:salam2:
Firstly:
Anyone who looks at the state of youth today will see that most of them are not serious and have no interest in acquiring beneficial knowledge or seeking halaal provision. They waste their time with things that are not useful, which causes psychological and physical problems.
One of the salaf passed by some people who were playing and said: “I wish that time could be bought with money, then I would buy these people’s time!”
Yes, for those great men, the hours of the day were not enough for research, study and serious work; they used to sleep and eat less so that they would not be wasting time.
Now we see the youth, unfortunately, wasting the best years of their life with play and leisure. We do not want our young brothers to regard as forbidden the kinds of leisure and play that Allaah has permitted them, but we wish that this would not be the thing with which they are preoccupied night and day, and that they would look for a game that will benefit them mentally and physically and help them develop their skills.
Secondly:
As for playing games in places where no evil things are present, there is nothing wrong with that, but that is subject to conditions, for example:
1. There should be no betting.
2. There should be no swearing, name-calling, mockery or hatred.
3. It should not lead to missing obligatory duties such as prayer, seeking knowledge, and looking after one’s family, teaching them and disciplining them.
We have mentioned above that most of the fuqaha’, including Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, regarded chess as haraam, and that those who allowed it did so only if these conditions are met. When we think about youth and the way they play, we will see that these conditions are hardly ever met.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said concerning chess – and his words may be applied to pool billiards and other games that young people play today –:
… What is meant is that when chess distracts people from their duties, whether inwardly or outwardly, then it is haraam according to scholarly consensus. The fact that it distracts people from fulfilling their duties properly is so obvious as to need no explanation. The same applies if it distracts people from duties other than prayer, such as taking care of oneself or one’s family, or enjoining that which is good and forbidding that which is evil, or upholding the ties of kinship, or honouring one’s parents, or fulfilling one’s duties with regard to public office, etc.
It rarely happens that a person involves himself with these games and they do not distract him from some duty. It should be noted that there is scholarly consensus on the prohibition in such cases. Similarly if the game involves something that is haraam or leads to something haraam, then it is haraam according to scholarly consensus, such as if it involves lying, false oaths, cheating, or wrongdoing or helping in wrongdoing. That is haraam according to the consensus of the Muslims, even if it is in a race or contest, so how about if it is chess or dice and the like?
The same applies if it involves some other kind of evil, such as getting involved in something that may lead to immorality, or cooperating in aggression etc, or if the game attracts too many people which leads to neglecting an obligatory duty or doing something haraam. This kind of game and others like it are things that the Muslims are agreed are haraam.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 32/218
