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Fatwa CenterTrading players in FIFA 10 is not gambling
Question
assalamu 'alaikum. Someone plays an electronic game called FIFA 10. In it are things that are contrary to Shari'ah. There is a system of buying and selling players with electronic money. Suppose you are a manager playing with a team. After every match you have to pay them salary and you will get different prizes if you win a challenge like: hat trick, win without foul, etc. After the season you can buy and sell the players in the market with a certain amount of electronic money. You can buy a player by bidding and after you win in bidding you can sell him with a higher price. Don't these things come under the heading of gambling and haraam kind of play as our Prophet 'alaihis salam forbade giving any prize in play except in three: Horse racing, Camel racing and Archery.In-sha-Alloh you will clarify this. Jazak-Allohu khoira.Wassalam.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His Slave and Messenger.
The view adopted on Islamweb is that it is permissible to play electronic games in principle as long as they are free of violations of the Sharee‘ah, such as that they do not distract from the remembrance of Allaah and obligatory acts of worship, do not involve gambling, prohibited music, images of women exposing their 'Awrah (body parts that should be covered) and do not lead to enmity and hatred among the players. Please, refer to Fataawa 86146 and 91906.
As for the game you mentioned, it is difficult to make a judgment about it because we are not fully aware of all its details. However, in general, selling and buying in-game items and features, such as buying players, is permissible as long as the game itself is permissible. Those in-game items are sources of utility inside the games and they may be used in trade. This is not in and of itself considered the prohibited gambling.
You should know that the gambling that is prohibited is that which involves taking a risk between two players over real (and not virtual) compensation. One pays money and could win or lose. The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence reads, "The jurists arrived at a scholarly consensus on the prohibition of a game that involves gambling. The Shaafiʻis held that if money was stipulated from both sides so that the money would be for the winner of either of them, then this is forbidden gambling. They underlined that in this case it is a major sin."
Now that you know the criterion for prohibited gambling, you can judge whether this game or any other one is prohibited.
Allaah Knows best.
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