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Playing Counter Strike

Question

As Salamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatu. My question is regarding the sharia ruling, with evidence, on playing a game known as Counter Strike, and the question is divided into two parts. Firstly, the game is a first-person shooter game, where the objective is to eliminate the other team by planting a bomb or killing the enemies. The game involves features such as gambling (from which it generates most of its revenue), music, displayment of the awrah of 3d female models and maps which are based on the Arab/Muslim world, where the terrorists fight, or even defeat the counter terrorists. This game has also resulted in people regularly raging, losing their temper and swearing and cursing, and even being aggressive, with millions of clips on the internet. Kindly state the shariah stance on this game and whether it is permissible to play this game or not, even if one can ‘avoid’ these prohibitions, as some people claim.

Secondly, some people claim that it is permissible to play this Counter Strike game, or any game, which is based on gambling, or at the very least, involves gambling as a ‘Side feature’. They state that as long as we avoid gambling, we can play the game. They derive this by analogy, stating that “we mute music and play, so we avoid the prohibition, same can be said for gambling”.

My request to you, may Allah bless you, is to please address this issue by clarifying whether the presence of gambling in a game makes the game impermissible or not. And if it does not make the game impermissible, does this not contradict the statement of Ibn qudamah (may Allah have mercy on his soul), who said that “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?” Please refute the arguments of those who say that the presence of gambling in the game makes the game permissible, as long as we don’t dwell in it, as I believe that this is, at the very least, assisting in sin, which Allah has prohibited

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

Brother in Islam,

Your concern for the game in reference is praiseworthy.

Your query is about the Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS GO) game in which skin gambling takes place by purchasing a key for a crate of dropped items.

The issue of skin gambling is secondary.

The main issue of consideration is the Shariah position of the CS GO game.

The game pits two teams against each other, the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists. Both sides are tasked with eliminating the other while also completing separate objectives, the terrorists, depending on the game mode, must either plant the bomb or defend the hostages, while the Counter-Terrorists must either prevent the bomb from being planted or rescue the hostages. [1]

The game like other games is actually a propaganda to portray a bad image of Islam and generalise Muslims as terrorists. [2]

The game refers to terrorists saying Allah-Akbar. It refers to a masjid with a du’a outside the masjid implying the terrorists got the masjid. (Counter Strike- Dust 2) [3]

 

Counter Strike- Dust 2

It is a well-known fact that video games are addictive and have an effect on ones thinking and conduct in real life.

A person addicted to such a game will eventually lose respect for Muslims and especially for those that are engaged in the truthful defence of Islam. He may begin thinking of every Muslim to be a terrorist. The game has a potential to inculcate hatred and violence against Muslims. [4]

It is not permissible to play CS GO game.

That is apart from the fact that the procedure of purchasing a key to open a crate to choose a skin is clearly gambling. The person does not know what he will get.

 

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

 

Mufti Muhammad I.V Patel

Checked and Approved by
Mufti Nabeel Valli

Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah

Lusaka, Zambia

 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Strike:_Global_Offensive

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_gambling

https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/300fq4/an_introduction_to_csgo_skins_for_absolute/

https://dotesports.com/counter-strike/addict-desert-rehab-14761

 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/558754260133755651/

[2]  http://www.trtworld.com/life/turkeys-counter-strike-against-islamophobia-in-video-games-225921

Popular video games such as Call of Duty and Counter-Strike, released globally, have regularly portrayed Muslim characters as villains.

Use of Arabic words, Islamic phrases likes ‘Allah o Akbar’ and cities in Muslim countries are associated with the ‘bad guys’.

 

[3] ISLAMIC Text Found in Dust 2 Which is insulting:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/523897653312307181/

https://www.sportskeeda.com/gaming/islamic-community-enraged-with-scriptures-in-iconic-map-dust-2

Translation: Arabic: “Allahummaftah li abwaba rahmatik.” English: (O Allah! Open the doors of Your Mercy for me)

The following are the links of that text.

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/2heavtj.jpg

http://tinypic.com/r/97pr9x/8

http://i61.tinypic.com/iml17q.jpg

http://tinypic.com/r/14bm2jm/8

http://tinypic.com/r/izxr49/8

 

احكام القرآن، ج٣، ص٢٠١،  [4]

 إن اللهو علي أنواع: لهو مجرد، ولهو فيه نفع وفائدة ولكن ورد الشرع بالنهي عنه ، ولهو فيه فائدة ولم يرد في الشرع نهي صريح عنه ، ولكنه ثبت بالتجربة أنه يكون ضرره أعظم من نفعه ملتحق بالمنهي عنه ، ولهو فيه فائدة ولم يرد الشرع بتحريمه ولم يغلب علي نفعه ضرره ولكن يشتغل فيه بقصد التلهي ، ولهو فيه فائدة مقصودة ولم يرد الشرع بتحريمه وليس فيه مفسدة دينية واشتغل به علي غرض صحيح لتحصيل الفائدة المطلوبة لا بقصد التلهي . فهذه خمسة أنواع لا جائز فيها إلا الأخير الخامس

 

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حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ نَصْرٍ النَّيْسَابُورِيُّ، وَغَيْرُ وَاحِدٍ، قَالُوا: حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُسْهِرٍ، عَنْ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ بْنِ سَمَاعَةَ، عَنِ الأَوْزَاعِيِّ، عَنْ قُرَّةَ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: مِنْ حُسْنِ إِسْلاَمِ الْمَرْءِ تَرْكُهُ مَا لاَ يَعْنِيهِ

 

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This answer was collected from Daruliftaazambia.com, which serves as a gateway to Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah – Lusaka, Zambia.

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