Is it permissible to play cards in exchange for food or drinks, and is this considered gambling?
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The questioner : ... For example, some of our brothers in Ramadan and in other months play card games. When we tell them that playing cards or dominoes is not permissible, they say, "We do not play this game for gambling; rather, for example, the loser pays for the drinks or food." Is this permissible?
The Shaykh : ... The question clearly contains gambling, because what is the meaning of gambling? It is risk. The one who loses is the one who pays for the drinks and food, and the winner goes away with the profit... No, the important thing is that the winner is... benefiting the group who eat at his expense, because he was the cause; he was the one who won, so the result is the same. This profit is placed on his side, and then he goes and works with the group... from the loss to the food... This is the image of gambling... But suppose they play with paper currency, I mean, this deck, and they play in it without any kind of gambling, is there anything wrong with it? We might say, for example, there is gambling... But here there is nothing of that. However, the truth is that the least that can be said is that there is something wrong with it, and it can be said that there is everything wrong with it.
First: The deck they play with is also one of the games of the disbelievers. So it represents some of their rituals, and some of their ideas and beliefs. You will find there, for example, an image... The important thing is this... The world of the Christians, what do you call it...
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : The important thing... the priests and monks, so these are called in Syria the "khoury." I mentioned the image; this card in the deck has an image of a girl. So this deck itself, like the hat, represents some of the ideas of the disbelievers. So playing with it and winning with it in their traditions and their religious rituals, this is also imitating the disbelievers in playing with these cards. In addition to that, when they distribute the cards at the beginning of the game, they bow over the images and lean on them. This is not the nature of Muslims. And this came in some narrations from 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that he passed by people playing chess. You know that chess has statues and idols: the horse, the minister, the elephant, and I don't know what else. So he said to them:[Al-Anbya 21:52] This is a wonderful representation, because they gather like this, all of them, with interest, and we see the spectators who watch the skilled one among the competitors, for example. So they gather... and cluster together, so the worship of idols increases over their idols. He disapproved of them with the strongest disapproval, and he rebuked them with this verse: [Al-Anbya 21:52] This applies exactly to...
The questioner : Chess... does its ruling differ?
The Shaykh : Keep the question... Suppose it is permissible for them to play with this deck, of course... from the removal of the images, and even so, they must find an Islamic deck, if that expression is correct... Why? Because it has images, and bowing over them is not permissible. So if we suppose this, we say there is another thing that stands in the way of permitting playing with this Islamic deck. They claim there is another obstacle, which is that playing with the deck has images, some of which resemble something forbidden by explicit text, and some of which resemble something permissible by deduction, not by text... The first image is reliance on luck, and this is the nature of the dice game called "nird." It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:Sunan Ibn Majah 3762Da'if (Darussalam), and in another hadith: Sunan Ibn Majah 3763Da'if (Darussalam). So from this aspect, playing with this deck is prohibited if it involves reliance on luck, meaning, what card comes out for the person? ... He will be the loser... He calls out, "Oh luck, oh fortune..." There is a second image, so that game is based on exercising the mind and sharpening the intellect and memory. There is no objection to this, on the condition that it does not distract from the remembrance of Allah and does not turn away from the path of Allah. And so, in the end, you find that playing with the deck involves risk, meaning, it is rare for a player to escape it if... these conditions are met... And this is far to reach. This is the answer.
The Shaykh : ... The question clearly contains gambling, because what is the meaning of gambling? It is risk. The one who loses is the one who pays for the drinks and food, and the winner goes away with the profit... No, the important thing is that the winner is... benefiting the group who eat at his expense, because he was the cause; he was the one who won, so the result is the same. This profit is placed on his side, and then he goes and works with the group... from the loss to the food... This is the image of gambling... But suppose they play with paper currency, I mean, this deck, and they play in it without any kind of gambling, is there anything wrong with it? We might say, for example, there is gambling... But here there is nothing of that. However, the truth is that the least that can be said is that there is something wrong with it, and it can be said that there is everything wrong with it.
First: The deck they play with is also one of the games of the disbelievers. So it represents some of their rituals, and some of their ideas and beliefs. You will find there, for example, an image... The important thing is this... The world of the Christians, what do you call it...
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : The important thing... the priests and monks, so these are called in Syria the "khoury." I mentioned the image; this card in the deck has an image of a girl. So this deck itself, like the hat, represents some of the ideas of the disbelievers. So playing with it and winning with it in their traditions and their religious rituals, this is also imitating the disbelievers in playing with these cards. In addition to that, when they distribute the cards at the beginning of the game, they bow over the images and lean on them. This is not the nature of Muslims. And this came in some narrations from 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that he passed by people playing chess. You know that chess has statues and idols: the horse, the minister, the elephant, and I don't know what else. So he said to them:
What are these statues to which you are devoted?"
ما هذه التماثيل التي أنتم لها عاكفون؟What are these statues to which you are devoted?"
ما هذه التماثيل التي أنتم لها عاكفون؟The questioner : Chess... does its ruling differ?
The Shaykh : Keep the question... Suppose it is permissible for them to play with this deck, of course... from the removal of the images, and even so, they must find an Islamic deck, if that expression is correct... Why? Because it has images, and bowing over them is not permissible. So if we suppose this, we say there is another thing that stands in the way of permitting playing with this Islamic deck. They claim there is another obstacle, which is that playing with the deck has images, some of which resemble something forbidden by explicit text, and some of which resemble something permissible by deduction, not by text... The first image is reliance on luck, and this is the nature of the dice game called "nird." It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: