—by far. Hence, if the harm that accompanies chess is not considered strong enough to entail prohibition, then nard is even more so.

• Some scholars, however, took al-Shāfiʿī’s explicit ruling on the unlawfulness of nard and applied it to chess as well. This is the sounder derivation and the clearer proof (1), for the harm found in chess is greater than that found in nard, and everything that proves the prohibition of nard when no stake is involved proves the prohibition of chess all the more.

It is established in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2) that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever plays with nardashir is as though he had dipped his hand into the flesh and blood of a swine.”

Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ and the Sunan collections transmit—on the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī—that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever plays with nard has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger.” (3)