The Meaning of Maysir and Its Ruling

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

Question:
He asks Your Eminence about the maysir mentioned in the Noble Qur'an?

Answer:
Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says in His great Book:

O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالأَنصَابُ وَالأَزْلامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ

[Al-Ma'idah: 90] Maysir is gambling, which is playing with money... they race on foot, or they say, "This one is such and such, and this one is such and such, and if I beat you, you will give me such and such amount of money." It is called maysir, and it is called gambling. Or they bet on something by saying, "If I beat you in wrestling, or if I beat you in racing to such a place on foot, or on donkeys and mules, then you will give me such and such." All of this is gambling and maysir.
As for if it is with camels, or horses, or archery, then it is prescribed, and there is no harm in it. There is no harm in taking a reward for this race with camels, or horses, or archery; because of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):

No stake is acceptable except in archery, racing a camel, and racing a horse.

لا سبق إلا في نصل، أو خف، أو حافر

Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1700Hasan (Darussalam)

The blade

النصل

archery, and

The hoof

الخف

camels, and

The hoof

الحافر

horses, yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.

Source binbaz.org.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

Similar fatwas