Question Summary:
Is it permissible to use prizes obtained unlawfully due to ignorance? Question Detail:
Since I have known that the radio competitions I have been entering these past 2 years constitute to gambling I have no peace of mind. I have won innumerable prizes in this period most of which I am using personally like an iPad. However I want to ask since all this was won out of ignorance and I never knew what I was doing was haram can I still use the prizes that I have won. I also have several vouchers to be used in super markets and had won several cash prizes too. Since I have stopped entering all contests after I came to know it was haram....what should I do about my actions these past 2 years? Kindly reply.
Answer :
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
Your abstinence from taking part in the radio contests upon learning that it constitutes gambling (Qimaar) is a sign of your sincere faith. May Allah grant us all resentment for sins and keep us steadfast on Imaan. Ameen
The prizes that you received by taking part in the radio contests are Haraam. In principle, you should return the prizes to the management of the radio station and advise them to dispense of the prizes to the poor and needy if they are unable to locate the donors of the prizes[1].
Your action will serve to be educational for the management of the radio station and a lesson to them to be Shariah compliant on such issues.
You should also repent and ask for forgiveness for your participation in the Haraam radio contests. The Prophet Muhammad declared:
He who [sincerely] repents from sin is like him who has committed no sin[2]
The Al-Mighty Allah asserts:
And [the pious are] those who, when they commit an immoral act or wrong themselves, remember Allah and seek forgiveness of their sins – and who forgives sins except Allah? And those who do not purposely become stubborn regarding what they did. For such the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens beneath which rivers flow – abiding in it forever; what an excellent reward for the performers of good deeds[3]
However, in future adopt an attitude to first enquire the Shariah ruling of anything before engaging in it.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Hanif Yusuf Patel
Student Darul Iftaa
UK
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
[1] إذا علم أن كسب مورثه حرام يحل له ، لكن إذا علم المالك بعينه، فلا شك في حرمته ووجوب رده عليه ، وهذا معنى قوله: وقيده فى الظهيرية، الخ. وفى منية المفتى: مات رجا ويعلم الوارث أن أباه كان يكسب من حيث لا يحل، ولكن لا يعلم الطالب بعينه ليرد عليه، حل له لإرث، والأفضل أن يتورع ويتصدق بنية خصماء أبيه اه وكذا لا يحل إذا علم عين الغصب مثلا وإن لم يعلم مالكه لما فى البزازية: أخذ مورثه رشوة أو ظلما ، إن علم ذلك بعينه، لا يحل له أخذه، وإلا فله أخذه حكما. أما فى الديانة ، فيتصدق به بنية إرضاء الخصماء اه
[Radd al-Muhtar ala ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, 5:99, H.M. Saeed Company Karachi; Ibid, 6:189/386; Tabyeen al-Haqa`iq, 6:321-2; Al-Bahr ar-Ra`iq, 8:202; Al-Mawsoo`at al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaiytiyyah, 34:246; Idarah Ash-Shuoon al-Islamiyyah]
[Contemporary Fatawaa, p.242, Idara e Islamiat Karachi; Imdad al-Fatawa, 4:144, Maktabah Darul-Uloom Karachi; Fatawa Mahmoodiyyah, 18: 446, Dar al-Iftaa Jamiah Farooqiyyah, Karachi; Jadeed Fiqhi Masaa`il, 4:93, Kutub Khana Naeemiyyah; Fatawa Darul-Uloom Deoband, 2:705; Mahmood al-Fatawa, 3:62, Maktabah Anwar, Dabhel]
التائب من الذنب كمن لا ذنب له
[Mishkat al-Masaabeeh ma`a Mirqat al-Mafateeh, 4:1636, Dar al-Fikr, Beiruit]
[2] التائب من الذنب كمن لا ذنب له
[Mishkat al-Masaabeeh ma`a Mirqat al-Mafateeh, 4:1636, Dar al-Fikr, Beiruit]
[3] والذين اذا فعلوا فاحشة او ظلموا انفسهم ذكروا الله فاستغفروا لذنوبهم، ومن يغفر الذنوب الا الله ، ولم يصرّوا على ما فعلوا وهم يعلمون . اولآئك جزآؤهم مغفرة من ربهم وجنّت تجرى من تحتها الانهر خلدين فيها، ونعم اجر العملين
[Al-Qur`an, 3:135-6]
| 
