Islam, football and time
By Afis Oladosu
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
SINCE the primordial times, humankind has always devised various kinds of sporting activities in order to ensure physical health and make their bodies strong.
The need to keep bodies in good shape was, however, not an end in itself. Good physical and mental health was a desideratum and precondition for the attainment of higher terrestrial and extra-terrestrial goals. Thus during the period, it was common for people whose wakeful moments was more of engaging in battles to engage in such sporting activities as archery, weightlifting and dueling even as swimming would be the number one sport among nations and tribes living on sea-shores.
The Arabs, during the pre- and early-Islamic periods, used to engage in horse-racing and hunting, aside from other physical exercises, because these activities were useful to them in their pursuit of worldly and other-worldly goals and ambitions.
The religion of Islam is completely un-opposed to sporting activities particularly when it is premised on the above philosophy. Every single Moslem is enjoined to explore and pursue all the means that would guarantee, among others, a sound body, a sound mind and a sound mental state.
Prophet Muhammad (upon him be peace) was reported to have said: "A strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than a weak one" (Reported by Moslem). The reason for this is obvious, it is the human body, which is completely sound and healthy that would be able to fulfill all religious duties, whether spiritual or mundane.
In his treatise known as Zad al-Ma'ad, the well known Moslem jurist and philosopher, Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, says that movement is the core of all of sporting activities, "it helps the body get rid of waste food in a very normal way. It makes it active, enhances its immunity and protects it from diseases. Each organ has its own sport that suits it. As for horse-riding, archery, wrestling and racing, they are sports that benefit the whole body."
In the contemporary world, it is incontrovertible to say that football has become the number one sporting activity. Football has become popular because it makes for physical health and provides entertainment. It is one activity that commands the attention of the old and the young, men and women, the lay and the learned. Such is the power and charm of the round leather game that it has followers from among the high and the low, the employed and the unemployed.
Football is also a unifier, it binds the poor with the rich, it unites the north with the south. Football has also become stronger than alcohol, it inebriates and intoxicates, humanity forgets its mission on earth once the round leather is being tossed round the field by twenty-two skilled gentle-men and women. It is exactly this potential of football to "build" and "destroy" that is of concern to us in this essay.
Whereas it is true that football is one of the means by which one maintains physical fitness, it has become a modern day "god" being worshipped night and day all around the world.
From Malaysia to Michigan, from Kano to Kyoto, and from Lagos to Laos, the game of football has also become not just one global business concern with investments running to trillions of dollars, it has also increased in its potential to deprive humanity of the most scarce of all resources; time.
Every weekend in this country, Nigerians of all walks of life are now in the habit of watching the Barclays Premiership in London. Viewing centres have sprung up all around the country all offering "pay as you watch" services to football zealots: those wishing to follow up on the progress of "their" team in the league, and others desirous of bearing witness to how "their" arch-rivals would be defeated by another club.
In all of these, Nigerians are trading off their time and hard-earned resources in order to enjoy fleeting moments of soccer artistry. Each time the name of, for example, Arsenal, is shouted in the neighborhood, it is certain that a secondary school student, who ordinarily should be preparing doggedly for his exams is one of the fans. Each time Nigerians sit at the television set watching Liverpool or Barcelona, it is indubitable that valuable time is being wasted in a venture, which promises virtually nothing in return for the soccer-crazy Nigerians.
Our passion for football in this country has reached such a dangerous level where, in its name, we are prepared to mortgage and forsake more important and lasting ventures, we care less about health services once football is on display, we care less about education once it is time for soccer competitions, we invest more in hosting World Championships than we do in providing and improving on our decadent infrastructural facilities.
I once engaged a neighbour, who could not sleep because his favourite club in English Barclays Premiership was defeated by another. I asked him, rhetorically, thus: "I hope your love for Arsenal has not led to a psychiatry condition?" He looked me straight in the eye and retorted: "Dr! I do think I'm indeed crazy! I'm mad...but there are pleasures in being mad which none but the man knows"!
What else other than madness would have led to the murder of a Nigerian by his compatriot just because the latter boasted about the superiority of Arsenal over Manchester United? What else other than madness could have led to the commission of suicide by the football freak as a way of expressing his disappointment in his team? Of what use is the millions of dollars being pumped by corporate organisations to the football industry at a time our educational sector is in comatose for lack of adequate funding?
Pray! How many dollars would accrue to that Nigerian in the backwaters of the city of Ibadan from his maddening support of Real Madrid? The ordinary Nigerian follower of football leagues in Europe knows the name of each player in each of the leagues there than they know the names of each Minister working with President Yar'Adua and their portfolio.
In other words, how do we explain a situation where Nigerians with serious medical ailments such as hypertension now aggravate their condition as a result of their indulgence in watching football.
In no distant past, a postgraduate student of the University of Ibadan was found dead in his room after watching an extremely tension soaked soccer duel in his Hall's Senior Common Room!
The point being canvassed here should be well noted: Islam demands moderation and modesty in every thing a Muslim engages in the same way it strongly demands that Muslims put their life into maximum and most effective use. The fervour and passion, which now attend our patronage of football and particularly the European league is eroding not only our values as a nation but equally eating deep into the intellectual armoury of large segments of Nigerian youth.
When we pay more attention to sporting events such as football, and when our youth become hostage to the fleeting entertainment which the European football provides, the next generation of Nigerians is being prepared for double colonisation. I close with the statement of Prophet of Muhammad (Upon him be peace).
He once said, "the two feet of the servant of Allah will not move on the day of resurrection until he is asked about five things, about his life how he used it; about his youth, how he spent it; about his wealth, how he got and spent it and about his knowledge- what he did with it."
In Islam time, in line with al-Hassan al-Basri, is life. He who trifles with time, trifles with his life. Thus each time I sit in front of the television to watch football, I am confronted with the following question: What posture I am taking at this point in time? - that of someone who wants to go "mad" or that of a "criminal," who desires to commit premeditated "murder." In the latter the victim would be time.
- Oladosu is in Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan
