Full Lecture Transcript (Cleaned)
Question and Context — 0:00
Uh the next question that we have brother munib uh and frankly uh i'm i'm reading brother muniz question but this question has been asked by half a dozen people in the last few weeks is saying that during the lockdown in order to entertain the children to pass the time he and his family are playing board games and sometimes those games involve dice and he says he has come across a fatwa he mentions the website name but we shall not mention it is a very popular website that answers q a about.
Islam and my advice or suggestion is that it might have some good but really uh people should stick with the scholars of their own lands or countries even if it's not any but find people within your own locality and ask them sometimes these websites are based from one land and there's a lot of cultural connotation that is not suitable for other lands nonetheless he is saying he found a fatwa from this particular website that is saying that it is haram to play board games with one's family that have dice in.
Them because there's a hadith that forbids this so he's asking this question so this response um and again i remind um the viewers that this is the shortened version uh i know that this is gonna as usual be um you're gonna have refutations and people are gonna have other opinions but this is the reality of subhanallah i'm not the first to say what i'm about to say nonetheless this is the shortened response yes there is a hadith that forbids something called narada shiv that the prophet said whoever plays with narada.
Shir it is as if he has dipped his hands in pigs blood and in pig's flesh okay so this is a hadith that is very explicit now there's a number of issues involved over here what exactly is nar dashir and is it applicable to the game or to the dice because again the issue comes how do you interpret this word here the word nar dashir is a persian word and it is actually a reference to the game that has now evolved into backgammon uh there is a rudimentary version of backgammon.
Back then that the persians had invented tashir is a persian word and uh they had this game of backgammon that they would gamble with and so backgammon uh to this day it is sometimes played as something that people uh you know bet their money on and the winner basically you know takes takes it all so nada the shield primarily applies to batgame now there are some versions or some reports that might reference the dice as well but the more authentic version is muslim says narada shir and narada is primarily applied.
For the game of backgammon now some have said that uh the the the the prohibition is to the dice itself and there is some basis that how do you separate the game it is all put uh together as well uh there are some reports about the game of chess now there's nothing authentic from the prophecies about chess shot but there are a number of reports from the sahaba and tabirun that that some of them disapproved of chess somewhat rather harshly and it is also reported by the way that some of.
Them did not uh disapprove of chess uh if you look up sunnah one of the great books of hadith there is an entire chapter about what people have said regarding chess and you will find a number of reports that are very harsh ali ibn abi taro for example he he basically said i wish i could throw this board game onto your face have you been created to do this he found a group of people all playing chess basically surrounding a match and what that he became irritated and so you have.
Some very strict you know uh statements from the sahaba and tabirun but you also have on the other side some of the tabirun and tabitab whom it is authentically narrated that they would actually play chess and of them he says they would play chess you know in private means it's not something they would publicize it's not something you do in front of everybody but anybody with your family or in the privacy of the room and they would just go and you know just a little bit of time to pass to.
Play uh chess and uh even abdul bar he says in his tamheed that it is reported by ikrima that they would play with the nard and say it was asked about playing with the nordashir and said musee of the great great tabery the famous tabari he said if there is no money or gambling involved then there is no problem with it now these are some reports from these great uh tabiron and tabithav your own uh i want you to know this is my short response so i'm not going into detail.
You will find more reports from the sahaba tabernacle that are disapproving so there's no question i'm not trying to hide that but you want a response i'm going to give you a simple response you will.
Core Ruling and Evidence — 5:07
Find a longer list of people who disliked it but these are great scholars who basically said it's okay with certain conditions and uh the position that i'm advocating is that we need to be a little bit more uh pragmatic and take a look at the broader picture those uh respected and great some of them are my teachers and i respect them immensely those that say that all types of games and cards and board games and dice and everything is haram i fully understand i fully sympathize because in their minds they.
Want the ummah to reach the highest level and the fact of the matter is said were you created to do this no you were not created to spend hours and hours you know playing board games and doing chess and whatnot we have a higher purpose but when you look at the status of the umm this is something that the the books of phil calls that everybody is doing it now everyone is doing it so for us to adopt the strict disposition essentially means nobody cares what we say and there will.
It's as if you are speaking to a wall because you you can say whatever you want and with my utmost respect the very people who are giving this fatwa i am you know because i know the realities their own families their own children maybe even they themselves cannot live up to this fatwa perfectly and when that is the case then really you need to take a step back because the sharia is never going to be impractical the sharia has always applied and if this is the case and you also realize.
That we are living in a time and a place where again let us be frank here there are far bigger problems that are of our children than them sitting down to play a board game than them sitting down to play chess the stuff that they're watching on television the netflix that they're watching the online entertainment and the whatever tick tock all of these things out there right and so you're going to come and say oh if a father and mother and the children sit down and they play ludo or they.
Play you know uh you know cards or they play a game of chess or whatever amongst themselves just to pass the time that that is haram and forbidden and sinful in the eyes of allah there is no evidence from the quran and sunnah to make that sinful at all yes there's a hadith that talks about backgammon but the question is is the prohibition because of the gambling which is what i am saying and what these tabern said or is it just any type of board game and any type of game.
Involving dice and whatnot and if you look at it really um it is very to me at least it is very obvious that the fatwa that we need to give to the people is that look there is no question so i'm being precise here so pay attention to this there is no question that we have a higher purpose in life than just to spend hours and hours playing video games or watching tv or doing something of this nature and not all of these things i mentioned are at the same level.
Some of them are sinful in what we see or what we hear some of them are you know permissible but the muba which is permissible when it is done too much it becomes makru and when it leads to haram it becomes haram right so even the muba it is like salt you add it to the food and so my position the fatwa i'm going to give you is that all of these board games and chess and the the dice that is used for non-gambling as for gambling by unanimous consensus when.
You put money and there are people that are we're talking about real money monopoly is not real money right so we're talking about when you put money and people are are betting and they have games and whatnot there is no question that any type of game that involves money actual money uh and is is based upon the luck of the draw or the luck of the cards or the luck of the dice that is absolutely haram there should be no two opinions about that as for when there is no gambling.
Involved then my suggestion my advice is that family should understand that indeed we do have a higher purpose and that we have a problem across the board of wasting too much time in entertainment in movies and all that we do so it's not just the the dice and the the games it is overall we are killing time and we have not been created to kill time we have been created to be productive with our time nonetheless if somebody you know you cannot continuously 24 hours a day do something that is.
Absolutely productive the mind needs to take a break the body needs to take a break your children cannot be expected to be you know constantly you're gonna they're gonna play they're gonna do what they're going.
Practical Guidance and Caveats — 9:41
To do and therefore if we use this like salt just a little bit once in a while and we sit down and for the adults especially for the parents especially my advice to you all is when you sit down with your children to play these games your knee should be not the game but family time your knee should be that i want to come closer to my children my spouse my my kids i want to teach them manners what should you say what should you do even as you play a.
Game right you can bring in some benefits from you know rather than using vulgarities you know say something beneficial remind them of their past their heritage your family history you know teach them something that is beneficial even as of this dunya so the goal should not be the game the goal should be quality time with the family and the game is an excuse for the kids to come because they don't want to listen to you or they don't want to do so the goal is basically and when you make it.
That new insha allah i actually think it's not only just you might even be rewarded if you actually intend uh to do something productive and useful with your family teach them something of benefit then as you sit down with them and you play a board game or whatnot inshaallah it might even be an act of worship at the very least we can say it is mubarak but a number of points first and foremost this should not take up the most of your time or day and as you grow older you.
Need to cut back and i speak now especially to the young men oh young men in college you need to stop playing your ps4s and xboxes you know 10 hours a day that's not going to benefit you you're no longer 5 years old or 10 years old when you get to your 30s what are you doing half the time playing this game no definitely at that stage you need to cut back and be reasonable i understand a little bit of all of us need a bit of a break we all.
Have different breaks some people take breaks reading esoteric books of history but that's besides the point uh some people like to take these types of breaks i understand it's not it is in and of itself but do not make it a bulk of your time what is reasonable it varies from person to person as well make sure that uh you do not do anything haram within because there are some board and not board games or maybe there are some but there are some video games that have vulgarities in them or.
Where you're expected to to do blatant haram and parents parents it is your job to so here's the point those people who say it's haram to play board games okay you say that what are the kids going to do the parents think it's haram no child is going to listen to this fatwa they're going to be in the rooms watching their tick tocks you know doing their their their um you know ps4 games and whatnot and so again isn't it better to take the children out of their private bedrooms bring.
Them to the living room with their parents and instead of them watching what they shouldn't do instead of them playing games where the characters are doing things that are indecent or violent or gory because that's the alternative right the parents are going to be following away up there the children are not going to be doing that so as you're aware if you listen to me i i don't believe in abstract fatwa as fatwas have to benefit the ummah we have to teach and preach at the level of the ummah and.
To make haram these types of things i really think that it is harmful to the ummah to be this strict i understand if we're talking to a group of masha'allah in the madrasa full-time students of islamic ilm for sure for them we can be a little bit stricter and say hey guys you know why are you you know uh you know doing of something of this nature do something more productive don't spend hours and hours but to give a blanket for of this nature that it is hard on all types.
Of board games or all types of uh you know amusements or haram no it is like salt you do it a little bit and the goal should be family time the knee should be spending quality time and also playing a board game with the children is infinitely better than the children being in the rooms and doing the games or watching the movies that they should not be doing so it is better to do this it is definitely the lesser of the two evils and therefore insha'allah there is no sin on.
You whatsoever if these conditions are met and again as the kids grow older also try to do this less and less and do something more productive more and more and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best.