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."