Is chess haram?

In Islam it is considered forbidden to gamble. The grand mufti in saudi arabia has ruled that chess is in fact haram/forbidden. Chess is a contentious issue and is widely argued in the community as to whether it is or not. I suppose the issue is whether one believes there is an element of luck involved. What do you think? Is there an element of luck and/or a gamble when you take to the board and therefore should chess be considered haram? Let me know what you think!

[Please do not show any disrespect towards any religion or culture before posting]

luck?

You do say Good Luck before games...to be honest.

I guess it depends on your playing style. For example, if you make sacrifices hoping that your attack will work, that might be considered "luck".

That's true! I guess it depends whether you believe in luck or not! There's always "chance in your favour" you could argue that who you play when playing a random person it's chance that there rating is lower but then you could always have a lower rated player just having a great game and playing like a master! Or visa versa... but if we assume that players know of the other persons ability beforehand then there's no chance in your favour because it's already defined. So then what about each individual move? Is it chance in your favour that the other player has missed a tactic or blunder? Is it different when a 2500 player misses an oppnents blunder vs a 900 player missing it?

Life is haram because a lot of it is luck

I’d kind of disagree with this. Luck is when the outcome is totally out of human control and is random. Luck = randomness. When you make a sacrifice, or when you play chess in general, the outcome will always be the same 100% of the time, because that’s how life works. Your opponent will always do the same thing and pick the same moves 100% of the time in any multiverse you pick. It is not random, therefore it’s not luck.

I don`t understand what you mean by "The outcome will always be the same 100% of the time".

I’m having trouble explaining what I mean myself, haha. Let me try with an example.

Imagine 4 scenarios. They are the exact same scenario, a person playing chess, but 4 times over. When someone makes a chess move, no luck or randomness is involved in the outcome. Therefore, when someone makes a chess move, the outcome will always be the same, in all 4 of those scenarios. Making it the same, 100% of the time, no matter how many scenarios I pose.

Now imagine 4 different scenarios, but instead of a man playing chess, it is a man using a random number generator between 1 and 4. When he runs the random number generator, it will be just that, random. So the outcome is not always the same, in all scenarios.

I think you're getting a bit tad bit too theoretical, and I agree, but this is arguing against the definition of luck, not proving that chess isn't conforming to what the concept of luck is.

its not haram

For those interested at all, a friend sent this link about haram and chess which is a fascinating read!  https://islamqa.info/amp/en/answers/14095

No lol, I paraphrased the definition of luck off the top of my head. The actual definition of luck is “success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions”

can you agree that that basically means, in a nutshell, “randomness rather than skill”

Some well-known islam scholars did advise against chess, but not because it resembles gambling is some respects. They traditionally considered it to be a waste of time, energy, emotions, and may lead one to resent their opponent, etc. Other scholars compared chess pieces to idols which pagans literally worshipped a long time ago, but this objection generally doesn't apply to our time anymore .. in any case the "haram" qualification is too strong. There is no authentic saying of the islamic prophet about chess at all (and certainly not in the quran).

This link maybe helpful to some fellow chess players with regards this issue.

https://fiqh.islamonline.net/en/playing-chess-permissible/

Peace and good luck.