August 17 competitions are a tradition among Indonesians in celebrating the anniversary of Indonesia's independence. However, Muslims in Indonesia need to pay attention to the source of prizes and the nature of the competitions so that such activities do not conflict with Islamic law, according to religious officials.
KH Nur Fauzi Palestin, Secretary of the Fatwa Division of the Indonesian Council of Islamic Scholars (MUI) in East Java, said the religious ruling on prizes in August independence competitions needs to be examined carefully, particularly regarding the source of prize funds. Prizes can become unlawful if they come from fees or charges from participants which are then used again as competition prizes, he said to Republika.co.id.
The situation is different if the prizes come from outside the participants, such as sponsors or individual donors who obtain and provide the funds through lawful means. Kiai Fauzi recommended that participant fees be allocated for operational needs of the activity, such as providing competition equipment and other technical requirements, rather than as prizes.
Besides the source of prizes, the form or model of the competition also needs to be considered to ensure it does not contain activities that conflict with Islamic law, said Kiai Fauzi. The presence of sponsors or donors who provide prizes lawfully does not automatically make the entire competition activity compliant with Islamic law, because organisers still need to ensure that the competition mechanism and format do not contain prohibited elements.
