Ruling on gambling via SMS in Malaysia
A Fatwa has been issued in Malaysia that states that contests based on short messaging service (SMS) which contain elements of gambling are forbidden to Muslims. A Fatwa is defined as "legal opinion issued by a qualified Muslim scholar (alim, pl. ulama) on matters of religious belief and practice (www.omarfoundation.org/Culture/Educators/Glossary.htm)".
The reason for this is that those contents were based on luck and could be exploitive in nature. National Fatwa Council chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Ibrahim was quoted as saying that such contests are "... likened to gambling because the ultimate results of such games depend on the participant’s luck. They also exploit participants by urging them to spend money on these games. At the end of the day, participants who actually profit from these games are few while those who spend large sums of money don’t win anything." Telephone companies are urged to ban such contests.
Nothing to say against this but again, this is a case where something is banned just because of technology enables new distribution.
However, wouldn't it be better to educate the population about gambling? About financial planning? Or regulate the business and weed out illegal companies running those contests via police enforcement? Isn't it more likely that those who want to gamble go underground and are out of control and alone? That you can still gamble, anyway, via the Internet - so this would be next step to do? Where would it stop? So basically, what we want to say is that this is an over-reaction, once again, as can be found across the world in the face of a fast changing environment based on innovative technology - camera phones are one of those issues, porn distribution via mobile phones in the UK another one - and there are plenty more.
Menji's Comments:
Menji wrote that our comment about that “As far as we Muslims are concerned, there is no "overreaction". As a matter of fact, I find your comment above to be offending my religious sensibilites. If an activity is considered to be haraam (forbidden), then it is haraam, full stop. It is then up to the responsibility of the Govt. to stop them (although why the Govt. would allow such activities in the first place is another story).”
Update: Asia Business Consulting apologises if we offended anybody’s feelings – however, what we were stating is only that it is a common reaction of governments across the world to ban or strictly regulate developments that are brought about by technology – camera phones in certain countries, music piracy and downloads from the internet and others. SMS opened up a new distribution channel for organizers of any event. No longer are they required to go through newspapers or television and advertise their events. No longer do they need to only promote their contests or events via flyers or mailers. Sure, they still use those channels but to promote via SMS or the internet is way cheaper and can reach a wider audience.
Those new channels are exploited by the private sector – with good and with bad intentions. If the intentions of the private sector are basically good, nobody needs to act against it.
However, if the intentions are bad, a ban cannot be executed easily. It is education that is needed to enforce the ban. If Muslim cannot participate in SMS contexts, how would anybody be able to control if they comply or not – it could only be revealed if a Muslim wins in the contest. As such, only awareness and education is able to create a self-regulating trigger in any individual not to participate.
Basically: If something is forbidden, but I don’t exactly know why, I might or might not comply. If I am aware that it is haram or forbidden, I won’t do it and I am aware of the harm it causes.
If I am not aware of it or not educate thereabout, I might still try my luck, and participate. If there are no legal channels, there channels that are underground – and much more devastating and dangerous.
The reason for this is that those contents were based on luck and could be exploitive in nature. National Fatwa Council chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Ibrahim was quoted as saying that such contests are "... likened to gambling because the ultimate results of such games depend on the participant’s luck. They also exploit participants by urging them to spend money on these games. At the end of the day, participants who actually profit from these games are few while those who spend large sums of money don’t win anything." Telephone companies are urged to ban such contests.
Nothing to say against this but again, this is a case where something is banned just because of technology enables new distribution.
However, wouldn't it be better to educate the population about gambling? About financial planning? Or regulate the business and weed out illegal companies running those contests via police enforcement? Isn't it more likely that those who want to gamble go underground and are out of control and alone? That you can still gamble, anyway, via the Internet - so this would be next step to do? Where would it stop? So basically, what we want to say is that this is an over-reaction, once again, as can be found across the world in the face of a fast changing environment based on innovative technology - camera phones are one of those issues, porn distribution via mobile phones in the UK another one - and there are plenty more.
Menji's Comments:
Menji wrote that our comment about that “As far as we Muslims are concerned, there is no "overreaction". As a matter of fact, I find your comment above to be offending my religious sensibilites. If an activity is considered to be haraam (forbidden), then it is haraam, full stop. It is then up to the responsibility of the Govt. to stop them (although why the Govt. would allow such activities in the first place is another story).”
Update: Asia Business Consulting apologises if we offended anybody’s feelings – however, what we were stating is only that it is a common reaction of governments across the world to ban or strictly regulate developments that are brought about by technology – camera phones in certain countries, music piracy and downloads from the internet and others. SMS opened up a new distribution channel for organizers of any event. No longer are they required to go through newspapers or television and advertise their events. No longer do they need to only promote their contests or events via flyers or mailers. Sure, they still use those channels but to promote via SMS or the internet is way cheaper and can reach a wider audience.
Those new channels are exploited by the private sector – with good and with bad intentions. If the intentions of the private sector are basically good, nobody needs to act against it.
However, if the intentions are bad, a ban cannot be executed easily. It is education that is needed to enforce the ban. If Muslim cannot participate in SMS contexts, how would anybody be able to control if they comply or not – it could only be revealed if a Muslim wins in the contest. As such, only awareness and education is able to create a self-regulating trigger in any individual not to participate.
Basically: If something is forbidden, but I don’t exactly know why, I might or might not comply. If I am aware that it is haram or forbidden, I won’t do it and I am aware of the harm it causes.
If I am not aware of it or not educate thereabout, I might still try my luck, and participate. If there are no legal channels, there channels that are underground – and much more devastating and dangerous.
posted by Andreas @ 11:52 am
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