The Ruling on Offering Dinner in Exchange for Losing a Soccer Match
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, this questioner says: We are a group who meet in a rest area one day a week and play soccer. Sometimes, some of the players say, “If you defeat us…”
The Shaykh:
us.
The questioner:
We are a group who meet in a rest area one day a week and play soccer. Sometimes, some of the players say, “If you defeat us, we will provide you with dinner in exchange for the defeat.” What is the ruling on this action?
The Shaykh:
The ruling on this is invalid; this is consuming wealth unjustly. It is not permissible to set a penalty or a prize on a ball game. This is consuming wealth unjustly because it is without right. Playing ball, at most, is among the permissible things if it is free from religious prohibitions; it is among the permissible things. But no prizes are taken for it. If prizes are taken for it, this is gambling, it is maysir (gambling), and it is consuming wealth unjustly. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Honorable Shaykh, this questioner says: We are a group who meet in a rest area one day a week and play soccer. Sometimes, some of the players say, “If you defeat us…”
The Shaykh:
us.
The questioner:
We are a group who meet in a rest area one day a week and play soccer. Sometimes, some of the players say, “If you defeat us, we will provide you with dinner in exchange for the defeat.” What is the ruling on this action?
The Shaykh:
The ruling on this is invalid; this is consuming wealth unjustly. It is not permissible to set a penalty or a prize on a ball game. This is consuming wealth unjustly because it is without right. Playing ball, at most, is among the permissible things if it is free from religious prohibitions; it is among the permissible things. But no prizes are taken for it. If prizes are taken for it, this is gambling, it is maysir (gambling), and it is consuming wealth unjustly. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 14 — archive.org (1:11:16)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.