Islam Guidance

What do ‘Maesir’ and ‘Azlam’ Denote?

Games of chances that are mentioned in this Qur’anic verse include all types of gambling. The Arabic equivalent to this is “Maesir” which is derived from the root word “yusur” which means ‘ease’. Since a gambler does not perform a laborious work and is able to easily grab the money belonging to others, gambling is called “Maesir”.
“Azlam” is a game of chance that is played with dice. Actually, there used to be special pieces of wood which were used in gambling. Azlam is also known as “aqlām”. The gamblers used to purchase a camel and divide the meat of the slaughtered camel into twenty-eight parts. Ten pieces of arrow-shaped wood were kept at the venue of gambling. Each piece had a specific name. The names of seven of those pieces were faz, tawām, raqīb, halas, nafis, masbal and mualla.

Specific portion of meat was allotted to each of the arrows. For example faz was equal to one portion and mualla had seven portions. The meat that had been divided into twenty-eight pieces was distributed only to these ten pieces of wood. Some of the arrows were such that no meat was allotted to them and in fact those who got them had to reimburse the cost of camel in full. The total of participants in this game was ten, and the Three unlucky ones were expelled. The Three unlucky arrows were named “manaj, safih and raghad”.


‘Azlām’ is a kind of a wager whereas ‘Maesir’ includes all forms of gambling. Azlām is mentioned specifically because it was popular before the advent of Islam. Other methods of azlām are also recorded but irrespective of the method, all types of wagers are Harām. Wine, gambling, idol worship and azlām are all satanic works. Involving oneself in these would deprive the person of salvation and success in the hereafter. It is therefore commanded not to even go near wine and gambling.

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