Ruling on a children's game project in exchange for a fee

The questioner : May Allah reward you, my dear brother. I want to speak with you about a very small matter and ask you for a ruling, if Allah wills. Please, go ahead. May Allah reward you. Ah, my dear brother, ah, I am involved in trade, ah, here, and in front of me, ah, ah, ah, I mean, as you might say, a small project I want to start, and I want to ask you for a ruling on it so that we stay away from doubtful matters. So the matter is, ah, I do it in a, a, a, a thing called, a, a, a, what is the gim? A, a, a, I bring things for children to play with, like, for example, a, a, a, a basketball, which is the hoop. I bring, for example, a, a, a, a, a, small balls that the children hold and throw into a ring. It is equivalent to maintaining the wudu. And the one who hits the ring, or the ball enters the ring, takes a gift. This gift here is a fish that swims in water in a small bag.

The Shaykh : From whom do they take the gift?

The questioner : The one who wins the ball. I will explain it to you in detail.

The Shaykh : No, I do not want details, I do not want details, give me the answer to my question.

The questioner : Please, go ahead.

The Shaykh : From whom do they take the gift?

The questioner : The one who plays with the ball and gets it into the ring.

The Shaykh : My brother, may Allah guide you, I am telling you from whom he takes it, I am telling you from whom he takes it.

The questioner : From me.

The Shaykh : From you.

The questioner : Yes, I am the one who rented a small place, and put the rings in it, and bought the balls. And the one who comes and plays and takes about five balls pays a dollar and takes the five balls, and tries to hit the ball into the ring. And when he hits the ball into the ring and succeeds, then I give him a fish that swims in water in a small bag, and the child is happy with it.

The Shaykh : What is its price?

The questioner : The fish, the five fish, are about a dollar. It costs me about a dollar.

The Shaykh : Why five fish? You are saying a fish, he takes a fish.

The questioner : I mean, the fish costs us about a quarter of a dollar.

The Shaykh : Okay, and how much does he pay to throw the five balls?

The questioner : He pays a dollar.

The Shaykh : Ah, so if he does not hit, he loses the dollar and loses the fish.

The questioner : Wherever he hits, he loses the dollar and loses the fish.

The Shaykh : This is gambling, and it is not permissible in Islam.

The questioner : It is not permissible.

The Shaykh : Absolutely not, this is gambling. The causes are many, but the death is one.

The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah keep you safe.

The questioner : Okay, my brother, well, I want a small word.

The Shaykh : Please, go ahead.

The questioner : If he pays the dollar and takes the five balls and plays them, and if he does not hit, I give him a fish, I also give him the fish. If he hits, I will give him two gifts. If he does not hit, I will give him one gift.

The Shaykh : Stay in your place, the result is the same. The important thing is that it is gambling, and that you are like insurance companies. The profit is safe in your pocket, and the one who loses loses from his money, and the one who wins wins from the money of the loser, from his money. This is how insurance companies live at the expense of others through forbidden gambling.

The questioner : It is a gamble, a mixed gamble, a forbidden gamble, that is it, O Shaykh. May Allah reward you with all good.

The Shaykh : And you as well, may Allah will it.

The questioner : I found you now, because I was going to implement it, but the matter was mixed up for me, and I decided to take the opinion of Shaykh Al-Albani in Jordan, and to reassure my heart, and that I am proceeding in the sound matter, I mean.

The Shaykh : Beware of doing it, beware of doing it.

The questioner : I will stay away from it, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you.

The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh, and give you health and well-being.

The Shaykh : May Allah keep you safe.

The questioner : Or orders from America, I am your brother, I am studying medicine here in America.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good, and I hope for your deliverance from the land of disbelief soon.

The questioner : If Allah wills, O Shaykh, if Allah wills, I am studying and preparing for the exam, but I am working to obtain a livelihood and to pay the rent of my house and the electricity and the telephone bill.

The Shaykh : If Allah wills, you look for a lawful means, but this means is forbidden.

The questioner : If Allah wills, may Allah reward you with all good.

The Shaykh : And beware, and peace be upon you.