Competition

Fatwa no. 13682 All praise be to Allah Alone, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger. The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' has read the letter that was sent to His Eminence the President from His Excellency the Acting President of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV). This letter was sent to the Committee by the Secretariat-General for the Council of Senior Scholars under the number 4733 in 23/08/1410 A. H. The question of his Excellency is: We have received the letter of the President of CPVPV for the region of Madinah under the number 202 S in 15/07/1410 A. H. Attached is a copy of the form of the competition which was advertised by the foundation and which (Part No. 15; Page No. 177) is sold for two riyals. Prizes of these competitions are televisions, cameras, videos etc., while its questions are various; an indication that the competition aims at publicizing for the concerned foundation. Since such a competition in the way mentioned above differs from what was raised in the Fatwa of your Eminence in 15/07/1402 A. H. And the Fatwa of the Council of Senior Scholars number 163 in 26/02/1410 A. H. Whose copies are attached and because we receive many inquiries about such foundations, we hope that your Eminence will provide us with your beneficial opinion regarding the concerned competition and similar ones and issue a Fatwa in this regard, if necessary. May Allah keep and protect you and may His Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!

A: After studying the question, the Committee answered: This competition is a sort of gambling for it involves betting money. The fact that the amount of money in the concerned case is little does not change the situation. Evidence for this is the generality of the proofs of prohibiting gambling. May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.