The Support of the Needy on the Legal Ruling of Chess

...Chess original: "al-Shatranj". The first letter is not pronounced with an "a" sound the fatha vowel because it is recognized as a non-Arabic loanword. Using the letter "S" the letter sin is a linguistic variant. This was similarly stated in the Refinement of the Muwashshahin a classical work on linguistic errors in poetry. Regarding the use of "S" and "Sh": Chess al-Shatranj and al-Satranj with the first letter carrying an "i" sound the kasra vowel is the well-known linguistic form. End quote.

However, Sheikh Abu Muhammad [Ibn] Barri stated in his commentary on al-Jawaliqi that those well-versed in language know it as Chess Shatranj with an "a" sound on the letter Shin. They say: "it is the game of Chess." He argued that it is incorrect to insist on the "i" sound just to force the word to fit established Arabic patterns. Such a rule would only apply if the Arabs consistently modified every non-Arabic word to match their own speech patterns. But since we find many words in their speech that they did not change—even when the weights of those words contradict Arabic scales—his reasoning holds no weight. Examples include words like al-anj a type of aromatic wood, al-firand firandThe wavy luster or "water" seen on a sword blade., al-kharbaz melon, as well as ibrisam silk, Ismail Ishmael, Bahram, and Shanfaran.

And Sibawayh said the foundational scholar of Arabic grammar, d. 796 AD regarding Arabized wordsnon-Arabic words adapted into Arabic speech. that sometimes the Arabs adapt them to their linguistic structures, and sometimes they do not. Furthermore, the leading scholars of the language only mentioned this word with the "a" sound. Ibn al-Tilmidh mentioned it in The Terminology of Logic with the "a" sound, as did Hamza and al-Batalyusi in his commentary on The Manners of the Scribe. God knows best.

Chess spelled with the "dotted" letter Shin, as Ibn Khallikan stated, is derived from the word for "halving" original: al-mushataara because each player holds a "half" shatr of the pieces. When spelled with the "plain" letter Sin Satranj, it is derived from "lining up" original: al-tastir during the setup, as if it is taken from the way the board is ruled into squares. Al-Hariri said the same. However, Ibn Durayd stated that both the "Sh" version (from "halving") and the "S" version (from "lining up" the pieces) are permissible.

Similarly, the term for "blessing a sneezer" original: tashmit appears with both spellings. With the "S" tasmit, it is a prayer that the person be granted a "good path" al-samt al-hasan; with the "Sh" tashmit, it refers to "reuniting" jam' al-shaml. However, Ibn Barri countered this by arguing that non-Arabic names cannot be derived from Arabic roots. Do you not see that scholars rejected the claim that Iblis Satan comes from the Arabic root ablasa to despair? Additionally, "Shatranj" is a five-letter word; deriving it from "Shatr" (a three-letter root) would mean the "n" and "j" are extra, which is a clear linguistic error.

It is said that its origin is the Persian Sad-ranj, meaning "the departure of grief" literally "a hundred cares" or "the end of trouble." Thus, we have four linguistic variations for this word: using "Sh" or "S," each with either an "i" or "a" vowel. Ibn Malik recounted these as well. This will be discussed further in the section on Common Errors in Speech. Ibn Anas—may God have mercy on them—and similar authorities like Ali ibn Abdullah al-Salimi also noted the use of the letter Ta instead of Dal in related words?. It was reported that someone heard another person say, "Bring the chess from under the tree," using the "S" spelling, and he replied...