Is Using Earned In-Game Currency for Gambling Permissible?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
In football games like FIFA and eFootball, players get packs like ‘Player of the Day’ to draw players using in-game coins, which can be bought or earned through tasks. If I only use earned coins and not real money, is playing considered halal or gambling and haram?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
Gambling (maysir) is risking something of value, like money, for an uncertain reward. Free in-game coins do not count as such a stake in this way.
So, if one uses only earned in-game coins, not real money, it will not be considered gambling but rather a waste of time playing these prolonged games.
Allah Most High says, “O you who believe: wine, the feast lottery, the stone sacrifice altars, and divining sticks are but filth of the work of the Devil, so shun it utterly, that haply you may succeed.” [Quran, 5:90]
Abdullah Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) defined gambling in the following words: “The risk of losing on both sides or putting something at stake from both sides (mukhatara) is gambling.” [Jassas, Ahkam al-Quran]
The great Hanafi jurist (faqih), Ibn ‘Abidin (Allah have mercy on him), defines gambling in the following words:
“Gambling (qimar) is from the word qamar, that which increases at times and decreases at other times.
It has been given the name al-Qimar due to the possibility that each one of the gamblers may lose his wealth to his counterpart, and it is also possible that one may gain from the wealth of the other.” [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Avoid Wasting Time
If you play a game where no real money is risked or won, it is a game, and not gambling.
It is, however, better to avoid, as it trains you to rely on uncertain guesses, wastes time, and, in the future, leads to an interest in paying in-game money and so on. One should always consider practical sports rather than virtual game play.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
And Allah knows best.
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- Rulings About Games in Islam – The Strong Believer – Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.
