1. Is it permissible for a Muslim to take part in the big lotteries which offer very high prizes, amounting to millions of dollars?
2. Is it allowed to conduct raffles or lotteries in order to raise funds for a noble cause?
When you look at Islamic legislation, you realize that the ways in which one person can take the money of another are very limited indeed. They include trade, employment, gifts and inheritance. Beyond this there is not any ground for a person to take someone else's money.When you consider how lotteries are operated, you find that a company or a government offers tickets and numbers for sale. What is sold in this way is neither tangible nor of any value. Because it comes with a chance to be included in the draw, people are willing to exchange these valueless tickets for a considerable amount of money. A ticket in the Canadian or West German lotteries costs hundreds of dollars. This amount of money is exchanged for an entry in the draw, which again remains of no value, unless a prize is won.
There is an important principle in Islam which states that it is not permissible to sell something which has no benefit to man. This rule applies to lottery tickets, hence it is not permissible to sell them. What is unlawful to sell is unlawful to buy.
Furthermore, a lottery is a method of gambling. All gambling is forbidden in Islam. The prohibition is clearly stated in the Qur'an in the same verse which prohibits all intoxicants. The Qur'anic verse describes intoxicants and gambling as "an impurity of Satan's work." It commands all believers not to come near them and explains that through them Satan tries to create enmity and hatred among the believers.
In lotteries, this is clearly apparent. When it is announced that someone has won the jackpot, all those who have spent some of their money to buy tickets to enter the lottery are full of envy. They declare that the winner has taken their money. When you ask them how they tell you that if it was not for the money of those who have participated in the lottery, no prize would have been offered.
In addition, the company or the government which runs the lottery does not engage in it for fun, it stands to win large sums of money. What it offers in return is nothing. It is all a gimmick which takes money from a very large number of people and put it in the hands of a few. As such, lotteries are forbidden to run and forbidden to enter.
2. Even when there is a noble cause, raising funds for it must conform to Islamic principles. The principles that "the end justifies the means" is simply unacceptable. If we want to serve a noble cause, we must do so by appropriate means.
When people buy lottery tickets, what is the aim behind this purchase? It is clearly to win the jackpot or a high prize. In other words, a person may be willing to pay SR. 100 just to have a chance of winning a prize of, say, SR. 100,000. If he wins it, then he is actually getting 1,000 Riyals for each Riyal he had spent. That is a great gain by human standards. It is certainly to make such gains, or to win such prizes, that people buy lottery tickets. Little do they think of the cause for which a lottery is organized.
On the other hand, governments organize national lotteries in order to raise funds, which they may use for financing public projects or some other government business. Governments certainly raise large amounts of money in this way. They normally allocate about 30 percent for prices and around 25 percent for the administration and expenditure, while the remainder goes to finance its projects. People part with their money knowing that they have little or no chance of landing a major prize or hitting the jackpot. But it is to satisfy their dreams of sudden wealth that they are prepared to buy such worthless tickets.
There is no doubt that such an exercise is forbidden in Islam. It is forbidden for a government to organize it and forbidden for individuals to buy lottery tickets. The reason is that, for the major part, this exercise lures people and offers them next to nothing.
If raffles are organized on the same lines, then the same verdict of prohibition applies. However, we can make a distinction here. Suppose a charitable association organizes a dinner or a party and fixes a high price for the tickets. Suppose also that the actual cost of the dinner or the party is SR. 50 per person, while the charitable organization fixes a price of, say, SR. 200. People come forward and buy those tickets, knowing that they are actually helping the cause for which that charity works, but they are getting an outing in the bargain. They do not expect anything more for their money. They are happy to do so because they want to help the charity.
Suppose that the charity organizes a draw offering some prizes which it received from companies or other patrons. It uses the tickets sold for that party in the draw. They make the draw and offer the prizes to those whose ticket comes out. That is permissible because no one was expecting such prizes. They only paid [willingly a high price] for the dinner and got what they paid for.
• Love: For one's children — the right way
I have deep and profound love for my wife and children. I always remember them. Does this mean that my love for them exceeds my love of God? What is your verdict?
I do not know. How can I tell? It is only you who can answer this question. It is only natural that a human being should love his children and try to protect them from any harm. Moreover, God has planted in our hearts a certain type of affection and compassion toward our wives. When a man leads a happy life with his wife, the relationship between them becomes strong and deeply rooted. If he has kind and dutiful children, love to them is so much enhanced. Again, it is natural for a human being to be always thinking of his family, to care for his wife and children, to try and bring them up as best as he can. On the other hand, a believer loves God and manifests his gratitude to Him through obedience.
It is a different type of love altogether. We cannot love God in the same way as we love our children and spouses. But it is relevant to ask which love is stronger and more deeply rooted.
To answer this question, one has to look into his own heart. He should ask himself: Would he deliberately disobey God, knowing that whatever he is embarking on constitutes disobedience to Him, for the sake of his wife or children? If so, then at that particular moment, his love of God takes second position to his love of his wife or children.
If there is conflict between the two types of love, only the person concerned can answer a question like this and decide whether his love of his wife and children is stronger than his love of God or the reverse is true.
• Love: For opposite sex for Allah's sake
Can a woman love a man for Allah's sake, as it is mentioned in a Hadith that a man can love a man or a woman [can love] another woman for Allah's sake?
In an authentic Hadith, the Prophet lists seven people who will "enjoy Allah's shelter on the day when there is no shelter other than His." These include: "Two men who love each other for Allah's sake, they meet and separate with this bond between them." In another Hadith, the Prophet speaks of a believer who was on his way to visit one of his brethren. On instructions from Allah, an angel took the shape of a human being and stopped him as he passed by, asking him where he was heading. When he told him that he was going to visit his brother in the nearby village, the angel asked him whether he had any business interest with him, or he may be claiming a debt or he may want to have a favor, or to repay an earlier favor. To all these questions the man gave a negative reply.
The angel then asked him why he was visiting him. The man answered: "Because I love him for Allah's sake." The angel said: "I am an angel sent by Allah to tell you that Allah loves you because you love your brothers."
Both Hadiths highlight the important of having a pure relationship of love which is not motivated by any interest apart from a bond of faith which unites the two or more persons concerned.
We note, however, in the first Hadith that the Prophet speaks of "two men." He did not say: "Two persons." We know, however, that all Islamic teachings apply to both men and women, unless otherwise specified. In other words, the same thing applies to two women loving each other for Allah's sake. It is not possible, however, that this sort of relationship develops between a man and a woman. This is due first to the fact that the natural attraction between a man and a woman is too strong to allow such a pure relationship to develop. It is only to be expected that once there is a sort of intimacy between a man and a woman which is caused by love or admiration, the natural desire may impose its color on it. Moreover, if either party or both are married, the relationship may lead to endless problems. That does not prevent a person to admire another person of the opposite sex for his or her dedication to Allah's cause.
This must remain undisclosed because its disclosure may lead to problems. What we are talking about here is the sort of admiration one feels towards a person who achieves excellence in his field. Such admiration is not followed by social contact.
The point about the possibility for a pure relationship of love for Allah's cause cannot exist between a man and a woman is that such love should normally lead to a stage of intimate relations which Islam cannot approve between a man and a woman.
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