The Ruling on Wagers and Prizes in Competitions
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on a wager if it is from one side only?
Answer:
How is a wager from two sides? A wager is a reciprocal action between two parties, or is it not called a wager? It is not called a wager, but his intention was the prize—the prize that is given in a competition. This is not permissible except in the three things the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) specified: the arrow, which is archery; the hoof, which is racing camels; and the hoof, which is racing horses. It is permissible to take the prize in these three because they are tools of jihad. As for taking prizes in anything else, it is not permissible, because this is consuming wealth without right and is among the wagers that are part of gambling and betting. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on a wager if it is from one side only?
Answer:
How is a wager from two sides? A wager is a reciprocal action between two parties, or is it not called a wager? It is not called a wager, but his intention was the prize—the prize that is given in a competition. This is not permissible except in the three things the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) specified: the arrow, which is archery; the hoof, which is racing camels; and the hoof, which is racing horses. It is permissible to take the prize in these three because they are tools of jihad. As for taking prizes in anything else, it is not permissible, because this is consuming wealth without right and is among the wagers that are part of gambling and betting. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع كتاب الجهاد - 2 — islamhouse.com (1:01:00)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.