AL-QIMAAR
(GAMBLING) -
PART 3
WHY IS GAMBLING
FORBIDDEN?
“The Shaitaan only desires to cause enmity and hatred to spring in your
midst by means of intoxicants and games of chance and keep you away from
the remembrance of Allah and from prayer, will you then abstain (from
them)?”
(5:91 Qur’an)
A gambler makes lot of easy money and
therefore, he also looks for ways and means for self-indulgence to
splurge his ill-gotten wealth. Besides, the gambler who wins is so
obsessed that he wagers more around larger profits and on the other
hand, the loser is equally obsessed to win back what he has lost. Such
compulsive obsessions have usually disastrous consequences.
Shaheedul-Mihrab, Ayatullah Abdulhussein
Dasti Ghayb, quoting from the book Balaaha-e-Ijtima’ee relates
the following incident in his book Gunahan-e-kabeera:
An inhabitant of an Iranian town stabbed
his opponent thrice and killed him. The accused gave the following
statement:
“The victim has grabbed a
lot of my money through gambling. He was not prepared to lay another bet
despite my persuasion and ran away. I followed and killed him.”
Besides creating enmity and hatred among
people, according to aforementioned verse, gambling also distracts one
away from remembrance of Allah (SWT) and prayers. The gambler’s mind is
so engrossed for hours in this satanic evil as to keep him away from
remembering his Creator, his responsibilities towards Him (SWT) and even
from prayers which is pillar of Islam.
Once again explaining this point, the Late
Ayatullah writes:
Alcohol and gambling are vices leading to
spiritual bankcruptcy. These offenders are oblivious of Allah and of
their duties towards their Creator. Living in a state of forgetfulness
of Allah is the worst tragedy that befalls the unfortunate victims of
these vices.
An alcoholic in a state of
intoxication is in no condition to remember Allah and he abandons even
an obligation like Salaat i.e.prayer. In the same way, the craze
of a gambler to obtain wealth or make up for his losses is all consuming
and he loses awareness of all obligatory acts including prayers. In
order to stress this point, Allah (SWT) continues in the same verse:
“Will you
then abstain (from them)?” Which
means that even after being informed of the demerits of these vices,
will you still not reform? The next verse continues the emphasis:
“And obey Allah and obey the apostle and be cautious.But if you turn
back, then know that only a clear deliverance of the message is
(incumbent) on your apostle”.
In this way, the argument is completed.
Now you cannot say that you have not been warned.
Readers are urged to note the following
points on gambling:
-
There is a universal agreement among the
Mujtahideen that articles normally used in gambling should not be
played with, even if one is not gambling. This is based upon the
narration quoted in the previous supplement that
All the tools and actions of gambling are
Haraam.
-
To lay bets with articles not usually
employed in gambling is also Haraam.
-
To sit and watch the game involving any
form of gambling is also Haraam as this can, some day lead one to
gamble. Imam as-Sadiq (as) once told Abu Baseer:
“The prayers of chess-players are not valid
till they wash their hands after the game. And to watch a game of
chess is like looking at the genitals of ones own mother.”Meaning
that the punishment is equivalent to that of looking the genitals of
ones own mother.
-
Chess and cards should not be indulged
in even when played only for intellectual stimulation games with no
intent to gamble. These games have an inherent power to obsess the
player till he becomes oblivious of his duties towards his family and
even his livelihood and above all, takes him away from remembrance of
Allah. Shaitaan will not lose the opportunity to incite the players to
play for stakes.Therefore, the game which started as an intellectual
exercise will slip into a game of money making.
MUSTAHAB ACT
It is Mustahab (recommended) that if ever
our eyes fall upon an article of gambling, we should remember Imam
Hussein (as) and curse Yazeed. It is reported from Imam ar-ridha (as):
When the head of Imam Hussein
(as) was brought in Shaam, Yazeed started to dine and wine with his
associates. After the meal, Yazeed ordered the head of Imam (as) to be
kept in a salver and be placed at the foot of his throne. A chessboard
was spread out and he sat down to play chess. During the game, he
ridiculed the Imam, his father and grandfather. Whenever he won the
game, he used to take hold of the barley wine and drink three
goblets.Then he poured the remaining wine upon the head of Imam Hussein
(as).
Then the Imam (as) said:
Whoever is our Shia’h must
abstain from barley wine and chess. One who sees barley wine and chess
must remember Imam Hussein (as) and invoke curse upon Yazeed and his
progeny. If a Shia’h does this, Allah the Almighty will forgive all his
sins even if they are more than the stars in number.
Readers are requested to recite Surah al-Fatihah for Marhum Ayatullah
Dasti Ghayb, Marhum Ahmed H Sheriff and all the Marhumeen.
Mulla Mujaheedali
Sheriff
mulla@almahdi.org.uk |