The curse of online gambling

'Qimar' is an Arabic word, also known as "maisar" in Arabic, "juwa" in Urdu, and "gambling" in English.  Gambling essentially involves staking a sum of money on an uncertain event, with the potential of either losing the stake or gaining more. For instance, if one person says to another that if India wins a particular match, they will give them ten thousand rupees, but if India loses, the other person will give them ten thousand rupees, this is gambling.

Like alcohol, Sharia gradually prohibited gambling. This was because gambling had become deeply ingrained in people's habits. Considering human emotions, Allah did not immediately prohibit gambling but first instilled in people a dislike for it. Allah says in the Quran:

They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about intoxicants and gambling. Say, “There is great evil in both, as well as some benefit for people—but the evil outweighs the benefit.”

Then Allah (SWT),revealed the verses for complete prohibition :

O believers! Intoxicants, gambling, idols, and drawing lots for decisions  are all evil of Satan’s handiwork. So shun them so you may be successful.

Satan’s plan is to stir up hostility and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling and to prevent you from remembering Allah and praying. Will you not then abstain?

Today, in this fast-paced world, gambling has become extremely easy. Earlier, there were only a few gambling dens and casinos in cities, but now, every household has a casino in the form of a mobile phone. Millions of people are being ruined through online gambling.

Before the World Cup, the tax imposed by the government on just one popular gambling app was 180 billion rupees. There were 200 million users of this particular application.

There are hundreds of such different types of apps. Some involve online cricket, some online Ludo, some online carrom board, some online poker, and hundreds of other games.

Initially, these games start with a bet of just one rupee to create an addiction. People think, "What will happen with just one rupee?" but after developing the habit, this one rupee gradually becomes the cause of the destruction of an entire household.

One of the major reasons for gambling addiction is greed and the desire for extra money. People want to get as much wealth as possible without doing any work.

Often, the devil deceives them into thinking that it is better to earn money from a mobile phone than to sit idle, and gradually, the person becomes addicted to gambling.

Usually, gamblers give new entrants the opportunity to win initially so that they become addicted.

Then they slowly start making them lose, and as a result, this novice gambler starts playing again and again to recover his losses, until he loses all his personal wealth. Not satisfied with this, the person starts taking loans upon loans and becomes burdened with debt. Eventually, many people commit suicide.

According to information obtained from gamblers, it is estimated that hundreds of people in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have already lost crores of rupees in gambling. In a small town, a survey revealed 15 people who had lost more than a crore each. In the same town, four people had already committed suicide.

Gambling addiction and greed make a person mentally and physically disabled, distance them from religion, and cut them off from their relatives. Such a person is neither good for this world nor the next. He cannot pray, fast, remember Allah, or recite the Quran.  Neither his personal affairs are in order nor his societal  ones.

Lies, broken promises, bank loans, borrowing from people, theft, robbery, deceit, there is hardly any crime that a gambler does not commit.

In some places, some gamblers, after losing all their savings, even sold their lands and houses. In some cases, personal houses were mortgaged to get loans. There were even one or two incidents where wives and children were also sold.

The government is also largely responsible for this disease of gambling as they have kept the doors of offline and online gambling open for the sake of a small tax. As a result, millions of people are ruining their lives. When gambling is harmful and destructive to the nation, strict restrictions should be imposed by the government on such things. Licenses should not be issued to online and offline casinos for the mere sake of a small tax. Counselling centres should also be established for such people.

Moreover, a strong relationship should be established with the scholars, and community elders.

May Allah protect the whole world, especially our Kashmir, from these new epidemics and diseases.

By:Manzoor Ahmed Qasmi, Shaikh ul Hadith Ashraf ul Uloom Hyderpora Srinagar