Chess forbidden in Islam, rules Saudi mufti, but issue not black and white

UK Guardian ^ | January 21, 2016 | Kareem Shaheen

[C19fan]

Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti has ruled that chess is forbidden in Islam, saying it encourages gambling and is a waste of time.

Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh was answering a question on a television show in which he issues fatwas in response to viewers’ queries on everyday religious matters.

He said chess was “included under gambling” and was “a waste of time and money and a cause for hatred and enmity between players”.

[Made In The USA]

Chess scares them. Every time they see the Knight, they think the Crusades are starting again.

[lurk]

chess was included under gambling and was a waste of time and money and a cause for hatred and enmity between players.

Yeah, like walking in and shooting up a rock concert in Paris is so much better use of time and emotional energy.

[fhayek]

Arabs were once the leading players of chess (at least the version of chess before the it was Europeanized with a stronger queen). They were instrumental in transmitting the game from the Middle East to Europe. Chess is said to have started in India, but I believe its roots extend farther to the east in China.

Anyway chess has intrinsic intellectual satisfaction to the players that gambling is not needed to 'juice it up'. What is it about Muslims that seek to squeeze all of the joy out of life and replace it with misery?

[Oztrich Boy]

It’s also racialist, setting white against black.