The Criterion for What Is Taken as a Prize in Competitions

The Shaykh:
There is no god but Allah. Yes.

The questioner:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The Shaykh’s method is that there is no participation in competitions where a prize is taken other than the three in which the Lawgiver has specified a reduction. Or is it obligatory to participate in the competition, or to participate in the method of the prize?

The Shaykh:
This has been discussed previously, and that prizes in competitions are only taken in the things mentioned in the hadith . That is, competition in horses, in camels, and in archery.
Because this is from the category of restriction; there is no prize except from the category of restriction, so it is specific to these things, or what is in their meaning that aids in jihad in the path of Allah, such as training for jihad. Archery includes all means of shooting, whether with arrows, rifles, cannons, machine guns, tanks, or otherwise. All types of shooting fall under archery, and it is permissible to compete with them.
Horses are known and nothing else is included in them, and camels are known and nothing else is included in them. So it is not permissible to compete in mules or donkeys, or in other mounts. It is not permissible to take a prize for competing in cars, because they are not means of jihad, but only means of riding.
Likewise, the rest of the things, such as sports, playing ball, and the like, it is not permissible to take a prize for them; because this is not from what aids in jihad in the path of Allah, but it is from the category of sports only, physical sports. Wrestling, wrestling of the bodies in order to display strength, it is not permissible to take a prize for it or prizes for it, because it is not from the matters of jihad, but it is from the category of displaying the strength of the body, dominance, and skill.
Lifting weights is permissible, because this is from the category of sports and displaying strength, but no prizes are taken for it because it does not fall under the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at its end. As for legal issues, issues of jurisprudence, issues of grammar, issues of exegesis, it is permissible to take prizes for competing in them, because learning knowledge is from jihad in the path of Allah. Learning religious knowledge is from jihad in the path of Allah, so it is permissible to make prizes for whoever solves this jurisprudential issue or this grammatical issue or the like. From the matters or the linguistic issue; because this aids in jihad in the path of Allah. Learning religious knowledge falls under jihad in the path of Allah, so it is permissible to take prizes for it.

The Shaykh:
Ships. Do ships fall under archery? If they are means of archery, like cannons, and ships are used to fire these means of archery, yes, such as tanks,