Arranging soccer tournaments to raise funds for Palestine
Our Deen is not a religion of play and entertainment. We have been created for a great and noble purpose which is primarily the Ibaadaat of Allah Ta’ala. Secondly, the sporting activity that we engaging in (soccer) is an activity that has been invented and initiated by the Kuffar. We are thus engaging in a Kuffar sport to raise funds for our Deen. Such a method was neither adopted by Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Sahaaba Radiallahu Anhum or our pious predecessors. Our success in Dunya and Aakhirah is going back 1400 years and following the actual way of life shown to us by our noble leader and master Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Our Masajid, Madrasahs, and Deeni organizations have always been functioning with funds donated by the Muslim public. The sponsors have always contributed purely for the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala and their reward is with Allah Ta’ala. Never, in the history of Islam did the Ummah resort to these types of sporting activities to raise funds for the needy Muslims (in the world.) We should therefore resort to the pure method of raising funds for the Ummah, and that is, request the Muslim Ummah to contribute without engaging in any sporting activity or entertainment, as carried out by Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam on the occasion of Tabuk and other occasions.
We do understand that there is a need to bond our youth with the Ulama and the Masajid, and many engage in such activities with the intention of winning over the youth.This objective can be achieved from our Masajid and Madrasahs by either having informal programmes with the youth. Question and answer sessions have proven to be extremely beneficial, or engaging in some other activity (such as teaching them farming, business, etc. according to the laws of Shariah) which will be of benefit to their Dunya or Aakhirah, is also beneficial. In this way, the youth will be benefitting and the Ulama will have the opportunity of building a relationship with them.
Many activities have noble intentions behind them such as assisting the underprivileged and needy, but include many impermissible practices such as soccer players dressing in un-Islamic attire, women spectators being present, Salaah being neglected, etc. In conclusion, we do not permit such sporting activities, and if the players are required to pay a fee to participate in the event and prizes are purchased for the winning team from such funds, then such an event would be categorized as gambling which is Haraam.