What is the ruling on buying mystery boxes or random boxes containing unknown items? What about competitions you pay to enter, where you may or may not win? And children’s games where money is paid to play for a toy or prize, which may or may not be won?
The situation
A mystery box contains items whose nature and value are unknown. Each box has a set size and price. The contents may be returned goods, as happens with Amazon, or new items, and the price rises with the size of the box or what is in it, while the buyer does not know what it contains.
The ruling
This kind of sale is forbidden, because it involves ignorance (jahalah) and excessive uncertainty (gharar). Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the pebble sale and the sale involving gharar.” Narrated by Muslim.
It also involves gambling, because the buyer does not know what is inside the box: they may buy things worth more than they paid, or less, and in both cases there is injustice and gambling.
Allah says: “O you who believe, intoxicants, gambling (maysir), stone altars and divining arrows are filth from the work of Satan, so avoid it so that you may succeed” [al-Ma’idah 5:90].
Maysir is gambling; it is so called because the gambler gains money easily (yusr).
Imam al-Baghawi said in al-Tahdhib: “Gambling is where a man hovers between gain and loss,” that is, between winning and losing.
Al-Jassas said in Ahkam al-Qur’an: “There is no disagreement among the scholars that gambling is forbidden, and that taking a risk (mukhatarah) is part of gambling.” Ibn ‘Abbas said: “Taking a risk is gambling.”
The conditions of a valid sale
This transaction also lacks the conditions of a valid sale, since one of them is that the description, quantity, kind and price of the goods are known to both seller and buyer.
It also involves consuming people’s wealth unjustly and wasting money. Allah says: “Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly” [al-Baqarah 2:188].
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah dislikes three things for you: gossip, wasting wealth, and asking too many questions.” Agreed upon (al-Bukhari and Muslim).
There is also no need for such sales: they fall under neither necessity nor need, and lawful alternatives are available.
This ruling also applies to any competition in which the entrant pays money and may win or lose, and likewise to paid prize games for children, because they involve risk-taking and gambling (maysir).
And Allah knows best.
Director, The Bridge of Wisdom Limited (Sharia Consultancy)DM-2026-005 · 6 October 2026
About the mufti
- Holds ijazahs (formal licences) to issue fatwas and in comparative fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).
- Postgraduate studies in Usul al-Fiqh (principles of Islamic jurisprudence).
- Member of the Sharia Committee of the Halal Food Council of Europe (HFCE).
- Adviser and mufti to a number of institutions across the Muslim world.
- Scholarly reviewer and editor (muhaqqiq) of books for a number of publishing houses.
- Imam, khatib and lecturer, formerly in Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia, and currently in the United Kingdom.
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