Youth and Sport
Sport has an important place in young people's areas of interest. Qualities like action, emotions, excitement, curiosity, power, competition and dynamism that are inherent in man are at the peak during the period of youth. Therefore, young people are in majority among the people who play and watch sports.
The young people who take the Prophet (pbuh) as an example should know the decrees of our religion regarding sports.
The most popular sports during the time of the Prophet (pbuh) were wrestling, archery and animal racing.
The Prophet (pbuh) made camels race, watched young people who wrestled and encouraged archery.
"The best kind of entertainment is archery." (Daylami, Musnadu'l-Firdaws), "Learn to shoot arrows because it is the best one of your games." (Tabarani, Awsaf) The hadiths above attract attention to archery because it was important in the wars of that time.
The Prophet (pbuh) made his grandsons, Hz. Hasan and Husayn wrestle. Once, he was watching them wrestle. In order to encourage Hasan, he shouted, "Come on Hasan! Catch Husayn!" Hz. Ali (r.a.) was also there. He said, "O Messenger of Allah! You should support Husayn. Hasan is older." The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Look! Gabriel says to Husayn, 'Come on Husayn! Catch him.'"
The Prophet (pbuh) also attracted attention to swimming by saying, "Teach boys to swim and to shoot arrows; teach girls to spin yarn."
The branches of sports we have mentioned above help human body develop and strengthen; they are also necessary during battles. People who can wrestle well, ride horses and camels fast and shoot arrows well will definitely fight better than others.
They serve to train people for battles; they serve an important cause rather than being unnecessary and temporary entertainment.
As a matter of fact, when the Prophet (pbuh) saw some young people wrestling, he said, "The real wrestler is the one that stops his soul and fury." Thus, he reminded us that it was necessary to bear in mind an eternal reality while playing sports.
When we view the sports of today under the criteria of the hadiths, we can mention the following branches: "football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, boxing, athletics, weight-lifting, swimming and archery". They are the main branches. There are some more branches of sports that are not as common.
It is necessary to mention a rumor here. The claim that the football represents the head of Hz. Husayn is wrong; it is not true.
The basic criteria while evaluating the branches of sport should be as follows:
The branch of the sport should not contradict the rules of our religion in terms of its nature and practices. For instance, the branches of sports that kill and wound people cannot be approved. Besides, women and men cannot play together; it is also necessary to be dressed in accordance with tasattur rules.
There must not be any material interests like betting based on the result of the sport. If a prize is given by someone or an organization other than the competitors, it is not regarded as betting or gambling.
Sports must not prevent us from worshipping, especially performing fard prayers. If worship is ignored due to sports, it is haram.
Sports must not cause people to fight and become enemies but to meet and make friends.
No branches of sports must consume our time so much as to prevent our necessary services and tasks. Wasting is haram in sports as it is haram in everything. However, it is valid for amateur sportsmen. If a person is a professional sportsman, he will naturally spend most of his time training for that sport. However, he must not abandon learning, meditating religious issues and fard worship.
What such a person does in sports can be regarded as religious service because being a prominent sportsperson can cause the religion and culture of that person to be known and loved. Sport is also a means of conveying message like science, art and industry. A sportsperson who arranges his life in compliance with his religion will gain the sympathy of large masses of people if he becomes successful. This will pave the way for the belief and lifestyle he represents to be known and adopted by a lot of people. Thus, a sportsperson can serve his religion as much as a great scholar does as long as he maintains his sincere intention.
We must not spend much time on sports, especially football. Everybody needs to establish a balance regarding the issue. We need to find a middle way that will be in compliance with our eternal aims and that will satisfy our interest in sport. Its criterion cannot be the same for everybody. It is necessary to deal with the issue flexibly. There are some people who devote themselves to the realization of their lofty aims; they are not interested in sports at all. There are some people who are interested in sports a lot. It is not appropriate to impose strict rules regarding the issue. It is not appropriate to be fanatics and hooligans, either.
However, it will be useful for our young people to play sports as long as they are in compliance with the rules mentioned above. Thus, they will deal with a legitimate kind of entertainment and will keep fit and remain healthy.
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