Frequently Asked Questions

No. HalalGamer is an informational tool, not a fatwa service. The ratings and category assessments reflect how a game's content maps to published scholarly positions — they are not religious rulings. Every Muslim's situation, madhab, and level of practice is different. For a ruling specific to your circumstances, please consult a qualified Islamic scholar you trust.

Ratings are produced through a three-layer process. First, Claude Haiku (an AI model) performs automated content analysis based on IGDB metadata, Steam tags, and publicly available descriptions — this is our first pass. Second, registered community members can submit per-category severity votes; once a category receives 3 or more votes, the community consensus score appears alongside the AI score. Third, our top 500 most-searched games receive manual expert review to ensure the highest accuracy where it matters most.

Personal scholarship always takes precedence over this tool. HalalGamer takes a multi-madhab approach — we present the spectrum of scholarly opinion rather than imposing one view. Use the strictness toggle (Strict / Moderate / Lenient) to find the preset that best reflects your school of thought or the guidance of your scholar. If a ruling from your sheikh differs from what the tool shows, follow your sheikh. HalalGamer is a convenience tool to help you make informed decisions faster — not a substitute for qualified Islamic guidance.

Ratings reflect a game's content at the time of screening. When we detect that a game has received a major update or significant DLC, we apply a "Stale" flag to that rating to indicate it may no longer be current. If you notice a rating that seems outdated due to a new update or expansion, you can report it via our Contact page — select the "stale rating" option and include details about the update. We prioritise re-screening flagged games based on community reports and search volume.

The three presets correspond to different madhab-based scholarly positions on the categories where scholars disagree. Strict (Hanbali/Salafi) follows the positions represented by IslamQA.info — it flags fantasy magic, all music, and polytheistic lore as concerns. Moderate (Hanafi/Shafi'i) follows SeekersGuidance and AMJA guidance — it distinguishes fantasy magic from real sorcery, tolerates background music, and takes a more contextual view of mythological narratives. Lenient (Dar al-Ifta / permissive Maliki-Shafi'i) follows Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah opinions — it is the most relaxed on fictional contexts, music, and narrative polytheism. All three presets flag the five consensus categories (nudity, gambling, active shirk, dating simulation, and alcohol/drugs) identically.

AI screening is a first pass only — it processes publicly available metadata, descriptions, and content tags to generate an initial rating. Each category shows a confidence indicator so you can see how certain the AI was. For games with sparse data, confidence will be lower. We recommend treating low-confidence ratings as a starting point for your own research rather than a definitive verdict. The top 500 most-searched games receive manual expert review, and community voting provides an independent layer of validation for widely-played titles.

Use our Contact page and check the "Game suggestion" option. Include the game title, platform, and any relevant content information you already know. We prioritise suggestions based on search demand and community requests, so widely-requested games typically get reviewed sooner.

Yes. Create a free HalalGamer account and you can submit your own severity rating (0–3) for any category on any game. Your vote is recorded per-category, and once a category has 3 or more community votes, the community consensus score is displayed alongside the AI-generated rating — giving users two independent data points. Voting helps improve accuracy, especially for games the AI has low confidence on.

A rating reflects what content is present in a game — not a judgment on whether the game is "bad" or whether you should feel guilty for playing it. Amber or red simply means the content exists at that severity level in that category. Whether that content is a concern for you personally depends on your strictness level, madhab, and the guidance of your scholar. Try switching the strictness toggle — many games that are amber or red on Strict will show as green on Moderate or Lenient. The tool is designed to give you the information; you make the decision.

If you believe a rating is factually wrong (e.g. the AI misidentified content that is not actually in the game), you can report it via our Contact form — select "Incorrect rating" and describe the specific category and what you believe the correct severity should be. A "Report" button directly on the game page is also coming soon, which will make this process faster. Corrections from trusted community members are reviewed and applied on a rolling basis.