What is the ruling on competitions in some commercial establishments where they require you to purchase an amount of 50 riyals from them, then register your name in the list of competitors, and what
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The questioner : A questioner asks: What is the ruling on competitions in some commercial establishments, where that establishment has set a prize worth sixty thousand riyals, on the condition that we purchase goods from them for fifty riyals, and then the name is registered in the list of competitors, and what is the criterion for these prizes and competitions?
The Shaykh : First: we address the owner of the establishment who sets the prize: Did he increase the value of the goods when he set the prize, or not? If he says: Yes, he increases the value of the goods. We say: This is forbidden, because it is gambling. And if he says: He does not increase it, and his price is like the price of others, we say: There is nothing wrong with it, except if it entails harm such that people compete to see who has the larger prize, so the owner of this shop says: I am placing a car, and the second says: Then I am placing two cars, and the third says: And I am placing three. Here, it is obligatory for the one in authority to intervene and prohibit these prizes, because this leads to dispute, litigation, and enmity. But if the matter is individual, for example, one person in the market placed this prize, we say to him: Do you increase the price of the goods in exchange for placing the prize? If he says: No, we say: There is nothing wrong with it. The second direction regarding the buyers: If a person does not buy except for the sake of the prize, not for the desire for the goods, but says: I buy for fifty riyals and enter the competition so that I may gain and profit, then this is not permissible for him. But if he buys his need, there is nothing wrong with it, because if he buys for his need, he does not lose anything, so the prize is from the category of: either a winner or what? Yes, either a winner or safe, there is no loss, because the man does not buy except what he needs, and the value was not raised for the sake of the prize. So we address the owner of the exhibition who placed the prize first, then we address the buyers second. If the buyer says: I did not buy except what I need, we say: There is no blame, buy for fifty riyals or one hundred riyals, and if you win the prize, you are a winner, and if you do not win it, you are safe.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : What contradicts fifty or one hundred does not matter.
The Shaykh : First: we address the owner of the establishment who sets the prize: Did he increase the value of the goods when he set the prize, or not? If he says: Yes, he increases the value of the goods. We say: This is forbidden, because it is gambling. And if he says: He does not increase it, and his price is like the price of others, we say: There is nothing wrong with it, except if it entails harm such that people compete to see who has the larger prize, so the owner of this shop says: I am placing a car, and the second says: Then I am placing two cars, and the third says: And I am placing three. Here, it is obligatory for the one in authority to intervene and prohibit these prizes, because this leads to dispute, litigation, and enmity. But if the matter is individual, for example, one person in the market placed this prize, we say to him: Do you increase the price of the goods in exchange for placing the prize? If he says: No, we say: There is nothing wrong with it. The second direction regarding the buyers: If a person does not buy except for the sake of the prize, not for the desire for the goods, but says: I buy for fifty riyals and enter the competition so that I may gain and profit, then this is not permissible for him. But if he buys his need, there is nothing wrong with it, because if he buys for his need, he does not lose anything, so the prize is from the category of: either a winner or what? Yes, either a winner or safe, there is no loss, because the man does not buy except what he needs, and the value was not raised for the sake of the prize. So we address the owner of the exhibition who placed the prize first, then we address the buyers second. If the buyer says: I did not buy except what I need, we say: There is no blame, buy for fifty riyals or one hundred riyals, and if you win the prize, you are a winner, and if you do not win it, you are safe.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : What contradicts fifty or one hundred does not matter.