.p02 1 025 042
.p06 0 270 042
.p06 0 025 152
.p02 1 270 152
.c
.fg
Shatranj

.h28
chess in Islam
.n


.c
Chess quickly spread westward
from India.  The game entered
Persia by the late 6th
century, which is confirmed
.c
  by the reference to;
.si
 chatrang;
.si
, the
.c
Persian name for chess, in the
.si
Karnamak-i-Artakhsher-i Papakan,
.si
written about 600 A.D.. This Persian
work mentions the accomplishments
of a Persian ruler, Ardashir, who
had mastered the sports of hunting,
horsemanship, ball-play,
.c
            and;
.si
 chatrang.
.gu208 148 01 011
.n


.c
The mention of chess in
.c
    the ;
.si
Karnamak ;
.si
is the oldest
.c
reference to chess anywhere. It
also shows that the chess game
that moved west from India became
a noble accomplishment.  This
is in contrast to the status
of chess in the Far East, where it
is played by the masses.  Perhaps
owing to chess's establishment
among the conservative upper-
classes, the game changed little
for the next nine hundred years.
.n


     The Persians introduced the
  terms ;
.si
.h26
check;
.h0
.si
 and;
.si
 checkmate;
.si
, which
   they called;
.si
 shah;
.si
 and;
.si
 shah mat.
  Shah;
.si
 is the word for the Persian
     king.;
.si
  Mat;
.si
 means 'defeated'.
   They also started using the term
.si
  Rukh;
.si
 for the chariot.;
.si
  Rukh;
.si
 might
.c
once have meant chariot, though
after chess entered Arabia, the
original meaning was lost.  To the
Muslim players, and to many since,
.c
.si
    rukh;
.si
 or;
.si
.h26
 rook;
.h0
.si
 stood only for a
.c
piece on a chessboard.
.gu230 118 02 011
.gt106 140 139 147 5 39 0
.gt075 040 116 047 5 11 0
.n


.c
Not long after chess entered Persia,
the Arab invasion of 640 A.D.
occurred. Much of Persian culture
was absorbed into the Arab Empire.
.c
    Chess, called;
.si
 shatranj;
.si
 by the
.c
Arabs, was just one of the many
acquisitions that the Muslims got
from Persia.  For instance, some
stories of the Arabian Nights
Entertainments, which like chess
probably originated in India,
passed through Persia
to Arabia.
.n


.c
In the regulated Muslim society, it
was necessary to prove that chess
was a permissible activity. There
were those who said that chess
was used for gambling, which was
.c
  prohibited by the ;
.si
Qur'an.;
.si
  Even if
.c
chess was not a form of gambling, it
was not specifically allowed by the
Prophet (570?-632), who had dictated
proper behavior in every phase of
life. To justify chess, some Muslims
wrote that chess was useful for
training in military tactics. 
.gu270 148 03 011
.n


.c
In Islamic literature, the
attribution of chess-playing to
important members of Muslim society,
including the caliphs, may have been
.c
intended to help legitimatize chess.
.c
One story has the caliph Ali being
told the popular Muslim legend
that chess was invented to
explain to a queen how her son was
killed in combat.  Upon hearing the
tale, the caliph supposedly said,
 "There is nothing wrong with it; 
it has to do with war."
.gu297 068 04 012
.gu251 148 05 012
.n


.c
Islam influenced the design of
chessmen.  The Sunnite branch of
Islam, the orthodox Muslims, did
not allow the representation of
living forms in art.  This was an
application of the Second
Commandment: "You shall not make a
carved image for yourself nor the
likeness of anything in the heavens
above, or on the earth below, or in
the waters under the earth."  As a
result, Islamic chessmen were (and
continue to be) abstract.
.gu247 128 06 012
.gu258 148 07 013
.n


     Islamic players were largely
     satisfied with;
.si
 shatranj;
.si
 and
.c
attempted few if any rule changes
in the game. They instead
concentrated on refining strategy.
The Islamic players wrote
extensively on the method of play
and were the first to divide game
analysis into openings, middle-
game, and endgame.  Islamic writers
also compiled sample games and many
mansuba. The Muslims were probably
.c
   the best players of the;
.si
.h26
 old game.
.gt225 150 290 157 5 30 0
.n


.c
With so much theory developed
for chess, the Muslim players
did not want to change the rules,
.c
  which would render much;
.si
 shatranj
.si
.c
analysis useless.  If an Islamic
player became dissatisfied with
.c
.si
  shatranj;
.si
, he was more likely
.c
to invent an entirely different
chess variety to be played along
.c
    side;
.si
 shatranj;
.si
 than to make
.c
something to supersede it.  Many
Islamic players did in fact create
unusual chess games.
.n


.fg
.c
notes
.gr049
.ft
.c


 1 Eales, ;
.su
Chess, the History of a
.su
   ;
.su
Game;
.su
, p. 26.

 2 Murray, ;
.su
History of Chess;
.su
, p. 160.

 3 ;
.su
Ibid.;
.su
, pp. 190.
.n


.fg
.c
notes
.gr049
.ft
.c


 4 Eales, p. 21.

 5 Murray, p. 190.

 6 Exodus 20:4 as written in the
   ;
.su
New English Bible;
.su
, p. 82.
.n


.fg
.c
notes
.gr049
.ft
.c


 7 Murray, p. 188.;
.si
 See the French
   Assize of Mediaeval Chess to use
   the more common Islamic pieces.
   The pieces in this set were drawn
   to resemble later shatranj pieces
   turned on a lathe.