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"Win A Million" Competition Discontinued In UAE
additional reporting by L.Ibrahim
DUBAI, May 21 (IslamOnline) - "Win a Million" phone competitions will no longer be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), two major players of in telecommunications field announced Sunday.
The UAE newspaper Al Bayan reported that Emirates Call & City Line said they would no longer be holding the competitions in response to a fatwa issued by Youssef al-Qaradawi.
In a release issued by Emirates Call, the company stated that "the decision was made out of the company's commitment to respect religious, cultural and traditional values, and this will be a base for all the services that are offered by the company."
The controversial competitions involved 900-numbers in which the participants call in, and after a set of instructions, are asked to key in any combination of numbers to open the door for the "dream treasure" as one company called it. The treasure could range from $368,000 to $1 million depending on the campaign.
When dialed, the caller is charged heavily for each minute he spends on the phone, but in the hope of winning the treasure of his/her dreams, is forced to patiently wait for the automated instructions, ending up with a not-too-cheap phone call.
Since the emergence of these competitions, supported by heavy media campaigns towards the end of last year, renowned Islamic scholar Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa prohibiting the competitions, deeming them as a form of gambling.
Al Bayan reported that Sheikh Nasr Fareed Wasl, Egypt's chief Mufti, also emphasized the dangers of the competitions saying that it is a form of gambling prohibited in the Qur'an and that it was quite similar to lottery games, making the participants depend on luck.
Other al-Azhar scholars were reported to have said that the competitions were in fact "gambling in a modern style".
Emirates Call has stated that the decision will not affect other services, such as song dedications, poetry, sports or news updates, since there is no controversy on these services.
The company said the additional charges in those calls were because the services were delivered in non-conventional methods, and that prices for these services are shown in ads and at the start of the phone calls.
The initial 15 seconds of the phone call in which the prices are announced are also free of charge, the company stated. The company has said that in the past they were not sure that the competitions were "haram" (unIslamic) since all that was written about in the media was the work of journalists who are not qualified to issue fatwas.
But now, with the assurance of Qaradawi's fatwa, the company is under obligation to comply.
City Line, another phone service company, also announced that it would halt the competitions following the final draw scheduled to take place on Friday. Last week, the company stated its willingness to put a stop to the competition, which raised many objecting voices among parents and educators, if there was a clear fatwa deeming it haram.
Al Bayan reported Hisham al-Gurg, Managing Director of City Line, as saying: "We have to continue with the draw because this involves the rights of participants and contracts with several members of the media and other legal rights."
Al-Gurg also said that they have communicated with Qaradawi and al-Azhar to further discuss the fatwa and what should be done regarding monies already earned during the last competition. He added that most of it was spent on media campaigns and salaries, all of which are difficult to recoup.
The future of other competitions and draws that provoked the public in the past is still unknown. Topping the list of past competitions were the famous "Win a Lexus" or "Win a Rolls Royce" competitions. Those involved buying coupons and entering a draw, a clear form of gambling denounced by scholars, yet given the "blind eye" by local authorities.
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