Assalamualikum,
My community holds monthly functions where all of us can get together. In these functions what happens sometimes is, either a cake (or similar) is taken around, members of the community have to guess the weight, or candies in a jar where we have to guess the amount, or a wrapped up object where we have to guess what it is. Each guess costs a dollar, which is for charity or the benefit of our community. At the end the correct guesser wins the object (cake/candies etc.), which costs more than a dollar. Sometimes the winner donates it to back to the organization (but not always). Is this permissible in Islam, or is it a form of gambling? Please explain answer if possible. Jazakumullah.
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In the name of Allah the All-Knowing
The amusement of the “dollar for a guess” game which you have descried is a form of gambling, and is Haraam (forbidden) in Islam. Gambling is the act in which one is playing for stakes in the hope of winning (which includes the payment of a price for a chance to win a prize, be it monetary or non-monetary).
Allah the Exalted says in the Noble Quran:
“O, You who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination, of Satan’s handwork: shun such (abomination), (so) that you may prosper”. [Surah Al-Ma’idah., verse 90]
And Allah knows best
10th September 2005
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Mufti Abubakr Karolia
Batley, U.K
Founder of the “Islamic Foundation for Theology and Research” (I.F.T.A.R)
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