What is the ruling on the game of chess?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : There is a hadith with the status of a marfu' report, found in al-Mishkat and in Sahih al-Jami', that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited the kubba. I have memorized its wording exactly as it is. And the kubba, as I have checked in its meanings, is chess. We know your Excellency's ruling regarding chess, so we ask for clarification on this matter.
The Shaykh : You say "we know," but do you not want to learn?
The questioner : We know that our Shaykh permits chess, of course, within certain conditions.
The Shaykh : Okay, yes.
The questioner : And this hadith prohibits the kubba, meaning chess.
The Shaykh : Good, but the correct pronunciation is al-kubba, not al-kabba. That is the first point. Second, you said at the beginning of your speech that one of the meanings of the kubba is chess. Did this come from you intentionally or unintentionally? And that the kubba means chess, not that chess is one of the meanings of the kubba. There is a difference between the two expressions, is there not?
The questioner : It came from me intentionally.
The Shaykh : Ah, good. So in that case, what is the intended meaning of this term in the hadith of the Messenger? Is it chess or something else? Since the kubba, when used, can mean more than one thing, and as you said, one of the meanings of the kubba is chess, what is the other meaning? And whatever that other meaning is, which one is the stronger position?
The questioner : O our Shaykh, does this word include all these meanings?
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : I mean, if we say the word kubba, is it understood to be dice and chess?
The Shaykh : No, because the kubba does not have multiple meanings. It has one meaning, but some people may interpret it as one thing and others as another. Therefore, if you want to argue that the term kubba means chess, there must be a stronger argument, otherwise it is just a claim. Second and finally, I say that when the narrator reported the hadith, it came with an explanation: the kubba is the drum. The kubba is the drum, as it came in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, and you can refer to it.
The questioner : If you please, my professor.
The Shaykh : Do you want to prolong this? The kubba means the drum, as it came in the narration of the hadith itself, which is the well-known view among scholars. When they list the hadiths on the topic of musical instruments, they bring this hadith, taking the intended meaning to be the drum. And when they speak, especially Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, about chess and its ruling in Islam, and he is enthusiastic and leans toward prohibiting this game of chess, we do not find him or anyone else arguing with the hadith prohibiting the kubba. The wording of the hadith is in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. For the sake of benefit, I say: And the narrator said the kubba is the drum. The point is that Ibn Taymiyyah, who is enthusiastic and driven to prohibit chess because of its bad effects on those addicted to it, did not argue with such a hadith, neither he nor anyone else. Therefore, if there is someone who interpreted the kubba as chess, he has taken the weaker position, not the stronger position, which is found first in the narration itself, where the kubba is explained as the drum. And second, I personally need to know now who interpreted the kubba as chess so that I can refer to it. Do you remember who it is?
The questioner : Yes, I remember.
The Shaykh: Who?
The questioner : I read it, and a student of knowledge read it in Sahih al-Jami', and it cites this from the book Lisan al-'Arab by Ibn Manzur.
The Shaykh : So it is in Lisan al-'Arab.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Fine, I will refer to Lisan al-'Arab. If we find that one of the meanings of the kubba is chess, then you should remember the answer: the narrator explained his narration as the drum, not as what? As chess.
The questioner : Our Shaykh, here you qualified its meaning and did not generalize it, meaning on this...?
The Shaykh : The qualification is not from us. The qualification is not from us, my brother. The qualification is from the narrator, and this is a rule: the narrator knows his narration better than anyone else. So this is our answer.
The questioner : There is a hadith with the status of a marfu' report, found in al-Mishkat and in Sahih al-Jami', that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited the kubba. I have memorized its wording exactly as it is.
He prohibited the kubba and the ghaybira.
نهى عن الكوبة وعن الغبيراءThe Shaykh : You say "we know," but do you not want to learn?
The questioner : We know that our Shaykh permits chess, of course, within certain conditions.
The Shaykh : Okay, yes.
The questioner : And this hadith prohibits the kubba, meaning chess.
The Shaykh : Good, but the correct pronunciation is al-kubba, not al-kabba. That is the first point. Second, you said at the beginning of your speech that one of the meanings of the kubba is chess. Did this come from you intentionally or unintentionally? And that the kubba means chess, not that chess is one of the meanings of the kubba. There is a difference between the two expressions, is there not?
The questioner : It came from me intentionally.
The Shaykh : Ah, good. So in that case, what is the intended meaning of this term in the hadith of the Messenger? Is it chess or something else? Since the kubba, when used, can mean more than one thing, and as you said, one of the meanings of the kubba is chess, what is the other meaning? And whatever that other meaning is, which one is the stronger position?
The questioner : O our Shaykh, does this word include all these meanings?
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : I mean, if we say the word kubba, is it understood to be dice and chess?
The Shaykh : No, because the kubba does not have multiple meanings. It has one meaning, but some people may interpret it as one thing and others as another. Therefore, if you want to argue that the term kubba means chess, there must be a stronger argument, otherwise it is just a claim. Second and finally, I say that when the narrator reported the hadith, it came with an explanation: the kubba is the drum. The kubba is the drum, as it came in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, and you can refer to it.
The questioner : If you please, my professor.
The Shaykh : Do you want to prolong this? The kubba means the drum, as it came in the narration of the hadith itself, which is the well-known view among scholars. When they list the hadiths on the topic of musical instruments, they bring this hadith, taking the intended meaning to be the drum. And when they speak, especially Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, about chess and its ruling in Islam, and he is enthusiastic and leans toward prohibiting this game of chess, we do not find him or anyone else arguing with the hadith prohibiting the kubba. The wording of the hadith is in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. For the sake of benefit, I say:
Indeed, Allah has forbidden for my Ummah intoxicants, gambling, and the kubba.
إن الله حرم على أمتي الخمر والميسر والكُوبةThe questioner : Yes, I remember.
The Shaykh: Who?
The questioner : I read it, and a student of knowledge read it in Sahih al-Jami', and it cites this from the book Lisan al-'Arab by Ibn Manzur.
The Shaykh : So it is in Lisan al-'Arab.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Fine, I will refer to Lisan al-'Arab. If we find that one of the meanings of the kubba is chess, then you should remember the answer: the narrator explained his narration as the drum, not as what? As chess.
The questioner : Our Shaykh, here you qualified its meaning and did not generalize it, meaning on this...?
The Shaykh : The qualification is not from us. The qualification is not from us, my brother. The qualification is from the narrator, and this is a rule: the narrator knows his narration better than anyone else. So this is our answer.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.