The subject of Persian playing cards must be considered within the broader topic of gambling, games of chance, and divination in the Islamic world. Gambling, along with wine and divination, was expressly forbidden in the Koran and in later Commentaries. Nevertheless, there is significant textual evidence for its existence in Persia, and card games appear to have flourished in various forms as a leisure activity, waxing and waning according to religious and political conditions.