Many may be surprised by the question, “Is gambling forbidden in Islam?” This is due to the fact that most people almost completely believe that gambling is forbidden in Islam, and there is no discussion of that according to the opinion of religious scholars and fatwas in Islam. However, in fact, a minority of people believe that some types of gambling do not fall under the taboo category for several reasons that will be discussed in this article from Iraqbet. Together, we will learn the answer to the question: Is gambling forbidden in Islam?, the reasons for prohibiting gambling in Islam, in addition to the arguments that some rely on to justify that some gambling games should not be prohibited.
What are the reasons for the prohibition of gambling in Islam?
Let us agree that most Muslims, whether they are scholars or ordinary individuals, fully believe that gambling is prohibited in Islam, and that there is no specific gambling game outside of this prohibition, but rather they are all forbidden games and a Muslim should not play them. But the question here, what are the reasons for the prohibition of gambling in Islam? What is the harm that may occur to a person who plays gambling games? And how can gambling games negatively affect the life of a Muslim from this point of view?
Well, the reasons for the prohibition of gambling for Islamic scholars are many. For example, some Islamic scholars claim that gambling is forbidden because it depends entirely on luck and does not have any skill or intelligence that makes the winning deserved. In addition, some other scholars say that gambling games would destroy families and lead to material losses that put families in a great financial predicament, and here it does not affect the player only, but affects his entire family in the event of great losses.
Among the other reasons for the prohibition of gambling games is the environment accompanying these games, which is accompanied by mixing with the opposite sex on the one hand, or the consumption of alcoholic beverages and forbidden foods on the other hand. In addition, Islamic scholars consider that gambling games negatively affect the way of life of individuals and that it pushes them to laziness and dependence on luck and amusement in making money instead of diligence and hard work.
Are all gambling games forbidden?
Is gambling forbidden in Islam? For religious scholars and most Muslims, of course yes, all gambling is forbidden. But we also have to look at the minority that believes that some gambling should not be forbidden. There is even a larger minority that believes that all gambling games in the casino should be available to Muslims, as they consider them to be just a means of entertainment and nothing more.
The minority that considers some gambling games not forbidden is based on this claim that some gambling games do not depend on luck and luck only, but also have many skills that can be learned and experiences that can be used to achieve profits. Games like online poker and online blackjack are games that are played online based on acquired skills and not just luck.
This minority believes that games like this should not be forbidden, unlike other games such as live roulette, which depend entirely on luck and can be agreed upon with the general Muslim community. But is that all? Of course not, Muslims are many and their opinions are also many and different.
There is another minority of Muslims who completely deny the existence of any deprivation in playing gambling and believes that it is only a means of entertainment, and if it is via the Internet, there is no possibility of harm affecting the life of a Muslim. It must be agreed that this group is very few in society and is almost non-existent, but it does exist, even if it is very few.
Conclusion
Is gambling forbidden in Islam? The answer is simple, Islamic scholars completely forbid gambling in all its forms, which is what most Muslims also agree on, and therefore the rule of gambling in Islam is prohibition. Our goal in this article was to present all the opinions of the majority and minorities, and the decision in the end is up to you, dear reader, as every person is free with his convictions and there is no judgment here