Prizes for the competitions awarded by the “Shop in My Country” Festival

The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta

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( 21690 )
All praise is due to Allah alone, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions. After that: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed the “Shop in My Country” program, which involves awarding prizes consisting of cars, personal computers, mobile phones, and various other prizes in exchange for the purchase of lottery numbers by the prize seeker from the festival committee, and the distribution of these numbers to customers of these outlets for free. These numbers are eligible for a draw for valuable prizes at a rate of (300) prizes daily, including cars, phones, computers, mobile phones, and others (as stated in the brochure) distributed by that festival for advertising purposes. Upon the Committee’s consideration of this offer, it became clear to them that this practice is a type of gambling; it is the forbidden maysir (gambling) which is the companion of khamr (intoxicants)
and al-ansab (idols) and al-azlam (divining arrows) in the saying of Allah the Exalted:

⁽⁹⁰⁾ O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. ⁽⁹¹⁾ Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالأَنْصَابُ وَالأَزْلامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ (90) إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَنْ يُوقِعَ بَيْنَكُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ فِي الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ وَيَصُدَّكُمْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَعَنِ الصَّلاَةِ فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُنْتَهُونَ

[Al-Ma'idah 5:90-91]

; and that is because every participant pays a sum of money as a risk, not knowing whether he will receive a return or not? And this is gambling. Furthermore, this practice involves manipulating people’s minds, deceiving them, and misleading them. Some companies and institutions resort to these competitions only to obtain large sums of money without compensation, relying on the deception and misleading of the general public. Any transaction that involves gambling, deception, consuming people’s money unjustly, or harming market participants who have not engaged in such practices is a forbidden transaction. Allah the Exalted said:

⁽²⁹⁾ O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful. ⁽³⁰⁾ And whoever does that in aggression and injustice - then We will drive him into a Fire. And that, for Allah, is [always] easy.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لاَ تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ بِالْبَاطِلِ إِلا أَنْ تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً عَنْ تَرَاضٍ مِنْكُمْ وَلاَ تَقْتُلُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا (29) وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ عُدْوَانًا وَظُلْمًا فَسَوْفَ نُصْلِيهِ نَارًا وَكَانَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرًا

[An-Nisa 4:29-30]

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The Committee, having clarified this, advises all Muslims to stay away from any transaction that contradicts this divine methodology which Allah has explained for His servants in this noble verse. May Allah guide everyone to know the truth and act upon it. And may Allah send peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad

Source www.alifta.gov.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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