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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 21, 2016
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Top Saudi cleric bans chess
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSaudi Arabia’s most senior Sunni Muslim cleric issues a fatwa against the game of chess, calling it “part of gambling,” and a waste of time that could interfere with prayers and create competition between players.
The ban by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh comes on the eve of a chess championship in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The secretary of the Saudi association says in response that he is not worried over the ban, which he says reiterates a previous policy of Saudi clerics that Riyadh has never bothered to to implement.
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