Playing Monopoly

In Islaam we are instructed not to waste our precious time in futile activities. For a believer every second of his life is valuable.

The game monopoly has a few wrongs in it according to Shar’ee perspective:

1. Monopoly is generally played with a dice which is impermissible in Shari’ah.
2. There are generally animate pictures drawn on the board.
3. Due to the length of the game, sometimes these games make one negligent of Salaah.

The harms of monopoly with regards to worldly perspective:
This game of monopoly encourages one to monopolise a business (in this case real estate business) and inculcate the quality of greed in oneself. All of this are against Islamic values which teaches that monopoly is actually harmful for the economy, the market should be competitive in order for the economy to be healthy.

Monopoly is not a game of skill; from a mathematical perspective, no amount of skill can make up for bad rolls. It’s billed as a trading game, but trades are almost never a good idea; properties vary too highly in value and money is all but worthless over the long term. If one player scores some choice properties early, the rest of the game is just the other players bleeding cash — a frustrating and purposeless waste of time. Sure, Free Parking could change fortunes, but rarely over the long term. Mostly it serves to make losing an even longer and more gruelling process. This game leads to a lot of quarrelling and fights.

In conclusion one should abstain from playing such games as the harms far outweigh any perceived “benefits.”