Tuesday, February 15, 2005
U-TURN ON CHESS
The Guardian reports:
Iraq’s Arab Sunnis will do a U-turn and join the political process despite their lack of representation in the newly elected national assembly, Sunni leaders said yesterday.
Many Sunnis protested that the election was flawed and unfair, but in the wake of Sunday’s results, which confirmed the marginalisation of what was Iraq’s ruling class, their political parties want to lobby for a share of power.“Our view is that this election was a step towards democracy and ending the occupation,” said Ayad al-Samaray, the assistant general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic party. He said unnamed Sunni leaders blundered in depicting the election as a deepening of the occupation.
Before glee overwhelms, consider the source. Meanwhile, chess guy Tim Krabbé has been observing Shiite alliance supporter Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose website details his opposition to chess (although he is a cricket fan; bring on the Grand Ayatollah’s XI). Questions have been asked:
Question: Is playing a chess allowed?
Answer: It is absolutely unlawful.
Question: Chess is Halal or Haram?
Answer: Chess is absolutely forbidden.
Question: I would like to ask you on the subject of chess. Is it permissible to play it to augment to the intelligence, knowing that I do not bet on it and that I have no bad intentions playing it?
Answer: It is not permissible to play chess.
You sense that the Grand One was getting a little frustrated at this point, what with all the chess questions. Yet Tim next sent one himself, and it’s infidelicious:
Question: It is absolutely forbidden to play chess. But is it permissible to compose and solve chess problems? This is more like inventing riddles and creating poetry.
“In a few days,� writes Tim, “I had my answer ... “