Gambling

You know there's something strange about humans.

They seem to enjoy scaring themselves.

They even build giant machines to scare themselves,

things that take them so high or fast

that they can fool themselves

into feeling like they are in terrible danger,

when in fact they are safely strapped into a fairground ride.

People pay a lot of money for the thrill of being scared.

But then there are

those who find that being strapped in safely

is just not scary enough.

They need a real risk of injury or even death

to give them the thrills that they need.

They like to climb up mountains or ski down them,

and are undeterred by the fact that

hundreds are injured in the Scottish mountains each year

with an average of about one fatality a week.

So why would anyone want to take that risk?

Well, when the decisions you make can be the difference between life and death,

the body automatically interferes to give the brain a hand.

It starts to produce a chemical called adrenaline,

which makes the heart beat faster,

helps the lungs take in more air,

sends extra blood to the muscles

and glucose to the brain.

And all that helps prepare the body for action

and helps the brain to focus.

And that feels good.

But you don't have to risk life and limb to face a risk that can affect you greatly.

People love the thrill of competition.

They play sports and games,

where they aren't pitting their mental and physical skills against nature

but against other people,

and they are judged not on whether they survive,

but on who is the best at what they do,

and often the only real risk for losers

is the blow to their pride.

But there is another kind of risk

which doesn't involve any physical danger,

and that is taking a risk of losing money or possessions,

and that risk is usually known as Gambling.

And Gambling comes in all sorts of different varieties,

from James Bond playing Baccarat at Monte Carlo,

to the National Lottery,

to betting on horse racing or other sports,

or the Stock Market,

down to bets between friends

where the loser may simply end up paying for dinner.

And some bets can require good judgement to win,

and some bets provide a winner by pure chance,

and the Deen would suggest that one is acceptable

while the other isn't.

Now clearly

traders take a risk when they buy goods

thinking that they will be able to sell them at a profit,

and that could be seen as betting that their opinion is correct,

because if it isn't they lose their money.

But we know that buying and selling for a profit is permissible,

and the Messenger himself was known for his business judgement,

his talent as a trader,

so presumably the same applies to more recent approaches to market trading

such as the stock exchange,

betting on a personal judgement as to what is likely to be profitable,

though of course where money is involved there has to be

a way of preventing people from fixing the system in their favour,

as the Deen requires honesty,

fair trading.

But looking for profit that involves no effort is frowned upon,

and in the same way

the Jahilliya Arab tradition of gambling by shuffling arrows

to decide who wins a sum of money contributed by all participants

is condemned.

Risking money in that way relies on no more than pure chance,

as do the modern versions of arrow shuffling, such as lotteries or roulette.

Of course people play games of chance for amusement,

as they enable equal competition between players of widely different abilities,

such as parents and children using a dice

to play snakes and ladders

and other board games.

It is not simply the chance taking that is condemned,

but risking the loss of goods or money on the outcome of pure chance.

In matters of judgement,

skill or ability,

the loser learns something in the act of losing.

They gain knowledge from the experience

that increases their chances of succeeding next time,

or at the very least

they learn something about the limitations of their abilities.

Shuffling arrows is empty,

there is nothing to gain from failure,

only loss.

But the rush of adrenaline that comes from taking risks is addictive,

so it is important that such risk taking is kept within bounds,

as the last thing anyone needs is to get addicted to something

that almost always ends in failure and loss.

It is the misuse of something that is given for a purpose,

and the purpose of adrenaline is to help us to overcome fear.

But that fear is necessary to help us avoid risk,

as a person without fear is unlikely to survive very long.

The world is full of things that can do them serious damage,

and children who are fearless have to be taught

to be afraid of things like fire

or busy roads.

Fear is necessary,

but we need to learn the right way to live with it,

not hiding ourselves behind cotton wool or bubblewrap,

but facing our fear with courage.

We all have trials to deal with,

such as pain, loss, sickness, and death,

and when we are dealing with suffering

it can overwhelm us.

And we may need to talk to others

to help us deal with what's happening in the world,

but to really deal with what we feel inside ourselves

we need a different kind of help that can only come from God.

We need help, not to ignore human suffering,

but to help us face it.

We don't just need adrenaline, we need Hope,

to act as a counterbalance to our fears.

Because our lives are in God's hands,

and for every bad thing that can happen

there are usually a zillion good things

that could happen instead.

And more often than not they do.

The thing is

that when we are talking about fears,

we are talking about the future.

We are talking about what hasn't happened yet.

We are afraid of what we imagine will happen,

afraid of pain and suffering that might not actually happen,

or at least might not happen in the way that we imagine.

Because we don't actually know what will happen in the future,

as that is the Will of God.

And if we want someone to change the future for us,

there is really no one else to turn to except God.

And when we fear the future

we need to remember

that we are actually fearing the Will of God,

so in the Deen we use that fear

to remind us of God's presence in our lives.

And in the Deen this is known as Taqwa.

And the key to being able to balance our lives

between fear and hope

and live in peace

is trust in and reliance on, God.

We need to trust

that we will not be given trials that we are not able to bear,

and to rely on God

to help us come through them.

And this trust and reliance is known as Tawakkul.