I think that's a bit extreme. There's no gambling involved. It's a game of skill not luck.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/world/middleeast/saudi-arabias-top-cleric-forbids-chess-but-players-maneuver.html?_r=0
On 1/22/2016 7:28 PM, David Amicus wrote:
I think that's a bit extreme. There's no gambling involved. It's a game of skill not luck.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/world/middleeast/saudi-arabias-top-cleric-forbids-chess-but-players-maneuver.html?_r=0
A bit? :/ I think the man is "out there", personally. But apparently a number of Saudi chess players are not letting this stop them from
playing, organizing tournaments, forming and participating in chess
clubs, etc. Chess playing is very widespread in the Arab world and has
been for a long time.
It was odd reading the actual fatwa. I kept thinking of certain mostly Protestant religious speakers of the English Reformation and
Enlightenment era who preached against board games of various kinds and
other "frivolous" entertainment using similar language and similar approaches. You've read Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress"? Come to think
of it, a much earlier Catholic example comes to mind -- the Parson's
tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I've noticed that outsiders -- particularly non-religious outsiders --
often take pronouncements by prominent clerics of *any* religion more seriously than insiders do. I've seen people do that to the current and
some previous Popes, and to the Dalai Lama.
Yusuf, how seriously do you expect this fatwa to be taken in Saudi
Arabia? Outside of it? Any other Muslims or people in the Middle East
-- what do you think?
--
Catherine Jefferson <tw86034@ergosphere.net>
Blog/Personal: http://www.ergosphere.net
On Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 6:40:03 AM UTC+2, Catherine Jefferson wrote:
On 1/22/2016 7:28 PM, David Amicus wrote:
I think that's a bit extreme. There's no gambling involved. It's a game of skill not luck.
Such fatwas or even legal prohibitions concerning chess have
on occasion been issued without long term results.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/world/middleeast/saudi-arabias-top-cleric-forbids-chess-but-players-maneuver.html?_r=0
A bit? :/ I think the man is "out there", personally. But apparently a number of Saudi chess players are not letting this stop them from
playing, organizing tournaments, forming and participating in chess
clubs, etc. Chess playing is very widespread in the Arab world and has been for a long time.
It was odd reading the actual fatwa. I kept thinking of certain mostly Protestant religious speakers of the English Reformation and
Enlightenment era who preached against board games of various kinds and other "frivolous" entertainment using similar language and similar approaches. You've read Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress"? Come to think
of it, a much earlier Catholic example comes to mind -- the Parson's
tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I've noticed that outsiders -- particularly non-religious outsiders -- often take pronouncements by prominent clerics of *any* religion more seriously than insiders do. I've seen people do that to the current and some previous Popes, and to the Dalai Lama.
The article says:
Fatwas are not considered law, rather they are legal opinions
sometimes meant to apply to specific situations or intended
as general religious guidance.
Yusuf, how seriously do you expect this fatwa to be taken in Saudi
For Saudi Arabia see above.
Arabia? Outside of it? Any other Muslims or people in the Middle East
ISIL lunatics?
-- what do you think?
--
Catherine Jefferson <tw86034@ergosphere.net>
Blog/Personal: http://www.ergosphere.net
On 1/22/2016 7:28 PM, David Amicus wrote:
I think that's a bit extreme. There's no gambling involved. It's a game of skill not luck.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/world/middleeast/saudi-arabias-top-cleric-forbids-chess-but-players-maneuver.html?_r=0
A bit? :/ I think the man is "out there", personally.
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