TRIMESTER JANUARY 2012 SPORT SCIENCE KFP 1021

SPORTS AND RELIGION

By

Siti Nursyazwani binti Ismail, Petroleum Engineering Department, Foundation in Engineering.

COPYRIGHT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY PETRONAS (UTP), Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia.

Sports and Religion.

I am a Muslim. Islam comprises all subsets of life. Islam is the way of living. One of the subsets is sport. In Islam, it is important for the ummah to take good care of their health in order to perform ibadah well. One way to stay in the pink of health is by exercising and taking care of the diet, plus to stay clean at all times. This is promoted by the words of the Prophet (pbuh) , A strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than a weak one. (Reported by Muslim)

Since sports is a subset of Islam, that means any character of sports that violates the sharia (Islamic Law) is forbidden. The most common violation is the dressing code. The sharia implements covering of awra (nakedness). This is a great issue because the nonmuslims, especially the westerners argue over this rule. Their believes are mostly overridden by the scientific fact whereby tight clothes is a must in sports since it is the most significant way of inducing effective movement in sports, with the data that tight clothes reduces air resistance in sprinting and running, for instance. This is an example of the religion, not even being a part of sport, but is separated from sports. This is what we call as secularism; total separation between religious implementation and daily lives.

Islam supports any activity as long as it does not go across the sharia. However, there are some victims to this implementation that is considered as against the safety of sports activity previously. One of them is Kulsoom Abdullah, a weightlifter, PakistaniAmerican Computer Engineer. She has been in Olympic Weightlifting for three years and Crossfitting for two years. However, in American Open Competition, the dress code issue is brought up. She was eliminated from the competition for her hijab. They say that her hijab blocks their view from knowing either her elbow is locked or not. To me, the solution is just too simple. They could just send some female staffs to check on her before she steps on the

stage. Just a small partition at a corner to block the view from the males and the problem will be solved.

Later on, she tried to compete in the 2011 US National Weightlifting Tournament scheduled on July, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This time, she modified her uniform. But then, the USA Weightlifting, the sports national governing body, slammed her to the mat through a short email from the CEO, John Duff, As USA Weightlifting is governed by the rules of the International Weightlifting Federation, we must adhere to those regulations and therefore reject your request, as is, to modify your competition costume, Due to this issue, she took the case to International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) with a 43-page presentation detailing clothing options that she says would meet her Muslim modesty requirements, allow competition officials to make clear calls and avoid concerns that she was obtaining any competitive advantage. She received some help from a lawyer, muslim activists and the US Olympic committee and was able to get the case on the agenda to be considered by IWF on an annual meeting in Penang, Malaysia.

On June 3rd, 2011, a soccer team was banned for headscarves. They are the players of the Iranian women's national soccer team, who was withdrawn from their qualifying match against Jordan for the 2012 London Olympic Games in Amman, Jordan. (Ali Jarekji/Courtesy Reuters). This crushed their hope of getting through the Summers London Olympics into pieces. They thought that the headscarves are dangerous to be worn during the game. Eventually, on February 2012, the
soccers top rule-making body reversed the banning on female players wearing

headscarves.

Moving on to Montreal, the barring of a muslim girls taekwondo team from a tournament in 2007, had inspired Elham Seyed Javad, a Montreal-based designer to come up with an athletic suit, specially designed for the muslim women. She designed the ResportOn athletic hijab. It is a tight sleeveless cloth, worn underneath a regular uniform. It covers the head and torso and has an opening in the back of the neck to be used to fix hair without taking the entire piece off. It utilises a very light material that allows ventilation and dries 14 times faster than cotton. In a short interview, an 11-years-old hijabi, Bissan Mansour, which is one of the team mates said, I feel very sad because we practised so hard. We pulled out for a useless reason. This shows how disappointed and disagree the team members are with the decision made by the management. Now, muslims athletes can smile. The use of velcro instead of pin for the scarf should be able to shun the presumption that to wear scarf during the play will be dangerous. Well, the fact is, long hair is way more dangerous than scarf and to add to these, there is no injury reported from wearing the scarf during the game.

No matter how crucial these issues sound, it seems like the opposers have now started to tolerate and understand the Muslims

principles. Over the few years too, there are some tremendous achievement among muslim athletes. Besides sister Kulsoom Abdullah, among the favoured celebrity is Roqaya AlGhassra. She was born on September 6th, 1982 in Bahrain. Roqaya was among the fist women who represented her country in the Olympic games. She was the sprinter for the womans 100 meter event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In 2006, she won medals at the Asian Games. Later on, she competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 World Championship in AthleticsBeing a hijabi, her decision to become an athlete, or more precisely, a sprinter was opposed by the people in her village. However, this was toppled over with her records. She came out as the fifth in the 2004 Olympic Games with a record of 11.49 seconds. In 2006, she had a new record of 11.34 seconds. In 2003 Arabian Championships in Lebanon, she had

won gold in the 100 metre and 200 metre event. Before partaking in the 2004 Olympics, she had already won 3 silver medals for the 60 m, 200 m and 400 m event, held at the Asian Indoor Championships, Iran. She represented her country in 400 m at the World Indoor Championships held in Budapest. There were tonnesof her achievement episodes but in 2009, she announced retirement citing health concerns.

Human body is a gift from Allah. One should take good care of it. A way to this precaution is to exercise. There are numerous traditions whereby, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) supports and suggests martial arts to the muslims to stay healthy and get prepared for external aggravation. He said, Any action without the remembrance of Allah is either a diversion or heedlessness excepting four acts: Walking from target to target [during archery practice], training a horse, playing with one's family, and learning to swim." (Reported by Tabarani) The prophet himself and his companions as well were physically fit because during those eras, life is absolutely tough. They travel up to hundreds of kilometres on foot, hunted for food, did farming for mutual survival, and they fought with the enemies. Swimming, archery and horse riding skills is a bonus for survival on earth during those ages.

From the time immemorial, people have sought means of physical training and invented all kinds of sports to make their bodies strong, but each to its purposes and conditions. A nation where fighting and battles were the norm, sports like weightlifting, archery and dueling would be very common, while swimming became the favorite sports to people living on sea-shores. In the Arabian peninsula, people got used to hunting and horse-riding due to their conditions of frequent traveling and moving from one place to another. -Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, former Head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee

Sports is sports, but religious views must be taken into account too. Everything that is done in life is a subset of Islam and that does not exclude sports. In sports, the hottest topic

being spoken about is the clothing. Even if one is exercising, the awra must be taken good care of. This is why the designers have come out with suitable sports outfits for muslims. Among the well-known labels are the ResportOn and the muslimah swimming suit.

Imam Ibnul Qayyem stated in his book, Zadal Maaad that movement is the core of sports. Food waste will be eliminated from the body normally through such movements. Sports activate the body, enhance immunity and protect from the risks of getting diseases. Every organ in the body has its own suitable sports and the three sports mentioned by the prophet; swimming, horse-riding and archery benefit the whole body system. In this context, Islam really encourages sports and stresses on the significance of spiritual, moral and physical training that comes 3 in 1 to yield the wanted product.

In sports, victory and loss is an either token. No matter what the results are, there should not be any space for gloating. Hooliganism is a complete no-no. Jeering at a defeated opponent shows no morality. Islam looks at sports a a medium to conjugate love, cooperation and mutual respect inter-teams and intra-team. One should always bear in mind that todays loss is a lesson learnt for tomorrow. Toiling effort, pray and total surrender to Allah pave to success in the future.

During the prophet ages, there was a nomads camel who outpaced the Prophets shecamel which was known to be ever-first in racing. Muslims were sad. Seeing this awkward moment, the prophet Muhamad (pbuh) said, Almighty Allah has decreed that nothing shall have a permanent glory (meaning that every situation has its ups and downs and no condition is permanent).

Even in the Quran, it is stated that,

Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not. (Al-Baqarah, 2 : 216) This shows that Islam nurtures optimistic thinking among its practicers. Losing shall not be taken as a loss and winning should not be overjoyed. During the prophet days, there was a nomad, with his camel came to the place. His camel raced over the prophets she-camel, which was known as the fastest camel among the companions. After the nomads camel outpaced the prophets, the muslims were all sad to see that the camel is no longer the everfirst camel in running. Seeing the gloominess, the prophet said, Almighty Allah has decreed that nothing shall have a permanent glory (meaning that every situation has its ups and downs and no condition is permanent. This is to console the agony of defeat among the companions.

Islam never objects, but encourages sports. There are a few tips to make sport as a beneficial activity in line with the religious views. One is to not be too occupied to the extent of neglecting religious duties such as the Salah (solat). Second, the muslim is not allowed to practise sports in ways that inflicts harm to people such as having sports in a crowded place that congests the traffic and lead to burdening the others. Third, obsession or blind fanatism, either adore or against a team is not the teaching of Islam. Islam teaches modesty to the practisers, not obsession. Fourth, foul words, slandering and immoral behaviour should be done by the players. Fifth, the match should not allow free mingling among both sexes because it leads to seduction, temptation and corruption. Ikhtilat (commingling boundaries) should be well taken care of. Sixth, all games and activities that stir sexual urge or encourage moral perversion are totally rejected like women dancing and being watched by the public. Seventh, the type of sports practised must comply with the nature of human. For instance, the tug of war event is not to be played by the women because this kind of sports affects womens womb. Winning a game, the winner is always being carried away with the joy of victory. Being an athlete, at most times, arouses self-boasting too. This is the most dangerous and unseen form of inner deformation because this feeling damages one from inside. When a person has this feeling, they will tend to think that they are the best and forgets that

everything that he has is bestowed by Allah. Hence, he might go astray from worshipping Allah in his heart. Again, Islam teaches modesty. To sum it up, one should always remember Allah in his heart, so that anything that he does, will not be against the teaching of Islam. One should always bear in mind that Islam is the way of life and sports is a subset that follows the rules of the divine law, sharia.

References

ABC News. (2011, June 14th). Muslim Women Athletes Banned from Tournaments get Creative with Hijabs. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/athletic-hijabs-femalemuslim-athletes/story?id=13829421#.T3w-2-U_-68 Ahmad Souza. (2011, March 30th). On Islam How does Islam View Sports and Exercise?. Retrieved from http://www.onislam.net/english/ask-about-islam/islam-and-theworld/worldview/166082-how-does-islam-view-sports-and-exercise.html Buaras, E.A. (2012). Muslim Women in Sports IOC urged to use London Olympics to end Saudi prejudice against female athletes. Retrieved from http://muslimwomeninsports.blogspot.com/ Coleman, I. (2012, March 21st). Democracy in Development FIFA, the Olympics, and Muslim Female Athletes. Retrieved from http://blogs.cfr.org/coleman/2012/03/21/fifathe-olympics-and-muslim-female-athletes/ Colin. (2012, March 21st). Islam and Sports Inside Islam. Retrieved from http://insideislam.wisc.edu/index.php/archives/13126

Huss, K. (2011). Muslim weightlifter fights to compete, hijabi-style. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43527580/ns/world_news-americas/t/muslimweightlifter-fights-compete-hijabi-style/#.T3xOIeU_-68 Huus, K. (2011). World Blog The barbell is up, and the dresscode changed. Retrieved from

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/15/7091232-the-barbell-is-up-andthe-dresscode-changed Saad. (2010, December 18th). The Muslim Voice Sports and Islam. Retrieved from http://themuslimvoice.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/sports-and-islam/ Spector, M. (2005, February 19th). Muslim Girl Ejected from Tournament II [quote:A taekwondo team of Muslim girls withdrew from a tournament on Sunday after they were barred from taking part with their hijabs, threatening to re-ignite Quebecs contentious debate about accommodating religious minorities.]. Retrieved from http://rabble.ca/babble/national-news/muslim-girl-ejected-tournament-ii The National Staff. (2011, May 11th). Top 10 Muslim female athletes, past and present. Retrieved from http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/10-top-muslim-female-athletespast-and-present Warshaw, A. (2012). Velcros dramatic save leads football to lift ban on hijab. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/velcrosdramatic-save-leads-football-to-lift-ban-on-hijab-7534753.html Wikipedia, Article. (n.d.). Article. Islamic Sports. Retrieved on April 6th, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_sports