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Regarding
the game known as
backgammon, the Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon
him) says: "He who
plays with dice will be
deemed as a person thrusting
his hands in pig's
blood." (Reported
by Muslim on the authority
of Buraydah) In his
commentary on the issue of
playing dice, Imam An-Nawawi
states that,
"The Arabic word 'Nardasheer'
is the same as "Nard"
(dice). It is foreign in
origin but has been Arabized
with the word "sheer"
at the end which means
something nice.
Imam
Shafi`i and other Muslim
scholars (the majority of
them) have taken this hadith
as evidence to condemn games
using a dice.
Abu
Ishaq says: "Some of
our scholars maintain that
it's just detested and not
unlawful" (See Sharh
Muslim, vol. 15, page
15) There is another hadith
on this issue, which states:
"He who plays with a
dice has disobeyed Allah and
His Messenger." This
hadith is reported by Malik
on the authority of Abu Musa
Al-Ash`ari, and the wording
here is that of Malik. It is
also narrated by Abu Dawud
and Ibn Majah and Al-Hakim
and Al-Bayhaqi. But they
didn't refer to this game as
"Nard" or "Nardasheer"
(dice). Al Hakim described
this hadith as authentic
based on the endorsement
from both Al Bukhari and
Muslim. (See Tafsir
Al-Qurtubi, vol. 8, page
338) Also in the book At-Targheeb
Wat-Tarheeb (vol. 4,
page 4) Al-Hafidh quoted the
majority of scholars as
saying that this game is
unlawful; it is even said
that all the scholars are
unanimous.
Based
on this, Dr. `Ali Sayed
Ahmad of Al-Azhar University
maintains that trading in
such a game is also
impermissible, for it will
be deemed as an unlawful
trade. But if one trades in
an assortment of games or
items which merely include
dice, this will be
considered as a dubious
matter, which Muslims have
to be cautious of and avoid
with the intention of
replacing them with other
lawful items.
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