God has prohibited gambling and as lottery is a type of gambling it is forbidden. Despite the fact that some countries raise national lottery and a part of the income is given to the poor it is still rejected in Islam.  

The Lottery

Similar Questions

• Gambling.

• Games of chance.

The Issue

Playing the lottery is essentially buying a ticket for a small amount of money hoping to win a large prize, or the jackpot, or anything else in the draw. Each ticket has a number and then the numbers are drawn and the winners get what they have won. Can a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country play the lottery?

Ruling

It is unlawful to play the lottery even though a portion of its income goes to good causes and charitable purposes. This is stated in Decision 7-14 of the Islamic Fiqh Council of the Muslim World League.

Evidence

Everyone who takes part in the lottery will either win a prize or lose whatever he pays. This is the criterion that is distinctive of gambling and since the lottery is a form of gambling it is forbidden in Islam.

The justification that some countries provide to run a national lottery is that a portion of its income goes to good causes and charitable purposes. However, this is rejected by Islamic law because gambling for any reason is forbidden. In pre-Islamic Arabia a winner from gambling – or what was termed maysir, i.e. game of chance – was expected to distribute his winnings to the poor. This is the benefit the Qur’an mentions as resulting from gambling: ‘They ask you about intoxicants and games of chance.

Hence God prohibited such games and all gambling because the harm in them is greater than the benefit.

Sources

• Decisions of the Islamic Fiqh Council of the Muslim World League.

• Khalid Abd al-Qadir, Fiqh al-Aqaliyyat al-Muslimah.