The Support of the Needy on the Legal Ruling of Chess

Yahya added nine points to the discussion of the term al-Mughra likely referring to a specific linguistic or scribal debate, which necessitated a more detailed exploration of Chess original: al-Shatranj. You have already learned the debate regarding the pronunciation of its first letter; the most famous version is what follows, and its plural form is Shatarih. The variant al-Satranjpronounced with the letter "S" or sin follows the Persian construction, where the word Shatranjthe author links it to rang is derived from ranka.

It means "six colors" because shash means six and rang means colors. These six refer to the pieces: the Shah the King, the Farzan FarzanThe Counselor or Vizier, which later became the Queen in Western chess., the Fil the Elephant, later the Bishop, the Faras the Horse, or Knight, the Rukh the Chariot, or Rook, and the Baydaq the Footman, or Pawn. In the chapter on the letter sin, we distinguished in the "Intimacy of Brothers" likely a reference to a specific book title that the name for the Horse in Chess is Asinat Fakhr—but God knows best. In the History of Nishapur?, in the biography of Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Anburi—who held such a high station of knowledge that Abu Ali al-Nishapuri, the teacher of al-Hakim, said of him: "He memorizes so much of the sciences that if we were tasked with memorizing even a portion, we would fail; I have never seen anyone like him"—he stated that the common Arabic phrasing for the pawn, bi-yadik literally "in your hand", is an error. Rather, it is Bayadhaq, which is a proper noun.

Al-Khadrawi? said that Shahanshah is the "Greatest King," which in the Daylamite language means "King of Kings." From this comes the Shah, one of the components of Chess, which is an expression for the King. Because of this, they placed the Farzan opposite him, which is the name for the King’s Vizier Minister. The common folk say al-Farz or al-Farza, just as they mispronounce the King as al-Shah meaning "the sheep" in Arabic due to a slight change in vowel/consonant, which is a corruption of the original word. As for Ibn al-Nadim, he mentioned that it is sometimes read with the letter sin as al-Sat.

Now, when this is understood: the first person to invent Chess is said to be Shahram? (with a short 'i' sound on the sh), a King of India. He created it to rival Ardashir, the first of the later Persian kings, who had invented Backgammon original: al-Nard to represent the world and its people. The Persians became famous for it, but the King of India countered the wisdom of that era by presenting Chess as a superior challenge to Backgammon. It was sent alongside the book Kalila and Dimna and the Indian numeralsoriginal: al-Bayanun; referring to the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, those symbols that encompass all types of calculation—fields in which the Indians surpassed all others.

Sissa ben Dahir

It is said that when SissaThe legendary inventor of Chess, Sissa ben Dahir. presented the game to the King and explained its mechanics, the King was greatly pleased. He asked Sissa to name any reward he desired. Sissa replied: "I request that you place one grain of wheat on the first square, and continue doubling it for every square until you reach the last one." When the King heard this, he thought little of the request and even took offense, considering it a trivial reward for such a grand invention. He told Sissa, "I wish for nothing else." So, he ordered the officials to grant it to the Indian, Ibn Dahir.

Ibn Dahir the Royal

When the masters of the Diwan the Royal Treasury calculated the amount, they said to the King: "We do not possess even a fraction of what is required for this request." The King denied this at first, so they stood and proved it to him with a mathematical demonstration this refers to the geometric progression resulting in over 18 quintillion grains. When he realized the truth, he said: "Your ingenuity in what you have asked for is even more wondrous than your invention of Chess itself." When Ibn Khallikan the famous 13th-century biographer recounted this story, he said...