Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Afghanistan: Taliban government bans chess, says that in Islamic law, it’s ‘a means of gambling’

By

“O you who believe, strong drink and games of chance and idols and divining arrows are only an abomination of Satan’s handiwork. Leave it aside so that you may succeed.” (Qur’an 5:90)

This ban is ironic in light of the fact that “Muslims invented chess” has been a core element of the fictional wonderfulness of Islam that has been pushed on Americans and Europeans since 9/11.

“Taliban suspends chess in Afghanistan, cites religious concerns over gambling,” France 24, May 11, 2025:

Taliban authorities have barred chess across Afghanistan until further notice over concerns it is a source of gambling, which is illegal under the government’s morality law, a sports official said on Sunday.

The Taliban government has steadily imposed laws and regulations that reflect its austere vision of Islamic law since seizing power in 2021.

“Chess in sharia (Islamic law) is considered a means of gambling”, which is prohibited according to the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law announced last year, sports directorate spokesperson Atal Mashwani told AFP.

“There are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess,” he said.

“Until these considerations are addressed, the sport of chess is suspended in Afghanistan,” he added….

Last year, the authorities banned free fighting such as mixed martial arts (MMA) in professional competition, saying it was too “violent” and “problematic with respect to sharia”.

Comments

  1. Chess was invented in India and brought to Persia ~570 CE well before Islam and Muslims came into existence (610 CE). When it was introduced to the Arabs, who were not yet Muslims, the game became very popular among them.

    Chess has no element of chance as part of the game, and therefore should not be prohibited in Islam on that basis. It is true that one can gamble on the outcome of a game, just as one can gamble on almost anything, but traditionally people play for fun, not money.

    The Taliban are strange ducks; they often operate with little rhyme nor reason. And, this chess ban appears to be one of those arbitrary edicts that come out of Afghanistan.

    • In the meantime, they have no issues w/ cricket, which is the one sport in that country that they seem to like, if not love

    • I guess if chess is gambling then so is checkers, dodgeball swings and slides. MMA is too dangerous but beheading, rape and murder of infidels, not so much. You Should not question the evil that is Islam. Peaceful Muslims are the same as Christians who believe they are Christians but have never accepted Christ, it’s not a thing.

    • Any game be it Chess or Cricket, as long as one party wins and the other loses, is a game of CHANCE. And in this, betting could creep in. Hence, all games, where one party wins or loses is banned as per islam.

      • Chess is not a game of chance–it is a game of skill. There is an aspect of chance to every game, of course–as in whether on of the players hs a headache that day, for instance–but that is not the main point of chess.

  2. It must be that women have been caught playing chess with their children….the only people with whom they are allowed to be near.

    Over the course of my lifetime, I have heard people say that Earth is a ‘testing ground’….set up to see how people, under the worst of conditions, would deal with life.
    The mozlums of the taliban….quite old, most of them, to continue to call themselves “students”…must think the same way….that they must contribute to the misery so people can show of what they are made under the worst possible conditions.

    There is no fun, and the only entertainment, in islime is rape and murder.

    • Good summary of this rotten, stinking load of barbaric crap, Islam, somehistory. As you murdering people and raping people is about all that islam allows. No music, no art, no chess because those things are so terrible, but rape and murder and pedophilia are just fine. Islam is so bent and twisted and inhumane. The people that made it up had to be some of the worst human beings ever.

      • Thank you, Tim. When I was a little kid, like most little kids probably, I thought everyone was a good person; had no idea that people could be so rotten.
        Until I actually began to find out about the evils….many of them in history, like hitler, stalin, mao, etc., I would never have believed anyone could be so bad.
        And those mozlums in afghanistan are some of the very worst.
        I’ve often heard people say, “There is a little bit of good in everyone.” I no longer believe that claim, nor is it acceptable to even consider that islime has any merit.

        I cannot imagine that a Creator Who made music and art possible, would want people to deny the joy of those things to others. And I know that He is hating (Proverbs 6) all of the evils that mozlums do.
        As you say, rape, murdering, and abusing to the death little kids, are the things mozlums approve, while spoiling things that really are worth so very much for mankind’s happiness.
        I find it hard to wait for islime to be destroyed for all time.

        • I would love to see barbaric islam die out, somehistory. There have certainly been evil religions throughout human history, the aztec religion being an example. Unfortunately Islam is still fouling the world. I often think that Christianity came along six hundred years before Islam and has such high ideals. What a huge step backwards Islam is with all of its barbaric filth.

        • Tim, I m a firm believer in the Bible and the promises God made and guaranteed in Christ.
          We are told that “God is patient” because He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed. But it also says that “He has set a Day to Judge the earth” meaning the “people.”
          And Paul wrote that Jesus “would return in a flaming fire” to avenge the “souls” of those who were slaughtered.
          satan’s time is limited, so says Revelation 12 and when his time is up, so will the time be up for all of the evil he has inspired and created to mislead mankind.
          islime will be destroyed. If there was a bank, we could put money on it. we can put faith in it.
          Revelation says He (God) “is creating news heavens and a new earth.” These are not new physical things, like He created “in the beginning.” But spiritual heavens and earth “in which righteousness is to dwell.”
          .

        • I am a Christian so I believe what you said. In the church that I go to on Sundays there is a terrific painting of christ coming back in glory to judge everybody. It must be a copy an artist has done of painting of an old master though I am not sure which old master painted it. I certainly like the painting very much. Islam I put on a level with Nazism. Both full of endless evil I hope you are going well.

        • Tim, I’m happy for you that you find such pleasure. Some of the “old masters” had a reverence for spiritual things, for Christ and His Father and they were able to illustrate it.
          When I see a beautiful sunset, sunrise, ocean waves rolling in, or a mountain view, flowers, etc, I think about what a Wonderful artist is our God.

          I’m doing about the same as usual…could be better, glad not worse. I hope you are well and enjoying your apartment and making pretty music.

        • Well, somehistory, I do suffer from a depression that I can’t ever shake off although medication is helping these days. It’s funny how you mentioned music and pretty music at that. It is three thirty in the afternoon and I did just write a nice, gentle love song in three four time. I will work on it and polish it up, yes definitely a nice and pretty song. I get them down quickly then work on them. It sounds as if you are battling on ok.

        • Tim, I can kind of understand about the depression. I spend a lot of time alone, and Lupus affects my thinking somewhat. I have to find ways to fight off depression and sadness.
          A few years ago, a neurologist gave me an antidepressant which my son took for a little while. He took it first and told me it made music go through his head all of the time. When, years later, I took it, music also went through my mind.

          Over the years, finding out how some music is written, I have come to the conclusion that a whole lot of the best, the prettiest, music is written by those who have the deepest feelings and many while depressed.

          Perhaps someday I can hear your music. I’m sure I would enjoy listening.

        • Thanks for that, somehistory. Depression and mental illness really run strongly in our family. I have recorded about 60 of my songs onto cds. I send them to my brother and a few other people. I put five songs on YouTube, not my songs, but songs I liked by other people. They stayed there for maybe three years only about 400 people viewed them and then they disappeared. I was thinking of putting a couple of my songs on YouTube but hardly anyone finds them or watches them. I think maybe joining the songwriters association out here might be the way to go. Songs are hard to get out to people whereas publishers of books have a way for you to submit manuscripts.

        • Tim, if you put them on YouTube, you can post a link so we here can find and listen.

          When I was younger, my father was teaching me guitar. One of my older brothers also wanted to learn to play, so my father began teaching him. Because he was older….and bigger….he got first dibs and once he learned a number of chords, I never got another chance at learning.
          But I did sing a lot, and sang at school, in the church choir and along with the radio at home.
          A teacher who heard me, sent a request to one of those shows where they allow people to go on and sing, etc. The people sent me a letter with a date and time to show up, but my mom wouldn’t allow me to go.
          The older brother had a band by that time, but I only sang with him when he came home and wanted me to join him in song.
          I did, a few years ago, give a tape of some of my original songs to a band member of a famous singer and he said he would share it. I never heard from him after that.
          Another country singer said I was good enough for his band, but he didn’t want me to leave my son to become professional. And another famous guy came to see me to listen to some of my songs. He said they were “commercial.’ After that, a studio offered me recording time, but my husband said ‘no.’

          After all that….it’s difficult for me to think of trying anything. But I can certainly understand your desire to be heard and appreciated.
          So, if you do post to the web, send us the link so I can listen.

        • It sounds as if you really went very close making a real breakthrough several times, somehistory. I will go on singing other people’s songs and my own whether I get anywhere or not. I enjoy it. Something I noticed when I was checking out the Sydney songwriters association is what a huge number of people are writing songs. Ben, the guy who recorded me a few weeks back, said there’s a lot of luck involved. The friend of mine, john, who has a couple of his children who did make the big time and so I asked him if he was surprised at how big they were and he said hell yes. I asked him what he thought caused them to have such success and he said good management. I think he probably meant they had a manager who found the right niche market for them. Since I am 75 years old and pretty introverted I am not going to get out there and push my songs very much. If I do put a couple of my songs on YouTube I will let people a jihad watch know.

  3. Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja, the youngest ever player to surpass a rating of 2800 (only 16 players in the history of chess have ever eclipsed 2800 in the rating system adopted many years ago by the “Chess World”), and also considered a very serious threat to eventually win the World Chess Championship, first resigned from the Iranian Chess Federation in late 2019 because Iran forbids its players from playing against any chess players from Israel, and if scheduled to play them in any tournament, they forfeit the games. Firouzha had forfeited some games because of this bigotry courtesy of Iran.

    In 2021, Firouzha became a citizen of France to further get away from any Iranian influence, and so he can also play against any player from anywhere as an honorable competitor without bias against players from Israel or anywhere else.

  4. Islam in its “full glory” agarin revealing itself to be a total downer. This time chess is the culprit. So sick of this shit from the Islamic sphere of mankind.

    On a specific matter, any accomplishments by the Islamic world during the medieval period, though overrated as they are, were invariably done in spite of Islam and not because of it. And since medieval times, the Islamic world has accomplished virtually nothing. In fact, aside from a limited amount of artistic endeavors, less than nothing. Oh yeah, you can always count on Islam being a total downer.

    For the record.

    • They create nothing. They just steal from producers and creators. Without robbery and oil, they’d all be living in mudhuts.

      The most retrograde force in the world, Islam will destroy us all if we don’t destroy it first.

  5. I’ve noticed recently that black/brown people have essentially invented/discovered everything. How am I still alive?

  6. Ayatollah Khomeini also forbade chess in Iran at the start of his reign. But after the Iran chess federation explained him chess is not a gambling game like poker, he allowed it. Most probably the Afghan government will be less complying. They are such idiots.

  8. After reading all comments and this post, I must ask : What do Muslims do all day? Everything is forbidden. The genders are separated. As someone stated before that they eat, pray, then pray again……so what in the hell do they do all day?

    I used to date an Israeli man whose mother grew up in Iraq. She told me the stories about living in Iraq and how she and her large family had to be smuggled out in the dead of night. The family had a successful business and had to leave everything there.

    She also explained how the men and women were separated throughout their lives in school, etc. She didn’t have animosity towards Muslims but told me that many of the men were gay (because of the segregation). She also told me that if a child was drowning in a river, one had to scream “Mohammed is drowning.” In other words – make sure it was a Muslim so people would help.

    One day, years later I called her and asked more questions . She said the women were also lesbian. I was shocked. I told her she should write a book and she declined. She has so many interesting stories to tell.

    So… WHAT do they do in these nations? Most of us here know how excited they get when it’s time to attack and kill. They froth at mouth and beat their chests – and literally get excited. It’s as if they’ve FINALLY been allowed to go out and play (kill) and the excitement seems to be of a sexual nature, too.

    Anyhoo, that’s it for now. Sick to death of these people. They need secret birth control in their food. They have too many babies they can’t afford to feed and what about destroying the planet and responsible reproduction. If you cant feed the first three babies, why have ten more? Why do they count on the international community to feed them and house them and then have them migrate to the west? Ugh.

    • You “used to date an Israeli man” and “One day, years later I called [his mother ] and asked more questions”.

      ???????

      What happened to your date?

  9. Afghanistan: Taliban government bans chess, says that in Islamic law, it’s ‘a means of gambling’

    This ban is ironic in light of the fact that “Muslims invented chess” has been a core element of the fictional wonderfulness of Islam that has been pushed on Americans and Europeans since 9/11.
    …………………………………..

    Muslims can have it both ways, of course. (Never mind that chess was invented in India in around the 6th century CE).

Discover more from

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Skip to content