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According to University of Illinois Professor John Kindt’s testimony (April 27, 2005) before a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business “for every $1 the state receives in gambling revenues, it costs the state at least $3 in increased criminal-justice, social-welfare and other expenses.”
The Quran covers this issue that there are some benefits of intoxicants and gambling. However, their possible harm and sinfulness are not worth trying it.
[2:219] They ask you about intoxicants and gambling: say, "In them there is a gross sin, and some benefits for the people. But their sinfulness far outweighs their benefit…
The lottery commercial’s common catchy phrase to lure people to spend their hard-earned money on gambling is “You can’t win if you don’t play.” Yes, there are some rare winners for every million or so losers. However, studies show that the windfall from gambling or lottery does not provide long lasting happiness, as the majority of the winners squander their winnings on their bad habits. Some even end up broke, homeless or in jail.
According to Terry Ross, the author on articles on marriage, there is a correlation between gambling and marriage problems.
Gambling is one of those increasingly common marriage problems that are often over looked despite over 50% of compulsive gamblers having been divorced. As with many bad habits, gambling has a real negative impact on family life with the habit often leading to serious financial problems as well as neglect of partners and children and sometimes proving to be a catalyst for abuse.
The escalating habit has been made worse with gambling becoming even more common as a result of the onset of internet gambling. There are now thousands of gambling websites all vying for business and just waiting to encourage more and more people into the regular gambling routine. Online gambling is a really bad habit to get into with the 24/7 access from the comfort of your own home, the loss of the sense of reality when gambling away money and the ease at which the gamblers can add more funds.
Research has shown that online gamblers are more likely to have the most serious gambling habits/ addictions and the families of those addicted suffering a greater intrusion into their everyday lives.
God is the One who created us and knows what is good and bad for us. He prohibited gambling along with intoxicants because they are bad for us. It distracts us from remembering God.
[5:91] The devil wants to provoke animosity and hatred among you through intoxicants and gambling, and to distract you from remembering GOD, and from observing the Contact Prayers (Salat). Will you then refrain?
God is the one who provides and controls our provisions. To get something without working for it through gambling is against God’s law. Whatever God provides, however small, is better than a fortune that is not blessed.
[10:31] Say, "Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? Who controls all the hearing and the eyesight? Who produces the living from the dead, and the dead from the living? Who is in control of all things?" They would say, "GOD." Say, "Why then do you not observe the commandments?"
[11:86] "Whatever GOD provides for you, no matter how small, is far better for you, if you are really believers. I am not a guardian over you."
If we want to get a big return for the money we spend, we should try spending in the cause of God in righteousness. God promises that this is the best investment we can do and there is no such thing as losing.
[2:261] The example of those who spend their monies in the cause of GOD is that of a grain that produces seven spikes, with a hundred grains in each spike. GOD multiplies this manifold for whomever He wills. GOD is Bounteous, Knower.
Furthermore, if we are thankful and appreciative of God’s blessings, He gives us even more.
[14:7] Your Lord has decreed: "The more you thank Me, the more I give you." But if you turn unappreciative, then My retribution is severe.
So, the real winners actually are those who spend their money in the cause of God, obey His laws, appreciate His blessings and refrain from gambling!
Intelligence is formally defined as “the ability to learn, to understand, and to cope.” Each creature is endowed with a kind of intelligence befitting its nature. God endowed us with minds so that we can use common sense, reason, and logic to adequately adapt to our world and ultimately realize that God exists, that He is the one Lord and Master of creation (20:54).
“He gave you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brains, that you may be appreciative.” (16:78)
In themselves, memory and sensory perception do not constitute intelligence. Animals can surpass man in every category of sense experience and memorizing species-specific information.
Human intelligence serves a purpose that extends beyond survival and coping. Human intelligence is inextricably linked to the worship of God alone.
“You shall observe Me, O you who possess intelligence.” (2:197)
“He bestows wisdom upon whomever he chooses, and whoever attains wisdom, has attained a great bounty. Only those who possess intelligence will take heed.” (2:269)
The greatest misuse of intelligence is not heeding God’s guidance and commands. Intentional rejection of God’s guidance reduces the individual to the lowest of creatures.
“We have committed to Hell multitudes of jinns and humans. They have minds with which they do not understand, eyes with which they do not see, ears with which they do not hear. They are like animals; in fact, they are far worse-they are totally unaware.” (7:179)
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