prophet peace be upon him, “any flesh that grows from unlawful sources, Hellfire is more deserving of it”. Absolutely, there is no goodness in any enjoyment that leads to Hellfire.

As to the method of gambling which is prohibited by consensus, it happens when money is paid by two or more parties and then the winner takes the money of the loser or a part of it. The win and loss that are referred to might be through a game of cards or horse-racing or by the draw of lottery tickets or the like. All of these methods of gambling are prohibited and are major sins, we seek refuge by Allah from such abhorrent acts.

So protect yourself, my Muslim brother, and don’t destroy it for a vanishing worldly pleasure. And Allah knows best