As Oxford Companion to Chess (new ed., 1992) derives the term from Shatranj, it seems reasonable to assume that its first use by chess players would be by players who played Shatranj or closely related chess variants. That is Arabian or Persian players ... in the Middle Ages, or thereabouts. (It may be used in non-chess related contexts, but I ignore those.)
Later, it is used mainly by game or chess historians (von der Lasa, Forbes, Weber, van der Linde and others) in Europe, but presumably still in use where Islamic chess is played.
I first wrote: "I see no reason to believe it is used any any significant way by chess players who follow modern chess rules, i.e. from 1850 or so." but searches for the term in modern chess books shows that it is being used by writers such as Soltis and Alburt, but apparently in a slightly different sense of a 'common opening position' or 'standard position in a particular opening'.