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A Muslim friend of mine in London has recently turned down an amazing opportunity in London recently working on IT projects for a leading online betting company, due to his beliefs that it is "Haram" it being a gambiling company.

If this is the case, then isnt working in Banking, Loans and Mortgages also?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

A website that I use which sells raffle tickets was blocked by Etisalat, I assume because it was classed as gambling.
After I informed them that the proceeds from the raffle go towards down syndrome children, they eventually unblocked it, but it got me thinking.

I would class raffles as gambling, but they are a dime a dozen in the UAE which indicates that the people running them do not feel that it is "Haram" and they may be considered as just 'good' gambling.

In your friend's case it was clearly 'bad' gambling and he is very noble to stick to his morals and turn down the job.
I myself would have been a bit more proactive and taken the job, then used the knowledge gained to screw the gambling companies out of money, and then donated it to charity.

I wouldn't class banks/morgages/loans as gambling. The banks are providing a service, and I would expect a fee for this service. I don't feel that it is necessary for UAE banks to disguise loans as a "leaseback" scheme like they do. It just ruins their credability.

With the slight risk of hijack, do people think that Dubai can survive without introducing casino style gambling?
In particular, who is going to fill the 100,000 or so rooms at 'Bawadi' (aka DuVegas) if there isn't that extra ingedient like at LasVegas. What the hell are they going to spend their money on?

At christmas island they opened a casino 15 years ago and the Indonesians went nuts for it. I suspect that the same would happen here in Dubai.

Raffles where you pay money in exchange for a chance to win a prize are clearly gambling by any definition, and as such are Haram. A prize draw which is given 'free' or as part of an entry price, or an incentive to buy products etc is not gambling in my opinion - as the primary objective was not to take a chance to win something for 'no effort'. The difference, in my mind, is the intention.

Working in banking, finance and insurance is not in itself Haram - but the reliance on interest makes it a little complicated. However, in all these fields there are non-haram transactions which provide social good - liquidity of funds, banking transactions, trading and mutual savings/protection, and more fundamentally investments.

I'm not qualified to answer the question about whether Dubai can flourish without gambling - but in my mind it depends on whose dollars Dubai wants to attract. Certain groups of people need the booze and gambling as an incentive to come to a desert, others will have other priorities (such as family entertainment - which is where DubaiLand comes in).

Will 'Las Vegas without the gambling' work? I don't know - but I know I'll visit

Cheers
Shafique

benwj wrote:A website that I use which sells raffle tickets was blocked by Etisalat

This does annoy me - I have been doing the National Lottery in the UK for about 5 years now - I don't think I will ever win, but its more the taking part. I buy one ticket a week for 7 AED and I would stop but sod's law says that when I do all six numbers will come up.

So anyway to renew subscriptions I have to set up a tunnel through work just to access my online account - yet around the corner from where I live nr Lamcy plaza there is a huge 50 foot long advertising board showing a guy throwing bundles of money up in the air with the words 'you could be the lucky one today - win 1 million AED!'.

All forms of gambling are not allowed in any religion, but can be tolerated & legalized in some parts of the world.

Islam, as per Sura Maidah 5:90,91 forbids any form of gambling: lottery, raffles, staking money on card games, horse racing, gambling machines, casinos etc. Millionaire Co - which sells lottery cards to labourers etc - is allowed in Dubai and in itself is haram in Islam.

But hadith in Bukhari, where the prophet says that anyone who asks someone to gamble should immediately give to charity as compensation for inviting to a prohibited/forbidden action.

In other words, you can gamble but you have to give a portion to charity. It’s 50:50 actually. If you give less…only heaven knows what will happen to you.

Since we’re in Islamic country, let’s tackle the concept of riba (interest). It is clearly indicated in Qur-an that riba is probihited. Thus, the banking systems here are in conflict with Islam. I can be refuted here based on how group of people defined interest.

Just a thought...

How wonderful it is to borrow money from the bank with zero interest? Borrowers, who are in jail can be freed now, and no one can be jailed because of this riba concept of Islam.

But then…

Banks are the same the world over.
I just think that the banks here should stop trying to pretend that they are Sharia compliant when it is obvious that they are no different to any other bank. They are still loan money for the same reason, so they can make money from the borrowers.
I hate it when people bend the rules to suit themselves, when deep down they know that what they are doing is against Islam. I would rather that they either stick to the rules, or just come out and say, OK I am not going to follow that rule anymore. Otherwise they are not only breaking the rule, but more importantly, they are being dishonest also.

I should also rephrase my statement regarding casinos. Of course Dubai will survive without casinos, but I don't think that they will achieve the tourist numbers that they are aiming for without them.
Time will tell, but history has proven that if there is money to be made/lost, the rules will be bent.