Maysir refers to gambling or games of chance — any transaction where gain or loss is determined purely by chance rather than productive effort. The Quran explicitly prohibits maysir alongside intoxicants, and it is one of the three core prohibitions in Islamic finance alongside riba and gharar.
In the context of modern finance, maysir is relevant to the evaluation of speculative activities. Pure gambling, lotteries, and certain forms of highly speculative trading may fall under this prohibition. Scholars also examine whether certain derivative instruments, binary options, or day-trading strategies amount to maysir when there is no underlying economic activity or asset ownership.
The distinction between permissible risk-taking and maysir is nuanced. Islam permits legitimate business risk and investment uncertainty — what is prohibited is the creation of risk purely for the sake of a wager. A business venture involves calculated risk with productive intent, while maysir creates artificial risk with no underlying economic purpose. This distinction is central to scholarly discussions about cryptocurrency, options trading, and other modern financial instruments.
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