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| The Grand Turk |
| Playing chess is more sinful than gambling: Muslim televangelist |
| 2017-01-03 |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish televangelist Ahmet Mahmut Ünlu, popularly known as "Cubbeli" Ahmet Hoca (Robed Ahmet Hoca), has raised eyebrows by claiming that playing chess is more sinful than gambling, daily Hurriyet reported on Jan. 2. Personally, I consider televangelism more sinful than either. Ünlu said chess players were "cursed" and claimed that "most people who played chess are liars." "Playing chess is worse than gambling and eating pork ... People who play chess are more prone to lying than others. People who play chess may not say the shahada [declaration of Islamic belief] while they are dying," he said. "People who play chess are cursed ... You should count your prayer beads instead of playing games like this," he added. Ünlu had hit headlines on Nov. 14 in 2014 by condemning the European Space Agency’s (ESA) successful landing of the Philae probe on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, describing the mission as "maniacal." More recently, he waded into a debate on the religious permissiveness of oral sex, slamming a colleague for describing it as religiously forbidden and saying there is no such ban in Islam. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 And don't get me started on penny-a-pawn... |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2017-01-03 18:23 |
| #7 Invented by the evil Hindoos |
| Posted by: john frum 2017-01-03 17:48 |
| #6 And the Russians are really good at it. P-K4 |
| Posted by: AlanC 2017-01-03 13:11 |
| #5 Can we get a fahtwa that says breathing is sinful |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2017-01-03 09:14 |
| #4 I'd think that dogmatic Muslims would love chess. It's absolutely deterministic, with no provision for chance, happenstance or free will on the part of the pieces. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2017-01-03 08:58 |
| #3 Originated in the Orient, found its way into Persia where the Muslims picked it up, spreading it through their culture. The Euros picked it up from them. |
| Posted by: P2Kontheroad 2017-01-03 08:35 |
| #2 Chess requires logical thinking, thinking ahead, and employs no violence whatsoever - obviously un-Islamic. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-01-03 04:51 |
| #1 "Muslim Televangelist" (Finally working their way out of the 6th Century at last.) If you were a devout muzzie, he would have a point. He is just not gifted enough to spain the sitiation. Bishops are a Christian reference. Knights, Kings and Queens can conjure up images of crusaders. But then again, anything that is considered entertainment is cause for a fatwa against it. |
| Posted by: Herb Noodleman1548 2017-01-03 00:26 |