Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

It is not appropriate for a Muslim to waste his time in

things that will not benefit him, so how about spending time doing things

that are sinful or haraam? The time that a person wastes in his day is part

of his life, and he should use it in doing things that will bring him closer

to his Lord and avoid wasting it in doing haraam or evil things.

The program which the questioner mentions is a foolish

program which the Muslim should not watch, in which women appear improperly

dressed and in which young men and women appear together as

boyfriend-girlfriend couples and the like, and in which the contestant

collects a large amount of money then loses it if the wheel lands on the

word “Bankrupt”. How can the viewer denounce what he sees of nakedness and

gambling?

Secondly:

There is nothing wrong with a Muslim buying a product and

then entering a prize draw from that company, but that is subject to

conditions:

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

Companies nowadays offer prizes to those who buy from them,

and we say that there is nothing wrong with this, subject to two

conditions:

The first condition:

The price of the item purchased should be its true price,

i.e., the price should not be raised in order to cover the cost of the

prize. If the price is raised in order to cover the cost of the prize, then

this is gambling and is not permitted.

The second condition:

The person should not buy

the item in order to try to win the prize. If he buys it only in order to

try to win the prize, and he has no real use for the item, then this is a

waste of money. We have heard that some people buy cartons of milk or yogurt

which they do not need, but they buy it for a chance of winning the prize.

So you find that they buy it and pour it out in the marketplace or on the

way home. This is not permissible, because it is a waste of money, and the

Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) has forbidden

wasting money.

As’ilah al-Baab al-Maftooh, no.

1162.

And Allaah knows best.