With the Hadith - Gambling
With the Hadith - Gambling

We greet you all, dear listeners everywhere, in a new episode of your program "With the Hadith," and we begin with the best greeting: peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

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October 25, 2025

With the Hadith - Gambling

With the Hadith

Gambling

We greet you all, dear listeners everywhere, in a new episode of your program "With the Hadith," and we begin with the best greeting: peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Whoever enters a horse between two horses, meaning he is not sure that it will win, it is not gambling. And whoever enters a horse between two horses, and it is certain that it will win, it is gambling." Narrated by Abu Dawood.

The author of Awn al-Ma'boud said: {(It is gambling): with a kasra on the qaf, meaning wagering. ... And in Sharh al-Sunnah: Then, in racing, if the money is from the side of the Imam or from the side of one of the people, and it is stipulated for the winner of the two horsemen a known amount of money, then it is permissible, and if he wins, he deserves it. And if it is from the side of the two horsemen, and one of them says to his companion, "If you beat me, you will have such and such from me, and if I beat you, I will have nothing from you," then it is also permissible. So if he wins, he deserves the stipulated amount. And if the money is from the side of each of them, such that he says to his companion, "If I beat you, you will have such and such from me, and if you beat me, you will have such and such from me," then this is not permissible except with an analyzer who enters between them. If the analyzer wins, he takes both wagers, and if he is beaten, then he owes nothing. And he is called an analyzer because he makes it permissible for the winner to take the money. So with the analyzer, the contract goes out of being gambling, because gambling is when a man is hesitant between gain and loss. So if he enters between them, this meaning is not found in it. ...}

Dear listeners, the Sharia has absolutely forbidden gambling, and considered the money taken because of it as not owned. God Almighty said: (O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than God], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from remembrance of God and from prayer. So will you not desist?) He affirmed the prohibition of intoxicants and gambling in several ways of affirmation, including the introduction of the sentence with (Indeed), and among them is that he associated them with the worship of idols, and among them is that he made them abominations, as He said: (So avoid the abomination of idols), and among them is that he made them from the work of Satan, and nothing but pure evil comes from Satan, and among them is that he commanded to avoid them, and among them is that he made avoidance of them a success. And if avoidance is success, then committing them is disappointment and loss. And among them is that He mentioned what results from them of evil, which is the occurrence of enmity and hatred from the people of intoxicants and gambling, and what they lead to of averting from the remembrance of God, and from observing the times of prayer, and His saying: (So will you not desist?) is the most eloquent of what is forbidden, as if it was said: There has been recited to you what is in them of types of deterrents and preventatives, so will you desist with these deterrents and preventatives? And among gambling is lottery tickets, whatever their type and whatever the reason for which they were created. And among gambling is betting on horse races. And gambling money is forbidden, and it is not permissible to own it.

Dear listeners, until we meet you with another prophetic hadith, we leave you in God's care, and peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

More from Jurisprudence

With the Hadith - Do you know who is bankrupt?

With the Hadith

Do you know who is bankrupt?

May Allah greet you, our dear listeners, listeners of the radio of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir. We meet you again with our program "With the Hadith," and the best way to start our episode is with the greeting of Islam, so peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.

It is mentioned in Musnad Ahmad - Remainder of the Musnad of the Prolific Narrators - that the bankrupt of my nation is the one who comes on the Day of Resurrection with fasting, prayer, and charity, but he comes having insulted this person, slandered this person, and consumed the wealth of this person.

Narrated 'Abd al-Rahman from Zuhair from al-'Ala' from his father from Abu Hurairah from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: "Do you know who is bankrupt?" They said: "The bankrupt among us, O Messenger of Allah, is the one who has no dirham or goods." He said: "Indeed, the bankrupt of my nation is the one who comes on the Day of Resurrection with fasting, prayer, and charity, but he comes having insulted this person, slandered this person, and consumed the wealth of this person. So he will sit, and this one will take from his good deeds, and that one will take from his good deeds, and if his good deeds are exhausted before he settles what is owed to him of sins, their sins will be taken and cast upon him, then he will be thrown into the Fire."

This hadith, like other important hadiths, must be understood and realized. Some people are bankrupt despite their prayers, fasting, and zakat, because they insulted this person, slandered this person, consumed the wealth of this person, shed the blood of this person, and beat this person.

His bankruptcy is that his good deeds, which are his capital, are taken and given to this one and used to pay off that one for the price of his slander, insult, and beating. After his good deeds are exhausted before he settles what is owed, their sins are taken and cast upon him, then he is thrown into the Fire.

When the Prophet, peace be upon him, asked his companions, "Do you know who is bankrupt?" "Do you know" means knowledge and awareness of the inner workings of things. "Do you know" means "Do you really know who is bankrupt?" This confirms the saying of our master Ali, may Allah honor his face: "Wealth and poverty are after the presentation to Allah." When they were asked this question, they answered based on their experiences: "The bankrupt among us is the one who has no dirham or goods." This is the bankrupt in the eyes of the companions of the Messenger of Allah. So he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: No... HE SAID: "INDEED, THE BANKRUPT OF MY NATION IS THE ONE WHO COMES ON THE DAY OF RESURRECTION WITH FASTING, PRAYER, AND CHARITY..."

This confirms the saying of our master Umar: "Whoever wishes may fast, and whoever wishes may pray, but it is righteousness," because prayer, fasting, Hajj, and zakat are acts of worship that a person may do with sincerity, or he may do them hypocritically, but the center of gravity is to adhere to the command of Allah.

We ask Allah to keep us steadfast on the truth, and make us of His righteous servants, and replace our bad deeds with good deeds, and not disgrace us on the Day of Presentation to Him, O Allah, Amen.

Our dear listeners, until we meet you with another prophetic hadith, we entrust you to Allah, whose deposits are never lost. Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.

Written for the radio by

Afraa Turab

With the Hadith - The Hypocrites and Their Evil Deeds

With the Hadith

The Hypocrites and Their Evil Deeds

We greet you all, dear friends, everywhere, in a new episode of your program "With the Hadith," and we begin with the best greeting: Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

It was narrated from Buraidah, may God be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "Do not call a hypocrite 'Sayyid' (master), for if he is a master, then you have angered your Lord, the Almighty and Sublime." Narrated by Abu Dawood with a Sahih (authentic) chain of narration.

Dear listeners,

Indeed, the best of speech is the word of God Almighty, and the best guidance is the guidance of His Prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah, peace and blessings be upon him. Now then,

This noble Hadith guides us on how to deal with the hypocrites we know. The Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, was the only one who knew all the hypocrites by their names, but we can recognize some of them by their characteristics, such as those mentioned in the Quran who perform their obligatory duties lazily and grudgingly, and those who plot against Islam and Muslims, encourage strife, spread corruption on earth, and love to spread immorality by calling for it, protecting it, and nurturing it, and those who tell lies about Islam and Muslims... and others who are characterized by hypocrisy.

Therefore, we must understand what the Sharia (Islamic law) has deemed good and what it has deemed bad, so that we can distinguish the hypocrite from the sincere, and take appropriate action towards them. We should not trust those who do what contradicts the Sharia while pretending to do what they do out of concern for Islam and Muslims. We should not follow them or support them, or even less than that, by describing them as "Sayyid," otherwise God Almighty will be angry with us.

We Muslims must be the most keen people on Islam and Muslims, and not allow any hypocrite an entry point into our religion and our families, as they are among the most dangerous things we may face these days due to their abundance and the multiplicity of their faces. We must use the Sharia scale to measure the actions of those who claim to be Muslims, for Islam protects us from such evildoers.

We ask God to protect our nation from such criminals, and to guide us to the straight path and the correct scale by which we measure people's behavior, so that we stay away from those whom God does not love. Amen.

Dear friends, until we meet you with another prophetic Hadith, we leave you in God's care, and peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

Written for radio by: Dr. Maher Saleh