The Ruling on Prepaid Communication Packages
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on the package? Is it a form of gambling (maysir)? He described it as a set of prepaid call minutes valid for up to two months. If they are used up before the two months are over, the call charges are less than usual. If they are not used up, the remaining value is lost.
Answer:
This is not permissible because it involves the loss of money and consuming wealth unjustly. However, if you buy a card for calls that is valid for a certain period and you use it up before it expires, there is no harm in that. But if a time limit is set for you, and that time passes while you have not made any calls, your money is lost even though you did not make any calls or use it, or if you use it as long as it is valid because you paid for it, that is fine. Yes. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on the package? Is it a form of gambling (maysir)? He described it as a set of prepaid call minutes valid for up to two months. If they are used up before the two months are over, the call charges are less than usual. If they are not used up, the remaining value is lost.
Answer:
This is not permissible because it involves the loss of money and consuming wealth unjustly. However, if you buy a card for calls that is valid for a certain period and you use it up before it expires, there is no harm in that. But if a time limit is set for you, and that time passes while you have not made any calls, your money is lost even though you did not make any calls or use it, or if you use it as long as it is valid because you paid for it, that is fine. Yes. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب الشهادات — islamhouse.com (46:23)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.