Are video games haram?

Video games are where many people today rest, compete, tell stories and spend time with friends. Muslim gamers sometimes wonder whether all of it is a waste or a sin. The stronger view (al-rājiḥ) is that video games are halal. Play and rest are part of the balanced life the Sunnah describes, Muslims have loved games for centuries, and the jurists judge a game by what it contains and what it does to the player.

Does Islam allow play and entertainment?

It does. In the story of Joseph, his brothers persuade their father to let the boy go out with them by appealing to something every parent understands:

أَرۡسِلۡهُ مَعَنَا غَدٗا يَرۡتَعۡ وَيَلۡعَبۡ

“Send him with us tomorrow to enjoy himself and play.”

Quran 12:12

The brothers’ plan was treacherous, but the request they chose was one their father, a prophet, would recognize as reasonable: a child needs play. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta cites this verse in its fatwa on electronic games as evidence that recreation in itself is lawful.

In the Sunnah, the Prophet ﷺ cheered on the Abyssinians as they played with their shields and spears in his mosque on Eid (Sahih al-Bukhari 950), raced his wife Aisha, and teased a little boy about his pet bird. Our answers on dancing and eating pork in Minecraft tell those stories.

Is it wrong to spend time on things that are not worship?

A Companion named Hanzala once feared he had become a hypocrite. With the Prophet ﷺ he felt Paradise and the Fire before his eyes, and at home with his wife, children and work, he forgot much of it. Abu Bakr admitted he felt the same, and they went to the Prophet ﷺ together. He told them that if they stayed always in that state, the angels would shake their hands in the streets, and then he said three times:

«وَلَكِنْ يَا حَنْظَلَةُ سَاعَةً وَسَاعَةً»

“But Hanzala, an hour for this and an hour for that.”

Sahih Muslim 2750a

A believer is a human being, with times of devotion and times of ordinary life, family and rest. A game played in that second hour has its proper place.

What did Muslims play in history?

Chess (shiṭranj) came to the Muslim world from Persia and became a passion of the Abbasid age. Abu Bakr al-Suli (d. about 946) defeated the reigning champion at the court of the caliph al-Muktafi in Baghdad, served as a companion to three caliphs, and wrote a book on chess, Kitāb al-Shiṭranj, that includes the earliest known description of the knight’s tour. One of his endgame problems remained unsolved for over a thousand years.

The jurists discussed chess at length. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, in a 2019 fatwa, explained that the majority of scholars permit it. The Hanafis held that playing it does not make a person a sinner, and the Malikis permitted it as long as it does not keep the player from prayer. The Hanbali school was the strictest. According to al-Shafi’i, the great Successors Muhammad ibn Sirin and Hisham ibn Urwa played chess, and Saʿid ibn Jubayr was known to play with his back to the board.

What does modern fatwa say about video games?

In 2025, Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta ruled that electronic games are permissible, since the basic rule for recreation is permission. It set conditions any thoughtful gamer will recognize:

• the game contains nothing forbidden, such as gambling or indecency;
• it causes no psychological or moral harm;
• it does not consume all of a person’s time or push aside duties;
• for children, it suits their age and is supervised by their parents.

Within those bounds, many games build real skills: strategy, teamwork, problem-solving, patience, and the friendships that come from playing together. Games can also bring a family closer. A parent who sits down to play with a child enters the child’s world, as the Prophet ﷺ did with the little boy and his bird. The soundtracks and songs that fill many games are lawful too, as explained in Is music haram?

What should a Muslim gamer watch out for?

The cautions in the tradition concern harm. They do not target games as such.

• Prayer comes first. When the time for ṣalāh comes, pause the game. If you have fallen behind in prayer, our answer on missed prayers offers a gentle way back.
• Time is a trust. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Two blessings that many people lose out on: health and free time” (Sahih al-Bukhari 6412). Let games be part of your free time, alongside sleep, study, exercise and family.
• No gambling. Wagers and features that sell chances at prizes for real money resemble maysir, which the Quran forbids (Quran 5:90). See Is gambling or the lottery haram?
• Kindness online. The Prophet ﷺ said a Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand people are safe. That includes voice chat.
• Watch for addiction. If gaming leaves you unable to stop, harms your health or schoolwork, or replaces the people in your life, seek help from family and a counselor. Struggling with this is a common problem and nothing to be ashamed of.

A closing word

Allah made human beings to delight in skill, challenge and play, and He made rest part of strength. Play well, play fair, keep your prayer close, and let your games be one of the good gifts that He has given you.