Improvising rules for football game not disbelief

15-2-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum, Shaykh. Please, do not ignore this question. I need an answer ASAP as this has to do with whether I am Muslim or not. Today, I was told to run a football session at my college during sports class, and I was appointed as the referee for the football match. However, because I am not that familiar with football rules and regulations, I made up my own rules and regulations, and even if other people fouled each other, I was very lax on this. I am now wondering whether I am a disbeliever or not because I am not sure whether I ruled with a law other than what Allaah revealed. Please give me a ruling on what I did, was it disbelief or not? May Allaah reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger. 

We advise you to stay away from Waswasah (obsessive doubts) in this regard and refrain from assuming that you became a disbeliever because of it. Setting rules for football games is not considered at all to be ruling with a law other than what Allah revealed. It is just like traffic laws and the like of laws that regulate people's everyday life. Please, refer to fatwa 85284. The basic principle is that such rules are lawful and that none of them are forbidden unless they go against the laws of the Sharia.

Allah knows best.