Islam Vs. Chess

For quite a while now, I haven't posted much about Islam. After all, it's pretty much SSDD. Then, along comes something like this....

From QWIRE:

Allah's Messenger (saws) said: 'He who played chess is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine.' (Sahih Muslim Hadith 5612, Narrated by Buraydah ibn al-Hasib)

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OK, I concede that this particular aspect of Islam may not appear to be the biggest issue facing western democracies. But it does provide an interesting and unusually amusing illustration of some of the different priorities inherent in Islamic thinking....

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So why on earth is Islam opposed to chess? What is it about chess which so offends Islam?

You can find many Islamic authorities espousing the evils of chess:

"Some people claim that the game of chess increases ones wit and intelligence, and it assists one in learning the ways of battles. This claim is unreasonable. Chess has nothing to do with wit or intelligence; on the contrary intelligence suffers a derangement by this game. The player of chess becomes so absorbed in this game that he has no care or concern for anything else. Yes there is no surprise in the fact that by constant playing, one's ability to manoeuvre the various ways and moves of the game improves. But then what is the benefit of this gain? Similarly this game has no relationship with the strategies of battle or war. The act of the game is limited to its technical or ordinary manoeuvres e.g. the knight moves so and the elephant moves so. In true and real battles these are not the moves to be found. The manoeuvres of war are totally distinct and separate. In short both these claims are absurd". (Inter Islam, prohibitions)

So we have here two justifications:

- that chess causes a mental derangement; it seems Islamic values can contradict western scholastic and medical research

- Chess lacks the proper training for a Muslim to apply directly in acts of war or jihad. The connection between the chess board and being able to carry out violence cannot be established....

Read the rest HERE. Several Islamic sources condemn "the evils of chess."

A kinder way to kill

Who says that the fine, upstanding religious folk of Saudi Arabia are not warm, big-hearted, benevolent people full of the milk of human kindness, thoughtfulness, humanity and generosity of spirit?

Proof of this comes today as we learn that a senior official there who said it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast "immoral content" has now qualified his remarks. Now, says Sheik Saleh al-Lehedan, chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council, owners of television stations that show programmes that are "inimical to Islam" can be executed in the due process of law instead.

Now isn't that big of him?

This deranged loon appeared on government-run Saudi TV in an apparent attempt to calm the controversy his comments had triggered last Thursday after he had said in a radio broadcast, in reply to a listener's query, that it was "permissible to kill" those who showed such programmes.

But being able to kill them only through the process of law – well, that's a big step in the right direction, isn't it? Perhaps the people of Saudi Arabia should find a way of killing the entire royal family, judiciary and obsenity police. Through the process of law, of course!

More Islamic Legalism

Do you celebrate birthdays and anniversaries? Mother's Day? If so, you are an infidel and observing un-Islamic practices! I say, "Go for it!"

From this Dhimmi Watch posting by Raymond Ibrahim, our August 22 guest on The Gathering Storm Radio Show:

Saudi Grand Mufti declares celebrating birthdays an infidel practice

And every major Muslim thinker agrees. Another clear instance of the doctrine of al-Wala' we al-Bara', as the issue at hand is the great need to differentiate oneself from non-Muslims and their infidel practices. "Grand mufti rejects Al-Oadah's fatwa," from Arab News, August 20:

Celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries has no base in Islam, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Alsheikh has said.

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Al-Alsheikh, who is the highest religious authority in the Kingdom, said Muslims only have two official celebrations — Eid Al-Fitr, which is celebrated at the end of Ramadan, and Eid Al-Adha, which is celebrated on Dhul Hijjah 10. He added that Muslims also have a weekly Eid, which is Friday.

The mufti said that the celebration of other occasions such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries and mother’s day were un-Islamic.

Several prominent Muslim scholars have supported the mufti, adding that celebrating such occasions is in imitation of people of the Jewish and Christian faiths.

And here is another way which Saudi makes sure to stay distant from us despised infidels, from an August 20, 2008 editorial in the Washington Post:

Olympic Embarrassment: Saudi Arabia's Olympic team has no women.
"THE PRACTICE of sport is a human right." So proudly affirms the International Olympic Committee in Principle 4 of the "Fundamental Principles of Olympism." "Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit." And Principle 5 makes explicit that discrimination based on gender "is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement." So what is an all-male Saudi team doing in Beijing?...

"It's not as if there are no women from majority-Muslim countries competing in the Beijing Games....Algeria, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have women on their teams. In fact, Bahrain and the UAE even allowed women to carry their national flags....Brunei is the other Muslim country that does not allow women to play sports....

Saudi Moslems — What a bunch of party poopers!

Just what does the Grand Mufti consider acceptable "Islamic" fun?