God, Gambling and Insurance

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

A young friend of mine here in Kuwait has posed to me

a very intelligent question which I am unable to

answer readily. Hence I am posting it to the various

groups in the hope that someone knowledgeable can

throw light on the matter.

 

**********

 

In Islam it is prohibited to engage in gambling. So is

taking life-insurance since it is also, according to

Islamic religious thought, akin to gambling. Both

gambling and insurance are considered to be wagering

with God's Will and hence irreligious. In Saudi Arabia

and Kuwait, Life Insurance is 'harAm'. It is

prohibited by religion and no devout Muslim will ever

place bets or take out a policy on his life or of his

kith and kin. By the same token, in Islam, all

future-based business practices would technically be

"harAm" -- modern financial or trade transactions such

as "commodity futures", "currency futures", "metals

futures" or "futures derivatives" would all be taboo

according to Islamic tenets.

 

In Christianity too, gambling is regarded as sinful.

The Church prohibits betting and wagering for more or

less the same reasons as Islam viz.: It is sinful to

play dice with the Future for gain; the future is

ordained by God and to place bets on future outcomes

of events is the equivalent of meddling with God's

Will. But Christianity's main argument against

Gambling is that it leads to moral impoverishment. It

enslaves men to money or Mammon.

 

In spite of what the Church thinks about gambling, the

Christian world is awash with the vice. In the USA

gambling is called the "gaming industry" -- it

includes lottery, card-games, casinos, betting on

horses, dogs, cock-fighting, betting on outcomes of

major sporting events such as major-league football,

the Superbowl... etc. Many of these gambling

activities are legally permitted in all but 2 of the

50-odd States in the USA. About 65% of the population

in the USA engage in gambling in one form of the

other. According to latest estimates by the

authorities, the legalized 'gaming industry' in the

USA does about US$ 65 bn in revenues a year. Las Vegas

is the Mecca of gamblers in the world. And some

gambling casino-companies are listed on Wall

Street!The illegal segment of the gambling industry

does about US$ 600 bn! (In other words, the entire

gambling industry in the USA, if it wants to, could

single-handedly fund about 6 Pentagon-backed

Iraq-sized wars in other parts of the world!).

 

In the Christian religion there is however nothing

expressly stated against the business practice of

Insurance. Insurance is founded on the principle that

the small sacrifice of the many (premium payers) can

help to provide succour for the misfortune of the few

(policy claimants). Thus, although this involves

betting on a future event or events like death,

accident or mishap, it is not on the same footing as

gambling. Insurance is all about risk. Gambling is all

about getting rich quick. From a moral standpoint, the

two are as different from each other as chalk is from

cheese.

 

In the Vedic religion (Hinduism) too gambling is

frowned upon but nowhere with the same severity of

condemnation as in Islam or Christianity. In the

Mahabharatha, the Pandavas under the righteous

Yudhishtara (known as 'dharma-raja"!) had no moral or

religious qualms in engaging in a game of dice to try

and wager back their share of the kingdom and power

from their enemies, the Kauravas. (Imagine, if the

Pandavas had won the game that day, there would have

been no Mahabharata, no Bhagavath-gita and no

Kurukshetra!) The Pandavas played poker right under

the nose of Lord Krishna, so to say! The Vedic

religion thus seems to have well recognized that even

the godly can hardly resist the thrill of gambling and

the enormous prospect it offers for instant

enrichment!

 

Indeed, the vice of gambling can hold even the most

virtuous ones in a vice-like grip! (We only have to

look at our own virtuous housewives going to the

supermarket! They never come away from all their

shopping without making sure to drop the promotional

lottery-tickets in the box at the exit! And then the

days they spend waiting, day-dreaming and secretly

wishing for the magic telephone call on the draw date!

The call that will change their lives! The phone-call

from the supermarket that will tell them to come and

collect their lottery prize-car -- a brand new Lexus!)

 

Now the questions are:

 

(1) Gambling is ethically bad because it involves the

undue enrichment of a few (the winners of bets) at the

expense of the many (the losers of bets). Gambling is

also bad on purely religious grounds because it

amounts to wagering on God-ordained Future. Islam

takes an extremely religious view of gambling whereas

Christianity seems to take a more ethical view of it.

Now, where does the Vedic religion stand on the

matter? Does it impose sanctions against Gambling on

ethical or purely religious grounds?

 

(2) Are there any specific Vedic/Upanishadic passages

to quote while supporting Hinduism's sanctions against

gambling?

 

(3) From a strictly Vedic standpoint, would Insurance

also stand on par with Gambling, or otherwise? If so,

why? And on what express authority?

 

Kindly enlighten,

 

Thanks and regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan Madabushi

 

 

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