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and swine but rather in heart and soul, carrying the heart of a monkey and the soul of a pig in their human
bodies.
Gambling, the Companion of Drinking
While permitting a variety of games and sports, Islâm prohibits any game which involves betting, that is,
which has an element of gambling in it. We have already quoted the saying of the Prophet, “He who
says to his friend, ‘Come, let us “amble,‘ must give charity.”
It is not lawful for the Muslim to seek relaxation and recreation in gambling, nor is it lawful for him to
acquire money through it.
There are sound and noble objectives behind this strict prohibition of gambling:
1.
The Islâmic teachings urge the Muslim to follow Allâh’s directives for earning a living, to use natural
laws and direct means for the attainment of his objectives, and to employ such causes as produce the
desired effects. Gambling, which includes raffling or the lottery, on the other hand, makes a person
dependent on chance, “luck” and empty wishes, taking him away from honest labor, serious work and
productive effort. The person who depends on gambling loses respect for the laws of causation which Allâh
has established and commanded people to use.
2.
In Islâm, an individual’s property is sacred; it may not be taken from him except through lawful
exchange or unless he gives it freely as a gift or in charity. Accordingly, taking it from him by gambling is
unlawful.
3.
It is therefore not surprising that gamblers develop hatred and enmity toward one another, although
they may claim that losing does not trouble them. There is always a winner and a loser. The loser may seem
composed but behind his composure is frustration, anger, and regret: frustration due to disappointment,
anger at the loss of money, and regret for not having played a winning game.
4.
Gambling has its own compulsion. The loser plays again in hope of winning the next game in order
to regain his earlier losses, while the winner plays again to enjoy the pleasure of winning, impelled by greed
for more. Naturally, luck changes hands, the loser becomes the winner and the winner the loser, and the joy
of winning changes into the bitterness of loss. Thus the gamblers may persist at playing the game, unable to
bring themselves to leave it; this is the secret of the addiction to gambling.
5.
Because of this addiction, gambling is a danger to the society as well as to the individual. This habit
consumes gamblers‘ time and energy, making them non-productive idlers and parasites on society, who
take but do not give, who consume but do not produce. Moreover, due to his absorption with gambling, the
gambler neglects his obligations toward his Creator and his duties toward his community. It often happens
that a gambling addict sells his honor, religion, and country for the sake of the gaming table, since his
devotion to this table dulls his sense of values and kills all other devotions.
How correct the Qur‘ân is in mentioning drinking and gambling together in its verses, since their
harmful effects on the individual, the family, and society are very similar. What is more like alcoholism
than addiction to gambling? This is why one usually is not found without the other. Again, how correct
the Qur‘ân is when it teaches us that both of these, drinking and gambling, are inspired by Satan, that
they are akin to idolatry and divining by arrows, and that they are filthy and abominable habits which
must be shunned: O you who believe, truly intoxicants and gambling and divination by arrows are an
abomination of Satan’s doing; avoid them in order that you may be successful. Assuredly Satan desires
to sow enmity and hatred among you by means of intoxicants and gambling, and to hinder you from the
remembrance of Allâh and from salat. Will you not then desist? (5:93-94 (90-91))
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The Lottery, a Form of Gambling
What is known as the lottery or raffle is likewise a form of gambling. There should be no laxity or
permissiveness toward it in the name of “charitable institutions” or “humanitarian causes.” Those who
consider it permissible in relation to such causes are similar to people who raise funds for the same causes
by means of haram dances or “artistic” shows. To both such groups we say, “Allâh is pure and does not
accept anything except what is pure.”
People who resort to such means of raising money assume that members of society have become devoid of
goodness of heart and feelings of charity, compassion and mercy, as a result of which there is no other way
of getting money from them except through gambling and sensuous entertainment. But Islâm does not
assume this for its society. It believes in the basic goodness of man and appeals to that goodness, seeking
nothing but pure means for noble causes. The Islâmic means of raising money are to invite toward
righteousness, to appeal to human sympathy, and to recall to people’sminds the implications of the belief in
Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta‘ala and the Hereafter.
Movies
Many Muslims ask about Islâm’s stand concerning the watching of movies, dramatic performances and the
like. Is it permissible or not?
No doubt movies are important tools of instruction and recreation. Their situation is like that of any other tool
which in it self is neutral and harmless, and any ruling concerning it will depend on how it is used.
Consequently, movies may be regarded as permissible and good —in fact, desirable—if the following
conditions are met:
First: The content must be free of sin and immorality—indeed, of anything which is against the Islâmic
beliefs, morals, and manners. Portrayals which excite sexual desire or greed, glorify crime, or propagate
deviant ideas, false beliefs, and the like are haram, and it is not permissible for the Muslim to watch or to
encourage them.
Second: The watching of movies should not result in the neglect of religious obligations or worldly
responsibilities. Thfive daily prayers constitute the foremost of the religious obligations; hence it is haram for
the Muslim to miss any prayer—for example salat al-Maghrib—in order to watch a movie. Allâh Ta‘ala says,
Then woe to the worshipers who are neglectful of their prayers (107:4-5), referring to those who postpone a
prayer until its time is past. Again, one of the most important reasons mentioned in the Qur‘ân for the
prohibition of drinking and gambling is that they keep people away from the remembrance of Allâh and from
salat.
Third: Physical intermingling and free mixing among men and women in movie theatres must be avoided in
order to prevent sexual undertones and temptation, particularly because showing a film requires a darkened
hall. We have already mentioned the hadith, It is better for one of you to be pricked in the head with an iron
pick than to touch a woman whom it is unlawful to touch. (Reported by al-Bayhaqi and al-Tabarani on sound
authority.)
Social Relationships
The relations among the members of the Islâmic society are based on two fundamental principles: first,
awareness of the strong bond of brotherhood which links one individual to another, and second, the
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