Playing soccer by the Saudi rules!

[Womble]

This should be fun:

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.

"4. Do not set the number [of players] according to the number of players used by the non-believers, the Jews, the Christians, and especially the vile America. In other words, 11 players shall not play together. Make it a larger or a smaller number.

"5. Play in your normal clothing, or in pajamas, or something like that, but not in colorful pants and numbered jerseys. Pants and jerseys are not appropriate clothing for Muslims. They are the clothing of the non-believers and of the West, and therefore you must be careful not to wear them.

"6. Once you have fulfilled [these] conditions and rules, you must play the entire game with the intention of improving your physical fitness for the purpose of fighting Jihad for Allah's sake and preparing for the time when jihad is needed. One should not waste time in celebrating a false victory.

"7. Do not play for 45 minutes, as is the practice among the Jews, the Christians, and in all of the countries of non-belief and atheism. This is also the length of time that is accepted in the soccer clubs of those who have strayed from the righteous path. You must be different than the non-believers, depart from their path, and not imitate them in anything.

"8. Do not play in two parts [i.e. halves], but rather in one part or in three parts, so as to be different than the sinful and rebellious, the non-believers and the polytheists.

"9. If neither side has defeated the other and neither side has inserted the ball between the posts, do not waste further time [in an extension] or in 'penalty kicks' until someone has won, but rather leave [the field] immediately, since this kind of victory is precisely an imitation of the non-believers and [adoption] of the international soccer rules.

"10. Do not appoint someone who follows the players around and is called 'a referee', since, after canceling the international rules such as 'foul,' 'penalty kick,' 'corner kick' and so on, there is no need for his presence. Moreover, his presence is an imitation of non-believers, Jews and Christians, and constitutes adoption of the international [soccer] rules.

"11. In the course of the game it is forbidden for groups of youth to gather and watch, since if you are gathering for the sake of sports activity and physical fitness, as you claim, why should they be looking at you? You must make them participate [in order to improve] their physical fitness and prepare for jihad; or else say to them, 'Go propagate Islam and seek out moral corruption in the marketplaces and in the press [in order to correct it], and leave us to improve our physical fitness.'

"12. When you finish playing, be careful not to talk about the game, and not to say 'we play better than the opponent,' or 'so-and-so is a good player,' etc. Moreover, you should speak about your body, its strength and its muscles, and about the fact that you are playing as [a means of] training to run, attack, and retreat in preparation for [waging] jihad for Allah's sake.

"13. If one of you inserts the ball between the posts and then starts to run so that his companions will run after him and hug him, like the players in America and France do, you should spit in his face, punish him, and reprimand him, for what do joy, hugging, and kissing have to do with sports?

"14. You must take the three posts or iron rods which you use to construct [the goal], and into which the ball is kicked, and replace them with just two instead of three. In other words, take out the cross-post or rod… so that [the goal] will not be similar to what is customary among the non-believers, and in order to violate the despotic international soccer rules.

"15. Do not do what is known as 'substitution' – that is, putting in a player in place of a player who has been disqualified – since this the custom of the non-believers in America and elsewhere."

[KSO]

This should be fun:

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.

"4. Do not set the number [of players] according to the number of players used by the non-believers, the Jews, the Christians, and especially the vile America. In other words, 11 players shall not play together. Make it a larger or a smaller number.

"5. Play in your normal clothing, or in pajamas, or something like that, but not in colorful pants and numbered jerseys. Pants and jerseys are not appropriate clothing for Muslims. They are the clothing of the non-believers and of the West, and therefore you must be careful not to wear them.

"6. Once you have fulfilled [these] conditions and rules, you must play the entire game with the intention of improving your physical fitness for the purpose of fighting Jihad for Allah's sake and preparing for the time when jihad is needed. One should not waste time in celebrating a false victory.

"7. Do not play for 45 minutes, as is the practice among the Jews, the Christians, and in all of the countries of non-belief and atheism. This is also the length of time that is accepted in the soccer clubs of those who have strayed from the righteous path. You must be different than the non-believers, depart from their path, and not imitate them in anything.

"8. Do not play in two parts [i.e. halves], but rather in one part or in three parts, so as to be different than the sinful and rebellious, the non-believers and the polytheists.

"9. If neither side has defeated the other and neither side has inserted the ball between the posts, do not waste further time [in an extension] or in 'penalty kicks' until someone has won, but rather leave [the field] immediately, since this kind of victory is precisely an imitation of the non-believers and [adoption] of the international soccer rules.

"10. Do not appoint someone who follows the players around and is called 'a referee', since, after canceling the international rules such as 'foul,' 'penalty kick,' 'corner kick' and so on, there is no need for his presence. Moreover, his presence is an imitation of non-believers, Jews and Christians, and constitutes adoption of the international [soccer] rules.

"11. In the course of the game it is forbidden for groups of youth to gather and watch, since if you are gathering for the sake of sports activity and physical fitness, as you claim, why should they be looking at you? You must make them participate [in order to improve] their physical fitness and prepare for jihad; or else say to them, 'Go propagate Islam and seek out moral corruption in the marketplaces and in the press [in order to correct it], and leave us to improve our physical fitness.'

"12. When you finish playing, be careful not to talk about the game, and not to say 'we play better than the opponent,' or 'so-and-so is a good player,' etc. Moreover, you should speak about your body, its strength and its muscles, and about the fact that you are playing as [a means of] training to run, attack, and retreat in preparation for [waging] jihad for Allah's sake.

"13. If one of you inserts the ball between the posts and then starts to run so that his companions will run after him and hug him, like the players in America and France do, you should spit in his face, punish him, and reprimand him, for what do joy, hugging, and kissing have to do with sports?

"14. You must take the three posts or iron rods which you use to construct [the goal], and into which the ball is kicked, and replace them with just two instead of three. In other words, take out the cross-post or rod… so that [the goal] will not be similar to what is customary among the non-believers, and in order to violate the despotic international soccer rules.

"15. Do not do what is known as 'substitution' – that is, putting in a player in place of a player who has been disqualified – since this the custom of the non-believers in America and elsewhere."

\
Yey let's ridicule other people to feel good!

[Womble]

\
Yey let's ridicule other people to feel good!

Why not ridicule those who deserve being ridiculed? Or do you not agree that this fatwa is ridiculous?

[Asim Aquil]

Why not ridicule those who deserve being ridiculed? Or do you not agree that this fatwa is ridiculous?

Damn, what goes around in my neighbourhood.

Maybe this will help them break off from their Wahabbiness. Football's their life! Maybe they'll say "enough is enough"..... mayyyyyybbeee?

[Womble]

Damn, what goes around in my neighbourhood.

Maybe this will help them break off from their Wahabbiness. Football's their life! Maybe they'll say "enough is enough"..... mayyyyyybbeee?

Well, judging by the article, even the Saudi Ulema was not pleased with that fatwa.

[SteveK]

Damn, what goes around in my neighbourhood.

Maybe this will help them break off from their Wahabbiness. Football's their life! Maybe they'll say "enough is enough"..... mayyyyyybbeee?

I concur with the honorable representative from Dubai.

In fact, instead of issuing such complex Islamic rule changes to make it a Saudi Soccer, I might suggest that the Muslim clerics just demand the substitution of the otherwise standard regulation soccer ball by one of those human heads that the Saudis are so fond of chopping off under Islamic law.

Just this one change will surely be acknowledged by all the world's Christians and Jews as "NOW THAT'S SAUDI SOCCER!!!". EXCLUSIVELY!!! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!!

[Asim Aquil]

Well, judging by the article, even the Saudi Ulema was not pleased with that fatwa.

I'd be more interested in the common public, afterall Ulema's are seldom pleased anyway.

[Womble]

I'd be more interested in the common public, afterall Ulema's are seldom pleased anyway.

I'd be interested in it too, but reliable information about public sympathies from places as totalitarian as Saudi Arabia is pretty hard to find.

My last experience with a Saudi person was a brief chat with a girl from Jeddah. We were getting along pretty good until she asked me: "What do you think about Mein Kampf? Because I think the guy who wrote it was pretty smart".

[KSO]

Why not ridicule those who deserve being ridiculed? Or do you not agree that this fatwa is ridiculous?

Even if you think it's ridiciolous who gave you the right, so much paper is wasten on those articles "oh look at those crazy crazy Africans! Look at those crazy orthodox Jews,Look at those crazy Arabs!" and again it's news pornography.

[KettleWhistle]

Even if you think it's ridiciolous who gave you the right...

Ever heard of something called Freedom of Though and Freedom of Speach?

[KSO]

Ever heard of something called Freedom of Though and Freedom of Speach?

Yes,those things suck.

[MGB8]

KSO,

Your post REEKS of moral reletavism.

The point is not just that they want to have a distinct version of the game, it is that the Clerics of the most important country of a major faith go SO FAR in wanting it to be distinguished, and in taking all the fun out of it and making into "war games," literally.

It IS absurd, by any OBJECTIVE viewing when compared to the HUMAN CONDITION. And it should be called so. And no PC bs.

[Justcurious]

Hilarious, simply hilarious!

[KSO]

KSO,

Your post REEKS of moral reletavism.

The point is not just that they want to have a distinct version of the game, it is that the Clerics of the most important country of a major faith go SO FAR in wanting it to be distinguished, and in taking all the fun out of it and making into "war games," literally.

It IS absurd, by any OBJECTIVE viewing when compared to the HUMAN CONDITION. And it should be called so. And no PC bs.

Once again these kinds of articles supposed to make me (as a westerner) to feel good by ridiculing other people and other faiths, you want to do it? your right, sais more about you than those Saudis.

[MGB8]

A Cleric has said... it is SO BAD to be like those dirty Christians and Jews that you should not play a game like them in these 20 or so ways... and, more than that, you should play it only to prepare for war...

its not about making fun to feel good.

It is about pointing out the absurdity of this ideology.

Your inability to see this, to only view this through the prism of "white people making themselves feel better by mocking the darkies" - that speaks volumes about you.