Assalamualaikum
I want to ask you that if lottery is haraam to play. If a muslim person plays a lottery will all his/her earning become haraam or not, whether they win or not. I am asking because where I work there are some Muslims who plays lottery and sometime they offer me food which I refuse to eat because I feel that it may be haraam.
And what if non-Muslims, at my work place offer me food i.e. crisp, chocolate and biscuits, because most of them plays lottery as well. Should i eat or not.
Please guide me
Answer: Lottery money is without doubt haram, just as interest money and stolen money. When someone gives us a gift or da’wat, and we know for a fact that it is from the haram money, we should avoid it.
Our beloved prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam was once sent some meat by a lady, which he chewed but could not swallow, he threw it out and said, “I feel that this is meat of a goat which has been taken without the permission of it’s owners” the lady was asked and she replied “I sent someone to the market to buy a goat, but he could not find one, so i sent a message to my neighbour as they had bought one, saying i will buy you another one tomorrow, i need this one for the dawat. The owner was not in the house, nevertheless, his wife sent it,
The enquiry proved that he was right, so he said “Feed this meat to the prisoners” This meat was only mashkook ie doubtful, not haram.
Once a neighbour brought some tasty biryani with za’fran and almonds etc in it and put it in front hazrat maulana Ahmed Ali Lahori rahmatullahi alayhi, he smelt it and said “There is smell of zina in here” The person got angry, as he felt this was an accusation upon his wife, however, without saying anything, he brought the tray back home. When it was time for his lunch, White rice were put before him, he said “I believe biryani was cooked today” his wife replied ” I did not cook biryani, it came from the neighbours” he stood up without eating and went to the neighbours, they said it came from a third house, in which there lived a prostitute who had made some mannat, and to fulfil that, she cooked it and sent it around, his wife felt bad in refusing, so she accepted it and passed it on. The person immediately returned to hazrat and asked for maafi, hazrat said “for what?” and he explained everything.
So haram and doubtful money should be avoided, especially when you know it’s haram or doubtful.
The above incidents are related to taqwa, However, if someone’s income is generally halal, eg from a job or business etc and he gives you a gift, you are allowed to accept it. Why should you think that he is giving you from haram? you should think that he is giving you from his halal income, the same goes with da’wat and crisp, chocolates etc..
Hereunder is the fatwa written mufti hussain:
Lottery is Haram and it has been mentioned in the Qur’an and it has been prohibited. Money earned by hard work will not become haram by playing lottery.
However, If a Muslim plays lottery and gains money, then if the majority of his wealth is from the lottery money, then it will not be permissible to accept the food from him unless he clearly states that this is from my pure wealth, only then will it be permissible. It is stated in Fatawa Hindiya (342,5)
فإن كان الغالب هو الحرام ينبغي ألا يقبل الهدية و لا يأكل الطعام إلا أن يخبره بأنه حلال ورثته أو استقرضته من رجل كذا فى الينابيع
But if the majority of his wealth is pure, then it is permissible to accept it from him unless he makes it clear that this is from the Haraam wealth. It is stated in Fatawa Hindiyah (342,5)
إن كان غالب ماله من الحلال فلا بأس إلا أن يعلم بأنه حرام
The above case is when the person is a Muslim, if the person is a non muslim then it will be permissible to take it from him, due to it being counted as wealth in his case.