The Cricket Mania

The Cricket Mania

All praise is due to Allâh, and may His choicest salutations continue to shower upon our Master and Guide,
Muhammad Sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, the leader of all mankind.

South Africa , as the host country of the Cricket World Cup 2003, is the focus of world attention. Millions of people across the globe have readjusted their daily schedules in order to accommodate the daily fixtures. The cricket craze has also bowled over the local Muslim communities who exchange the latest cricket scores even as they enter the House of Allah. Has professional sport become the “opium of the masses”? Have the sport stadiums become the new shrines of our culture? Are the coaches and commentators the new priests who offer their wisdom and advice? Are television the new pulpits from which the message is spread?

Are we enchanted and bewitched by ‘sport’ though it has become synonymous with violence, drugs, fornication, gambling and match-fixing? Do we adore sport heroes; even though they are disconnected from the real world, from real jobs and real lives? Do we now judge the worth of individuals based solely on how they perform on the field, instead of looking at their characters, values and beliefs?

Nabî Sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam has said: “Any (sport) without the remembrance of Allâh is either a diversion or heedlessness except four: walking from target to target (while shooting), training a horse, playing with one’s family and learning to swim.”

Islâm advocates sport only to the extent that if fulfils the following objectives:

Development of necessary life-skills

A means of engendering love within members of the family

A means of refreshing the mind

A means of developing robust physique

The Holy Qur’ân states: “Know that the life of this world is but play and amusement, a beautiful show, the course of boastful vying with one another and greed for more riches and children…”

Professional sport viewed against the background of this verse is more than play that is delusive, amusement that causes an individual to be heedless, a beautiful show from outside, but manipulative, evil, rotten, and immoral from inside. A course of boastful vying that bloats the ego and pollutes the mind; it thrives on the lower impulse of greed, wealth and fame. It essentially casts a spell that detaches the ‘spectator’ from the realities of life, from the value of time and productivity, and aspires to superimpose a heedless, aimless and erratic mind set.

As Muslims, we need to break loose from the lure of entertainment that breeds laziness and indifference to our primary purpose in life, we need to guard against spending endless hours ‘watching’ that which causes blindness of the heart.

May Allâh Ta‘âla Protect Us from falling Prey to Deceptive Joys
of an Equally Deceitful World.

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