54. Betting and similar pastimes

54. Betting and similar pastimes

608. Betting

1259. Ja’far ibn Abi’l-Mughira said, “Sa’id ibn Jubayr stayed with me and said tht Ibn ‘Abbas related to me that he used to say, ‘Where are those who play with gambling arrows for the slaughtered camel? They buy a camel with ten shares. Then they shuffle the arrows and it becomes nine shares and they continue until comes down to one share. The others lose their shares to the one share. That is gambling (arrow-shuffling).'”
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

1260. Ibn ‘Umar said, “Arrow-shuffling is gambling.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: Shaykh Husayn al-‘Awaayisha (hafizahullah) explained that the word Qimaar is “every game which involves betting in which the loser gives the winner something previously agreed upon by them both.”

609. Betting a cock

1261. Rabi’a ibn ‘Abdullah ibn al-Hadir ibn ‘Abdullah reported tht two men wagered two cocks in the time of ‘Umar. ‘Umar ordered that the cock be killed and a man of the Ansar said to him, “Will you kill a something which glorifies Allah?” So ‘Umar left it.
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

chapter 610. Someone who says to his companion, “Come, I’ll make a bet with you”

1262. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “If any of you makes an oath and swears in his oath by al-Lat and al-‘Uzza should say, ‘There is no god but Allah.’ If any of you tells him companion, ‘Come on, I will make a bet with you’ should give sadaqa.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: As explained earlier, people were used to swearing with other than Allah during pre-Islamic times. So when that became prohibited in Islam, some would still mistakenly utter such words. Thus, saying the statement of testimony in the Oneness of Allah apart from reaffirming faith is from the aspects of hastening towards good deeds after committing an error. Likewise inviting someone to a bet; it is a sin for which the offender should give charity in atonement.

chapter 611. Betting a pigeon

1263. Husayn ibn Mus’ab reported that someone told Abu Hurayra, “We wager two pigeons and we do not want for there to be a third unwagered pigeon between them so that the unwagered pigeon might take the winnings.” Abu Hurayra said, “That is how children behave. You are at the point where you should abandon that.”
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

chapter 612. Doing the camel-chant for women’s camels

1264. It is related tht al-Bara’ ibn Malik used to do the camel-chant for the men and Anjasha used to do the camel-chant for the women. He had a good voice and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Anjasha, be gentle when you drive the glass-vessels.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: Here the Messenger of Allahﷺ referred to the women employing their tender nature: the fragile vessels. He cautioned that they be driven gently so that they do not fall over the beast of burden and be wounded. Some of the scholars have viewed that the Prophetﷺ cautioned the cameleer, ‘Anjasha , regarding his songs so that the fragile vessels were not put to trial therefrom as is shown in other wordings of the same hadeeth. ‘Anjasha , was known to sing with sonorous voice. Yet, the hadeeth evinces the permissibility of singing songs and poems when they don’t involve forbidden words and musical instruments, and when doing so does not lead to something prohibited. It also shows the permissibility of using implied expressions, and good-natured teasing.

chapter 613. Singing

1265. Ibn ‘Abbas said that the words of Allah in Luqman (35:6), “There are people who trade in distracting tales” mean “singing and things like it.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)

1266. Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Extend the greeting and you will be safe. The saw is evil.” Abu Mu’awiya (one of the transmitters) said, “The ‘saw’ is trivial pursuit.'”
Grade: Hasan (Sound)
Commentary: See comments on narration in Chapter 340.

1267. Salman al-Ilhani reported that Fadala ibn ‘Ubayd was in a gathering. He heard that some people were playing backgammon. He got up in anger and forbade it in the strongest possible terms. Then he said, “Anyone who plays it in order to consume its winnings is like someone who eats pig meat and does wudu’ with blood.”
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

chapter 614. The person who does not greet backgammon players

1268. Al-Fadil ibn Muslim reported that his father said, “When ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, went out through the Bab al-Qasr, he saw some backgammon players. He took them and locked them up from morning to night. Some of them he only locked up for half the day. Those he locked up until night were those who used silver. Those he locked up for half the day were those who played it. He also commanded that they should not be greeted.”
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

chapter 615. The wrong action of someone who plays backgammon

1269. Abu Musa al-Ash’ari reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Anyone who plays backgammon has rebelled against Allah and His Messenger.”
Grade: Hasan (Sound)
Commentary: This hadeeth categorically prohibits playing backgammon; and apparently, whether it involves betting or not. See narration no. 1277. Obviously, it becomes worse when joined with gambling!

1270. ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ud said, “Beware of these two marked cubes. They should be forcibly prohibited. They are part of gambling.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)

1271. Burayda reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Someone who plays backgammon is like a person who puts his hand in the meat and blood of a pig.”
Grade: Hasan (Sound)
Commentary: Imam an-Nawawee (rahimahullah), “The meaning of staining his hand in the meat and blood of a pig is while he eats from it. It is a form of likening of its prohibition to the prohibition of the two things (the blood and flesh of swine).”

1272. Abu Musa reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Anyone who plays backgammon has rebelled against Allah and His Messenger.”
Commentary: As No. 1269, with a different isnād

chapter 616. Manners and removing those who play backgammon and the people of trivial pursuits (ahl al-batil)

1273. Nafi’ related that if ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar found any of his family playing backgammon, he would beat them and break the board.
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)

1274. ‘Alqama ibn Abi ‘Alqama reported from his mother that ‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, heard that some people living in a room in her house had a backgammon game. She sent to them, saying, “If you do not remove it, I will evict you from my house.” He censured them for playing that.
Grade: Hasan (Sound)
Commentary: The companions – may Allah be pleased with them all – did not tolerate sin; they sought every permissible means to discourage disobedience to Allah and His Messengerﷺ

1275. Kulthum ibn Jabir said, “Ibn az-Zubayr addressed us and said, ‘People of Makka, I have heard that there are men of Quraysh who play a game called backgammon. It is done with the left hand. Allah says, ‘Wine and gambling.’ (5:90) I swear by Allah that if anyone who plays it is brought before me, I will punish him in his hair and skin, and I will give his booty to the one who brings him to me.”
Grade: Hasan (Sound)
Commentary: Apart from prohibiting backgammon, it evinces the fact that rulers must prohibit their subjects from sinful acts and punish offenders accordingly.

1276. Ya’la ibn Murra reported that he heard Abu Hurayra speaking about someone who plays backgammon and bets on it, saying that he is like someone who eats pig meat and that the person who plays it without betting on it is like someone who washes his hands in pig’s blood. The person who sits looking at it is like someone who looks at pig’s meat.
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

1277. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As said, “Someone who plays dice for a bet is like a person who eats pig met. Someone who plays it without betting is like someone who washes his hands in pig’s blood.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: This hadeeth categorically prohibits playing backgammon; and apparently, whether it involves betting or not. See narration no. 1277. Obviously, it becomes worse when joined with gambling!

chapter 617. A believer is not harmed by the same stone twice

1278. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “A believer is not hurt by the same stone twice.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: The hole is mentioned since most of what comes from it rather harm than benefit. Explaining the hadeeth, Imam al-Khattaabee (rahimahullah) said, “This expression is of information but it implies command. That is, the believer should be wise and careful not to be hit due to nonchalance and so, he is deceived one time after the other. That could be from the aspects of religion as it could also be in worldly matters…” As for the indifferent believer, he could be hit hard many times!

chapter 618. Someone who shoots at night

1279. Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Anyone who shoots at night is not one of us.” [Abu ‘Abdullah [i.e. al-Bukhari] noted, “There is something doubtful in its isnad.]
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: That is, the one who shoots in people’s direction at night. As regards the expression, “…is not one of us”, it may means that, ‘he is not acting in accordance with our Sunnah for it is not from our Sunnah to harm fellow Muslims’, or ‘he is of the non-Muslims who direct harm towards the Muslims.

1280. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Anyone who bears arms against us is not one of us.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: However, it should be noted that, the fact that it is from the ways of the non-Muslims to bear arm against Muslims does not mean that it basically forms an act of disbelief. In his Saheeh, the author related that the Prophetﷺ said, “No one of you should point arm at his brother. He may not know, the Satan may prompt his hand, and he so, he falls in a pit of the Fire.”

1281. Same hadith as 1280, but from Abu Musa.
Commentary: As No. 1280, from. Abū Mūsā, with a different isnād