General Question:

Is it Halaal to have lucky draws against the sale of a product? E.g. I am from a cellular (mobile) company and we are planning to launch a lucky draw. Each customer who buys our prepaid calling cards gets entitled for a lucky draw after he submits the card with us. There are prizes in the lucky draw, e.g. car, t.v. etc.

'Lucky Draws' are one method of selecting one or a few of a company's large number of customers for the stated purpose. There are some people, who consider this method to fall in the category of 'Gambling' and 'Wager' and, therefore, consider it to be against the tenets of the Shari`ah. However, in my opinion, such draws cannot be considered a clear case of 'Gambling', due to the mere fact that the customers are paying for the utility provided to them, while the 'gifts' are an additional potential benefit that they can enjoy. It would indeed have been a clear case of 'Gambling' and 'Wager' and, therefore, would have stood clearly prohibited by the Shari`ah, had the company offered direct sale of raffle tickets only.

The foregoing paragraphs should adequately summarize my opinion regarding your specific question. Nevertheless, there is one additional aspect, which needs to be pointed-out from a socio-economic perspective and which relates to the creation of artificial demand for a product in the market. The target of most of the sales promotion campaigns adopted in the capitalistic societies is not to efficiently and effectively cater for the existing demand or to create a real demand for a product or service, but to enflame artificial demand for that product or service. "Lucky Draws" and other related techniques (such as advertising etc.) deserve to be analyzed on the basis of their socio-economic effects particularly from a moral perspective. However, it is clear that even though the effects of such sales promotion campaigns may not be desirable from a socio-economic perspective, yet in a competitive environment, an individual company may not be in the best of positions to avoid opting for such marketing gimmicks.

If the legislators in a state feel that the socio-economic effects of such sales promotion techniques are not desirable, then they should pass legislations to safeguard the society from these effects. Till such time, I am more inclined to suggesting that those companies, who have the ability to survive and prosper in the market without resorting to such sales promotion techniques which create artificial demand for their products, should consider it binding upon themselves, from a socio-moral perspective, to avoid resorting to such practices.

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