Even the Saudi Grand Mufti Can’t Stop These Chess Players
A fatwa against the game of chess isn't stopping Saudi players from holding tournaments.
On Friday, Saudi chess players will face off in a competitive tournament in the holy city of Mecca.
One person who probably won’t be in attendance? Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, who recently forbade Muslims from playing chess in response to a viewer’s question on his weekly television show, With His Eminence the Mufti.
He argued that chess -- a relatively popular pastime in Saudi Arabia -- is “a waste of time and an opportunity to squander money,” adding that it causes “enmity and hatred between people.”
On Friday, Saudi chess players will face off in a competitive tournament in the holy city of Mecca.
One person who probably won’t be in attendance? Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, who recently forbade Muslims from playing chess in response to a viewer’s question on his weekly television show, With His Eminence the Mufti.
He argued that chess — a relatively popular pastime in Saudi Arabia — is “a waste of time and an opportunity to squander money,” adding that it causes “enmity and hatred between people.”
Luckily for Friday’s competitors, the mufti’s fatwa from last month lacks legal standing under Saudi civil law and instead serves only as religious guidance.
Still, after a flurry on social media, the president of the law committee of the Saudi Chess Association, Musa Bin Thaily, clarified in a tweet Wednesday that the tournament Friday, which will qualify the winners for a national championship and possibly the world series of chess, will go ahead as planned.
In a similar case last year, a senior Saudi cleric ruined what many consider to be their favorite wintertime activity by issuing a fatwa against building snowmen, even though Saudi Arabia isn’t known for its snowfall.
Below, FP selected a sampling of the many tweets written about the incident.
MUSA BIN THAILY/Twitter
More from Foreign Policy
Russia’s Defeat Would Be America’s Problem
Victory in Ukraine could easily mean hubris in Washington.
Russia’s Stripped Its Western Borders to Feed the Fight in Ukraine
But Finland and the Baltic states are still leery of Moscow’s long-term designs.
Europe’s Energy Crisis Is Destroying the Multipolar World
The EU and Russia are losing their competitive edge. That leaves the United States and China to duke it out.
With Winter Coming, Europe Is Walking Off a Cliff
Europeans won’t escape their energy crisis as long as ideology trumps basic math.
Sign up for Morning Brief
Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter with what’s coming up around the world today from Foreign Policy’s newsletter writer Colm Quinn.
By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy.
