Ruling on offering compensation in games
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Your Eminence! What is your opinion regarding holding football tournaments, where each team pays a sum, for example, seven hundred riyals, consisting of five hundred riyals as a subscription fee and two hundred riyals as insurance, which is returned to each team after the tournament ends? Please note that the remaining five hundred riyals are spent on purchasing prizes to be distributed to the winners of the top three places, as well as on the referees and the costs associated with preparing the field and so on. Please inform us, may Allah reward you with good.
We see that there is a point of consideration regarding the permissibility of offering compensation in games. This is because such games are permissible if they do not contain anything forbidden, such as exposing the private parts, being distracted from prayer, or cursing and insulting among the players. If they contain these things, they are forbidden. If they do not contain anything forbidden, they are among the permissible matters and there is nothing wrong with them. However, the fact that they involve compensation paid by all participants, which then goes to the winner,This is not permissible: is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "There is no racing prize except for the spear, the hoof, or the horse" ("There is no racing prize" meaning: no compensation "except for the spear, the hoof, or the horse").
And by "spear" it means: the arrows,And by "hoof" it means: the camels,And by "horse" it means: Horses.
and these matters were excepted because they provide assistance in jihad in the cause of Allah.
As for taking compensation in anything other than these, it is forbidden, except that some scholars, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, said: that there is no harm in taking a wager in matters of Islamic jurisprudence; because Islamic jurisprudence is a type of jihad in the cause of Allah, since jihad in the cause of Allah includes jihad with weapons and jihad with knowledge.
Therefore, what was mentioned in the question, we see that it is not permissible. However, if a person from outside comes and wants to donate something to the racers among them, I hope there is no harm in that, although I have a reservation in my heart regarding offering compensation for these games.
We see that there is a point of consideration regarding the permissibility of offering compensation in games. This is because such games are permissible if they do not contain anything forbidden, such as exposing the private parts, being distracted from prayer, or cursing and insulting among the players. If they contain these things, they are forbidden. If they do not contain anything forbidden, they are among the permissible matters and there is nothing wrong with them. However, the fact that they involve compensation paid by all participants, which then goes to the winner,This is not permissible: is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "There is no racing prize except for the spear, the hoof, or the horse" ("There is no racing prize" meaning: no compensation "except for the spear, the hoof, or the horse").
And by "spear" it means: the arrows,And by "hoof" it means: the camels,And by "horse" it means: Horses.
and these matters were excepted because they provide assistance in jihad in the cause of Allah.
As for taking compensation in anything other than these, it is forbidden, except that some scholars, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, said: that there is no harm in taking a wager in matters of Islamic jurisprudence; because Islamic jurisprudence is a type of jihad in the cause of Allah, since jihad in the cause of Allah includes jihad with weapons and jihad with knowledge.
Therefore, what was mentioned in the question, we see that it is not permissible. However, if a person from outside comes and wants to donate something to the racers among them, I hope there is no harm in that, although I have a reservation in my heart regarding offering compensation for these games.