What is the ruling on challenges and commitments that occur between young people in Qur'an memorization circles, whether from one party (such as when one says, "If I win, I'll treat you to dinner") or from two parties (whereby the loser commits to treating the winner to dinner)?

It is forbidden to take a wager (prize money) except in competitions involving archery, horses, and camels, in order to encourage jihad. Some scholars have extended this to permit wagering in competitions for memorizing the Holy Quran and Islamic sciences, by analogy, because Islam is victorious through religious knowledge just as it is victorious through jihad. This view was adopted by Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Uthaymeen, and the scholars of the Permanent Committee for Issuing Fatwas, based on the premise that knowledge is a form of jihad, and on Abu Bakr al-Siddiq's wager with the disbelievers of Quraish. Accordingly, it is permissible to take prizes for competitions involving the Holy Quran and Islamic sciences, whether the prizes are from a third party or from the contestants themselves.