Attending a competition with prizes
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I am a mathematics teacher. I teach the mathematics course, and the school principal asked me to attend a mathematics competition with prizes, along with a group of students from the school, at another school. He is not forcing me to attend. He asks: Am I sinful if I attend this competition and this race? Or is it
The Shaykh:
taking the prize except for what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) excluded: a race on horses, on camels, or in archery. As for anything else, prizes for competitions are not permissible because they are a form of gambling, which is consuming wealth unjustly. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: If we are a group
The Shaykh:
except that Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) includes with these three what is based on questions of Islamic knowledge. Giving a prize for winning in questions of jurisprudence or in memorizing the Qur'an is permissible, because this is considered jihad in the path of Allah. Learning Islamic knowledge is jihad in the path of Allah, so one may take a prize for it. As for anything else, it is not permissible to take prizes. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I am a mathematics teacher. I teach the mathematics course, and the school principal asked me to attend a mathematics competition with prizes, along with a group of students from the school, at another school. He is not forcing me to attend. He asks: Am I sinful if I attend this competition and this race? Or is it
The Shaykh:
taking the prize except for what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) excluded: a race on horses, on camels, or in archery. As for anything else, prizes for competitions are not permissible because they are a form of gambling, which is consuming wealth unjustly. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: If we are a group
The Shaykh:
except that Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) includes with these three what is based on questions of Islamic knowledge. Giving a prize for winning in questions of jurisprudence or in memorizing the Qur'an is permissible, because this is considered jihad in the path of Allah. Learning Islamic knowledge is jihad in the path of Allah, so one may take a prize for it. As for anything else, it is not permissible to take prizes. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، أول كتاب اللباس — islamhouse.com (1:11:43)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.