All forms of board games are haraam. All such games come within the scope of haraam lahw and haraam
games such as chess and backgammon which Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) described as dipping one’s fingers in the blood of a swine. The fatwa regarding board games is incorrect and baatil. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: “Every sport of the Mu’min is baatil………….” This prohibition is mutlaq (general) and it is reinforced by the stern warning against backgammon/ chess. Our book on kuffaar sports adequately explains this prohibition. The arguments presented in the fatwa for the permissibility of board games are akin to the argument: It is permissible to look at the faces of ghair mahram females on condition that you do not look with lust. Regardless of the hallucinated conditions, all board games – all acts of lahw-la’b – are baatil and haraam. Shar’i prohibitions may not be scuttled
with self-opined conditions and imagination.