What is the ruling on some companies distributing contests to citizens containing cultural, social, and other questions?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : "Ayd": The questioner is asking—my Shaykh—that a company is distributing contests to citizens or to people containing questions; these questions are cultural, Islamic, and social, and prizes from this company are set aside for those who answer these questions. For example, twenty people give correct answers, and they may have limited it to ten, for example, not as an exhaustive list, so a drawing is held for the twenty to select ten who are given these... the prizes set aside by this company; this is the scenario the questioner mentioned to me.
I asked him a question, as you always ask—my Shaykh—the questioner, so that we reach a result: What is the benefit? And what is the outcome of this contest that returns to the company? He did not answer with anything; he said: I do not know. But it appears to us that it is an advertisement; because the papers are headed with the name of the institution, and that it sells such and such and such; meaning, so that it serves as an advertisement for it. So what is the legal ruling in this scenario, my Shaykh?
The Shaykh : The answer to this issue, first, depends on the presence of two conditions.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : The first condition: That the questions do not contain things related to the benefit of the company, even if they contradict the Shari'ah.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, meaning goods—for example—forbidden items, or something.
The Shaykh : Anything; because the question is vague, the question is riddled with ambiguity.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : And therefore we set this condition.
The questioner : "Ayd": May Allah reward you with good, yes.
The Shaykh : The second condition: That these rewards come out of the company's pocket, and not—for example—from the pocket of the participants answering the question, or the pocket of those who intend to deal with the company in the near future, so that they raise the prices in order to cover the value of these rewards that they offer to the answerers.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, there is a point—my Shaykh—the paper is sold for fifty fils.
The Shaykh : It has started now.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : It has started.
The questioner : "Ayd": So this includes...
The Shaykh : It would be.
The questioner : "Ayd": It has something in it.
The Shaykh : Yes, they sell a thousand papers for fifty fils; they calculate the total value of the gifts.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : And they distribute them.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, so if they take the value, this falls under the category of gambling.
The Shaykh : Look at the cunning; they put only number ten, they eliminate the other ten who participated.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : And they limit it to ten, and they hold a drawing; so those other ten paid fifty fils each, these fifty fils are...
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : They went to the winners.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, so we understand that if there is a value for these papers, it means it falls under the category of gambling, my Shaykh?
The Shaykh: Yes.
Another questioner : Yes, it is not only the papers...—also—there are goods—for example—or...
The Shaykh : That condition, yes, but now this has been revealed now.
The questioner : "Ayd": Two conditions, is a third condition added to them, or is there no value in this...?
Another questioner : It was a matter of the following type: In Syria, they distribute tissues at the same price, but there is a coupon on them, inside there is a number.
The Shaykh : The same answer, now this is a common type.
Another questioner : But.
The Shaykh : Now—for example—my bottles with their caps, what do they write? "Share," many things, so the answer is: if these rewards—let us call this reward a bounty—and it is in the way of advertising for a company or a factory or so on; if these bounties come out of the company's pocket, there is nothing wrong with it. But if they come out of the customers' pockets because they raised the price, even by a very, very small amount; then it is of this type, it is gambling; meaning, it is either a reward or it is gambling, either the company spends from its own pocket in the way of advertising for its company, or it cheats in one way or another to take these rewards from the pockets of the buyers who want to buy from them.
The questioner : "Ayd": Even if the condition is met—for example—that they did not take from the buyers, but they made the selection of the number through the known wheels of fortune?
The Shaykh : No problem, this is a drawing, no problem. The use of chance as gambling is what is forbidden, whereas the drawing is prescribed.
I asked him a question, as you always ask—my Shaykh—the questioner, so that we reach a result: What is the benefit? And what is the outcome of this contest that returns to the company? He did not answer with anything; he said: I do not know. But it appears to us that it is an advertisement; because the papers are headed with the name of the institution, and that it sells such and such and such; meaning, so that it serves as an advertisement for it. So what is the legal ruling in this scenario, my Shaykh?
The Shaykh : The answer to this issue, first, depends on the presence of two conditions.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : The first condition: That the questions do not contain things related to the benefit of the company, even if they contradict the Shari'ah.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, meaning goods—for example—forbidden items, or something.
The Shaykh : Anything; because the question is vague, the question is riddled with ambiguity.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : And therefore we set this condition.
The questioner : "Ayd": May Allah reward you with good, yes.
The Shaykh : The second condition: That these rewards come out of the company's pocket, and not—for example—from the pocket of the participants answering the question, or the pocket of those who intend to deal with the company in the near future, so that they raise the prices in order to cover the value of these rewards that they offer to the answerers.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, there is a point—my Shaykh—the paper is sold for fifty fils.
The Shaykh : It has started now.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : It has started.
The questioner : "Ayd": So this includes...
The Shaykh : It would be.
The questioner : "Ayd": It has something in it.
The Shaykh : Yes, they sell a thousand papers for fifty fils; they calculate the total value of the gifts.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : And they distribute them.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, so if they take the value, this falls under the category of gambling.
The Shaykh : Look at the cunning; they put only number ten, they eliminate the other ten who participated.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : And they limit it to ten, and they hold a drawing; so those other ten paid fifty fils each, these fifty fils are...
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes.
The Shaykh : They went to the winners.
The questioner : "Ayd": Yes, so we understand that if there is a value for these papers, it means it falls under the category of gambling, my Shaykh?
The Shaykh: Yes.
Another questioner : Yes, it is not only the papers...—also—there are goods—for example—or...
The Shaykh : That condition, yes, but now this has been revealed now.
The questioner : "Ayd": Two conditions, is a third condition added to them, or is there no value in this...?
Another questioner : It was a matter of the following type: In Syria, they distribute tissues at the same price, but there is a coupon on them, inside there is a number.
The Shaykh : The same answer, now this is a common type.
Another questioner : But.
The Shaykh : Now—for example—my bottles with their caps, what do they write? "Share," many things, so the answer is: if these rewards—let us call this reward a bounty—and it is in the way of advertising for a company or a factory or so on; if these bounties come out of the company's pocket, there is nothing wrong with it. But if they come out of the customers' pockets because they raised the price, even by a very, very small amount; then it is of this type, it is gambling; meaning, it is either a reward or it is gambling, either the company spends from its own pocket in the way of advertising for its company, or it cheats in one way or another to take these rewards from the pockets of the buyers who want to buy from them.
The questioner : "Ayd": Even if the condition is met—for example—that they did not take from the buyers, but they made the selection of the number through the known wheels of fortune?
The Shaykh : No problem, this is a drawing, no problem. The use of chance as gambling is what is forbidden, whereas the drawing is prescribed.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.