Are video games haram?

The default is permission

Entertainment and letting the self relax are allowed in Islam when they stay inside the limits of the Shari'ah. IslamWeb builds its ruling on that principle: the medium itself is neutral, and the ruling attaches to the contents and the consequences.

"The ruling we follow is that playing electronic games is permissible in principle if they are free of Shari'ah prohibitions."— IslamWeb (fatwa 457702)

That is why the answer is not a flat yes or no. Two people can play the same game and reach opposite rulings, because the deciding factor is what the game holds and what it does to the player's duties.

What makes a game forbidden

IslamWeb lists the prohibitions that flip the ruling. A game is impermissible when it contains any of the following:

• Anything that contradicts sound belief: glorification of the cross, symbols of disbelief, or content that damages correct 'aqidah.
• Music: games accompanied by music fall under the prohibition, and this is one of the most frequently repeated conditions.
• Naked or immodest images of women: explicit pictures are a clear prohibition.
• Gambling: any element of maysir (gambling) makes the game forbidden, because gambling itself is forbidden.
• Mockery of Muslims: a game that insults Muslims may not be played at all, even if the player intends to skip past the offensive parts.
• Words of disbelief: a game requiring the player to utter strange phrases to speak with ghosts is forbidden, because those words may contain disbelief — and playing it merely as a game while believing it false does not remove the sin.
• Driving you away from obligations: if it distracts you from remembering Allah and from the prayers, or pulls you past moderation, it is not allowed.

The Qur'anic basis for the gambling condition is the verse that pairs al-maysir with intoxicants and calls both the work of Satan:

"O you who have believed, indeed intoxicants, gambling, sacrificing on stone altars, and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful."— Qur'an 5:90

The evidence that play itself is allowed

The scholars do not treat play as suspect in itself. IslamWeb cites what is established in al-Bukhari, Muslim and elsewhere: the Abyssinians were playing with their spears in the mosque in front of the Prophet ﷺ, and when 'Umar رضي الله عنه moved to pelt them with pebbles, the Prophet ﷺ told him to leave them. The point drawn from it is that recreation before the Prophet ﷺ was not condemned as such — what is judged is its content and its effect.

The same reasoning appears in the hadith the scholars cite on time: a person will be asked about his life and how he spent it. That is the basis for the repeated instruction to fill your time with what benefits you in your religion and your worldly affairs.

Details that often come up

Cartoon and fantasy images. Drawings that do not show the features of living beings are not the kind of image-making that is prohibited. Likewise, imaginary creatures — dragons, dwarves, a hero shooting fire or ice from his hand — are not magic and do not by themselves make a game forbidden.

Drawings of human body parts. A game that shows drawings of human organs, joined together during play, does not make playing it forbidden, and the player does not carry the sin of the one who drew them.

A woman's neck or arms shown. If the image does not provoke desire and no harm is feared from it, a prohibition on looking at it is not apparent — there is a difference between looking at a cartoon drawing and looking at a real person. IslamWeb adds that the safer and more scrupulous course is to avoid such games altogether.

Doubtful games. Where you are unsure whether a game contains a prohibition, the guidance is to leave it, out of caution and to keep your religion clear.

The company that makes it. A game being free of prohibitions is not affected by the same company also producing games that contain them.

Paying for it. Spending money to rent what you use for play — a computer or similar — is not wrong. Money paid as gambling is forbidden, because gambling is forbidden.

Downloading and copyright. Downloading material from sites whose owners forbid it is not permitted, since intellectual rights belong to their owners. The copyright notice on a site may mean a total ban on downloading, or only a ban on commercial use — the ruling follows which of the two is intended.

If the music is the only problem

Where a game's only issue is music, IslamWeb notes that a player may mute the sound and play. But it prefers avoiding the download in the first place even with the intention to mute, because others may use it afterwards without muting the music. And a site hosting games that contain music may not carry them, since muting being possible does not make hosting them permissible.

In practice

Check the game against the list above before you play, not after. If it contains music, nudity, gambling, mockery of Muslims, symbols or words of disbelief, or anything that damages belief, leave it. If it is clean, the remaining question is what it does to your prayers, your obligations and your balance — because a permissible game can still become forbidden by what it displaces. And if you cannot tell whether a game contains a prohibition, the scholars' advice is to stay away from it.

Key takeaways

• Video games are permissible in principle; the ruling follows the content and the effect, not the medium.
• Music, naked images, gambling, mockery of Muslims, and anything contradicting sound belief each make a game forbidden.
• A game that distracts you from prayer and remembrance, or takes you past moderation, is not allowed even if its content is clean.
• Cartoon images, imaginary creatures and drawings of body parts do not by themselves make a game forbidden.
• Where you are unsure whether a game contains a prohibition, avoid it.

Further reading

• IslamWeb fatwas 8393, 45870, 457702 and 212428, which set out the conditions in full.

And Allah knows best.