Category — Sports

The Beijing Olympics are underway, and this year features dozens of Muslim athletes who have demonstrated that Islam has not held them back from their athletic dreams.

Modest and Beautiful profiles Ruqaya al-Ghasra.

Talk Islam highlights a New York Times article about the large number of veiled athletes at these Games.

And HijabStyle highlights a number of other Muslim, hijabi athletes competing in Beijin.

Our own Faraz, in an excellent article, draws parallel between hockey fans and Muslims-

And now the entire hockey world is calling out the people of Montreal as classless, while Montrealers are arguing that the riots were isolated cases that do not truly represent the city of Montreal or the people that live there.

All this seems very familiar to me. The voice of the “true fans”, the vast majority of them completely horrified by the barbarism that took place last night, is drowned out by a small number of idiots. And what else are others to think, when the images they see in the media are that of burning cars, smashed windows, and senseless yelling?

[Image: David M*]

A question raised by Ahmad Qisa’i, and he also reminds us similar case from the Indonesian Tennis Association who boycotted the Indonesian Fed Cup Tennis Team to play against Israel in Tel Aviv in July 2006:

But, I do not think that we have to boycott the Games. The Games is about sport and sportsmanship, no politics is allowed.

I do sympathize with the Tibetans and give my full support to their cause. But I also want to see the successful celebration of sports in the form of the Olympics. The Games must go on and we have to support the Chinese government’s effort to guarantee its successful organization.

If we have to boycott the Games, we should have done it in the first place when Beijing was chosen as the host of this year’s Olympics. Trying to obstruct the successful organization of the Games now is like a hypocrite who is afraid to say no when the announcement about Beijing was done and now is trying to steal the world’s attention as a show of sympathy towards the Tibetans

Muslimah Media Watch highlights an analysis of Laleh Sedigh, Iran’s first female race car driver. Does her driving a fast car really do anything for the cause of Iranian women? Pedestrian says no, while Zeynab argues that she could potentially serve as a role model.

Although her courage for entering such a male dominated atmosphere is certainly laudable, and it has certainly broken barriers, it has done nothing special for the plight of Iranian woman. Anyone informed on Iranian politics would know that a thousand women chanting, protesting, pleading or even begging is not going to convince anybody to do anything for them.

Check out the only Muslim forum dedicated to sports: Sports Halaqah

From Mujahideen Ryder:

Why Sports Halaqah?

Aren’t there sports forums out there already? Yes, but they have a not-so-halal environment. They talk about sports, but also discuss women, post pictures, videos, advertise haram items/events and other fitna. Sports Halaqah is a clean forum dedicated to all Muslims who love sports and want to discuss it others.

Dawah!

Sports Halaqah can also serve as dawah. One thing sports does for Muslims is bring many different types together. You can have a fistful length bearded brother and a clean-shaven, clubbin’ Muslim on the forum, but both will be talking and discussing there favorite sports team or a game and get along fine. The Muslims who are confused about Islam, we’ll realize, “hey, these big bearded brothers are cool after all!”. Not only is it potential dawah to lost Muslims, but also non-Muslims.  They will be shocked to find a Muslim forum dedicated to talking about sports and not jihad for a change. Maybe some Islam hater will join in on the discussion.  Who knows!

(Asian Cup 2007: Iraq vs. South Korea — Penalty Shots)

Today was a very beautiful day , My heart was filled with joy but not for too long as every beautiful thing in Iraq is , I was so happy and thrilled not only because my country soccer team made it to the finals after defeating Korea but because of what I have seen in the streets.

That was a very beautiful scene in the intersection , people cheering for their country they cheered for Iraq , without mentioning any sectarian leader , or mentioning their ethnicity , I wasn’t carrying anything to take photos with . I returned home quickly to tell my wife and carry the digital camera , I told her about everything then I asked her why don’t we go out in the car to Palestine St. it’s a relatively safe area , we could have a little fun there , so we went and took the camera with us , unfortunately I don’t have a handy cam anymore , so as we reached the beginning of Palestine St. I saw the celebrations , I took these pictures , people were very happy but the ignorant continued shooting bullets to express their happiness . Anyway we wandered in the car celebrating with the people and having a good time , then my wife said something I wasn’t thinking of , she told me that this massive gathering of people might attract a suicidal bombing or a car bomb , don’t you think? So I decided to get back home , and till this moment the outlines of this post was ready in my head , so after we got back home , I watched the news and I was shocked , 16 people died and 66 injured in Zaiona , 10 died and unknown number of injuries in Mansor , those were innocent people celebrating the victory of their country soccer team , why should they die , even in the darkest areas of my mind I didn’t think that they will be targeted , I couldn’t imagine that there is such a sick , twisted , criminal man who would like to kill these young , happy civilians , I don’t know , it’s just too much , can’t they give us one happy day ? is that too much to ask? May god have mercy on their souls.

Taken from Last Of Iraqis

How often do you see bearded lifesavers? Australabe reports

The Australian is reporting today a series of odd proposals for Australian imams from the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA).

It seems some did not like the idea, as he updates.

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An older post from there, ‘treat us well, or else…‘

Reminds me of ‘”What? The Pope says Islam is violent? Kill him!”