Saudi’s grand mufti, the kingdom’s top cleric, was appearing on a religious TV channel, taking questions about faith and sin and that sort of thing. And he got one about chess.

“American Caliph,” by Shahan Mufti, recounts the complex story of a largely forgotten episode from 1977, when an armed Muslim group held dozens of people hostage.

S audi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh declared chess is forbidden in Islam when he was asked about the game on a television show.. The top religious official said chess was ...