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Is money resulting from a lottery ticket bought by a non-Muslim friend and given to my father, without his request or any financial consideration, considered lawful (halal) or unlawful (haram) in the event of a win?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Buying a lottery ticket to enter gambling is forbidden (haram), and the money earned from it is illicit money (mal haram) that must be disposed of by spending it on the welfare of Muslims or by giving it to the poor and needy. A poor and needy father is permitted to benefit from this money to the extent of his need, and it becomes lawful for him, for "if it [the ill-gotten money] is given to a poor person, it does not become forbidden for the poor person; rather, it becomes lawful and pure for them, and they may give it as charity to themselves and their dependents if they are poor."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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