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Chess (Arabic: الشِّطْرَنـْج ) is a two-player Brain teaser. In fiqh, it was traditionally considered among Gambling instruments (ālāt al-qimār) and thus Haram (forbidden). However, Sayyid Ahmad Khwansari and Imam Khomeini made its prohibition contingent upon betting. In some exegetical narrations, Qur'an 2:219, as well as Qur'an 5:90 and Qur'an 5:91, are interpreted as indicating the prohibition of chess. Independent narrations from the Fourteen Infallibles (a) regarding the prohibition of chess have also been transmitted, and hadith collections contain specific chapters dedicated to backgammon and chess.

According to Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi, Shi'a jurists agree that playing chess is forbidden because it is a gambling instrument. However, Sayyid Ahmad Khwansari considered chess haram only if accompanied by betting. Imam Khomeini, in response to an Istifta, relying on the Role of Time and Place in Ijtihad, stated that playing chess and buying and selling it is permissible (halal) if it is recognized as a sport rather than a gambling instrument.

Definition and History

Chess is one of the oldest intellectual games played by two people on a board with 32 pieces of two different colors, popular in many regions of the world.[1] It is said to have been invented by Indians, spread to Iran, then to the Islamic world, and finally to Europe.[2] World championships began in the second half of the 19th century, and in the 20th century, it was recognized as a sport, leading to the establishment of its world federation.[3]

Religious Status

In Qur'an 2:219 and Qur'an 5:90-Qur'an 5: 91, "maysir" (gambling) is forbidden,[4] and in some narrations, its instance is identified as chess.[5] Narrations related to this topic have been collected in a separate chapter in Shi'a hadith sources.[6] Mustafid narrations[7] have been transmitted regarding the prohibition of playing chess,[8] some of which explicitly forbid playing it.[9]

Some narrations use severe expressions in condemning chess; for instance, one narration regards playing chess as Shirk (polytheism), greeting the player as a grave sin leading to eternal abode in Hell, and touching it like touching pork. It is also stated that the place of its player is in Hell.[10]

Fiqh Ruling

Shi'a jurists have expressed their opinions on the legal status of playing chess and trading it, relying on narrations from the Infallibles (a):

Playing Chess

Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi (d. 1266/1850), a Shi'a jurist of the 13th/19th century, stated that Shi'a jurists agree that playing chess is haram because it is considered a gambling instrument.[11] However, Sayyid Ahmad Khwansari (d. 1405/1985), a Shi'a jurist of the 14th/20th century, believed that playing chess is haram only if it involves betting (winning and losing money or property); otherwise, it is permissible.[12]

Imam Khomeini (d. 1368 Sh/1989), the Shi'a Marja' and leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, initially opined in his book al-Makasib al-muharrama, like other Shi'a jurists, that playing chess and trading it is haram.[13] However, towards the end of his life,[14] emphasizing the Role of Time and Place in Ijtihad,[15] he wrote in response to an Istifta (inquiry) that playing chess and trading it is permissible if it is recognized today as an intellectual sport and does not involve financial betting.[16]

In this regard, Sayyid Ali Husayni Khamenei and Nasir Makarim Shirazi, Shi'a jurists of the 15th/21st century, hold that if chess is not considered a gambling instrument in common custom ('Urf) and is viewed as a type of intellectual sport, playing it without Betting is permissible.[17] However, Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani considers playing chess haram, whether with or without betting.[18]

Buying and Selling

Shi'a jurists agree on the prohibition of buying and selling Gambling instruments[19] and count chess among these instruments.[20] To prove the prohibition of trading chess, they rely on narrations that categorize chess as a gambling instrument,[21] as well as narrations that explicitly forbid trading it.[22] In addition to narrations, Shi'a jurists have cited arguments such as Ijma' (consensus) and the Sira of Muslims to prove the prohibition of buying and selling chess.[23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Mūsawī Sādātī, Darsnāma-yi shaṭranj-i dānishgāh, p. 8.
  2. ↑ Mūsawī Sādātī, Darsnāma-yi shaṭranj-i dānishgāh, p. 8.
  3. ↑ Mūsawī Sādātī, Darsnāma-yi shaṭranj-i dānishgāh, p. 8.
  4. ↑ Qur'an 2:219; Qur'an 5:90-91.
  5. ↑ Kulaynī, Al-Kāfī, vol. 6, p. 435.
  6. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 6, p. 435; Sabziwārī, Jāmiʿ al-akhbār, pp. 431-432.
  7. ↑ Rajāʾī, Al-Masāʾil al-fiqhiyya, p. 239.
  8. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Riyāḍ al-masāʾil, vol. 13, p. 262.
  9. ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 17, pp. 321-323; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Riyāḍ al-masāʾil, vol. 13, p. 262; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, pp. 43-44, 43.
  10. ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 17, p. 323.
  11. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, p. 43.
  12. ↑ Khwānsārī, Jāmiʿ al-madārik, vol. 3, p. 27.
  13. ↑ Imām Khumaynī, Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama, vol. 1, p. 362; Imām Khumaynī, Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama, vol. 2, p. 18.
  14. ↑ Qāḍī-zāda, "Imām Khumaynī wa fiqāhat-i mubtanī bar ʿunṣur-i zamān wa makān", pp. 168-169.
  15. ↑ Imām Khumaynī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, vol. 21, pp. 15-151; Qāḍī-zāda, "Imām Khumaynī wa fiqāhat-i mubtanī bar ʿunṣur-i zamān wa makān", pp. 147, 169.
  16. ↑ Imām Khumaynī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 2, pp. 932, 960.
  17. ↑ Khāminiʾī, "Shaṭranj"; Makārim Shīrāzī, Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd, vol. 1, p. 157.
  18. ↑ Sīstānī, "Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i jāmiʿ".
  19. ↑ Anṣārī, Kitāb al-makāsib, vol. 1, p. 116; Subḥānī, Al-Mawāhib, p. 254.
  20. ↑ Anṣārī, Kitāb al-makāsib, vol. 1, p. 116; Subḥānī, Al-Mawāhib, p. 254.
  21. ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 17, p. 321; Subḥānī, Al-Mawāhib, p. 255.
  22. ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 17, p. 323; Subḥānī, Al-Mawāhib, p. 255.
  23. ↑ Subḥānī, Al-Mawāhib, p. 254.

References

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  • Imām Khumaynī, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh. Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama. Tehran: Muʾassasa-yi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khumaynī, 1415 AH.
  • Imām Khumaynī, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh. Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām. Tehran: Muʾassasa-yi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khumaynī, 1389 Sh.
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