The ruling on playing football and watching matches
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
This questioner says: What is the ruling on playing football, and what is the ruling on watching matches?
The Shaykh:
What is the ruling?
The presenter:
Repeat. Repeat.
The questioner:
He sends to you, saying: What is the ruling on playing football, and what is the ruling on watching matches?
The Shaykh:
Playing ball and sports are, by default, permissible if they strengthen the body. They strengthen the body, like running and racing on foot, or playing ball, if they strengthen the body and benefit it. However, they must not occupy one from prayer.
There must be no exposure of the private parts. As for watching matches, doing so excessively is a waste of time. A person should not have no concern other than watching matches, because this takes up his time and may occupy him from prayer and from important matters. But if he watches them occasionally, and there is no evil in them, if he watches them occasionally for a short time, there is no harm. Yes.
This questioner says: What is the ruling on playing football, and what is the ruling on watching matches?
The Shaykh:
What is the ruling?
The presenter:
Repeat. Repeat.
The questioner:
He sends to you, saying: What is the ruling on playing football, and what is the ruling on watching matches?
The Shaykh:
Playing ball and sports are, by default, permissible if they strengthen the body. They strengthen the body, like running and racing on foot, or playing ball, if they strengthen the body and benefit it. However, they must not occupy one from prayer.
There must be no exposure of the private parts. As for watching matches, doing so excessively is a waste of time. A person should not have no concern other than watching matches, because this takes up his time and may occupy him from prayer and from important matters. But if he watches them occasionally, and there is no evil in them, if he watches them occasionally for a short time, there is no harm. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب الكبائر للإمام محمد بن عبد الوهاب، باب ما جاء في أخوة الإسلام وحق المسلم على المسلم — islamhouse.com (1:12:12)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.