According to the unanimous consensus of Islamic scholarship, gambling, known in the Quran as Maysir (ميسر), is a major sin and is definitively forbidden (Haram). The Quran, in verses 5:90-91, explicitly calls it an "abomination of Satan's handiwork" intended to "excite enmity and hatred" among people and to distract them from the remembrance of Allah and prayer. Classical commentators like Ibn Kathir explain that the prohibition is absolute because it involves the unjust acquisition of wealth through pure chance, where one person's gain is contingent upon another's loss. Al-Qurtubi's legal analysis defines it as any transaction where one pays for the chance to receive an uncertain reward. The linguistic root, as analyzed by Al-Tabari, points to 'gaining something with ease' without productive effort, which Islam discourages. This prohibition covers all forms of betting, lotteries, and games of chance involving a wager, as they corrupt both society and an individual's spiritual focus.