NationStates Jolt Archive


Anti-Soccer Fatwas Led Saudi Soccer Players to Join the Jihad in Iraq

Syniks
10-10-2005, 22:27
Gotta love MEMRI (http://memri.org/index.html)

You just can't make this stuff up. :headbang:

http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA24505

The Saudi daily Al-Watan reported recently that Islamic extremists were inciting Saudi soccer players to quit their teams and wage jihad in Iraq. According to these reports, the young athletes were influenced by fatwas forbidding the game of soccer except when played under certain conditions and with the express intention of using the game as physical training for jihad. Saudi sheikhs and intellectuals have criticized the fatwas and the religious authorities that issued them.

On August 22, 2005, Al-Watan reported that the soccer players involved in this affair were from the Al-Taif region, and that some of them belonged to the region's well-known Al-Rashid team." [1] In another article, Al-Rashid captain Ja'far 'Attas said that three of his players had left the team. [2] A few days later, team members confirmed that the three had become devout and, under the influence of various fatwas, had begun to believe that soccer was forbidden by religious law. [3]

One of the three, Majid Al-Sawat, was arrested while planning to carry out a suicide bombing in Iraq. He appeared on Al-Iraqiya TV four months ago, claiming that he had fallen victim to one of the disreputable groups which take those who come to Iraq and hold them against their will in order to make them commit acts of terrorism. [4]

Fatwa from 2003: Soccer is Forbidden Except When Played as Training for Jihad

One of the anti-soccer fatwas was published in full in Al-Watan on August 25, 2005. According to other sources it had been issued by Sheikh 'Abdallah Al-Najdi. [5]

The fatwa declared that it is only permissible to play soccer when its rules are different than the accepted international rules. This was based on a hadith [Prophetic tradition] which forbids Muslims to imitate Christians and Jews. [6] The fatwa read:

"1. Don't play soccer with four lines [surrounding the field], since this is the way of the non-believers, and the international soccer rules require drawing [these lines] before playing.

"2. One should not use the terminology established by the non-believers and the polytheists, like: 'foul,' 'penalty kick,' 'corner kick,' 'goal,' and 'out of bounds.' Whoever pronounces these terms should be punished, reprimanded, kicked out of the game, and should even be told in public: 'You have come to resemble the non-believers and the polytheists, and this has been forbidden.'

"3. If one of you falls during the game and breaks his hand or his foot, or if the ball hits his hand, he shall not say 'foul' and shall not stop playing because of his injury. The one who caused his injury shall not receive a yellow or a red card, but rather the case shall be judged according to Muslim law in the case of a broken bone or an injury. The injured player shall exercise his rights according to the shari'a, as [is stated] in the Koran, and you must testify together with him that so-and-so tripped him up intentionally. <snip>... :rolleyes:

It goes on to discuss the pros & cons of the fatwas, including criticisims on why/how in the hell such stuff can even be taken seriously...

Very weird.
The Holy Womble
10-10-2005, 22:38
Very weird.
That's not weird yet. Now the Divine Spiders of Falluja (http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=219)- THAT was weird :D
Syniks
10-10-2005, 22:42
That's not weird yet. Now the Divine Spiders of Falluja (http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=219)- THAT was weird :D
I really wish sensible Usian/Euro Muslims would read MEMRI... I think it would be a real eye-opener.
Syniks
10-10-2005, 22:44
That's not weird yet. Now the Divine Spiders of Falluja (http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=219)- THAT was weird :D
from the link above:
Sheik Mahdi Saleh Al-Sumide'I:

By Allah, I would like to say something. I swear in the name of Allah on this issue. If the American mothers, sisters, and wives – and this is a message directed at the American people – if they knew what was happening to their children in Iraq, no woman could sleep in her bed at night, and you would see women and children in the streets of America, down on their knees, throwing dirt on their heads because of what is happening to the American forces in Iraq.
Think he was talking about/to the Sheehanites? :eek:
Keruvalia
10-10-2005, 22:50
I really wish sensible Usian/Euro Muslims would read MEMRI... I think it would be a real eye-opener.

Eye opener how? We already know Saudi is a fucked up, insane, backwards place whose citizens wouldn't know a Qur'an if it bit them. How much more open can our eyes be?
Syniks
10-10-2005, 22:57
Eye opener how? We already know Saudi is a fucked up, insane, backwards place whose citizens wouldn't know a Qur'an if it bit them. How much more open can our eyes be?
'cause MEMRI is more than just Saudi... and there are people in the US who are blithely unaware of the weirdness masquarading as Islam over there ad spend waay too much time as apologists. #1 on my list would be Ibrahim Hooper... :rolleyes:
The Holy Womble
10-10-2005, 23:10
from the link above:

Think he was talking about/to the Sheehanites? :eek:
Someone should ask Mother Sheehan about those spiders really.