The Prophet's guidance on sport

The Prophet's guidance on sport

 

Prepared by

Prof. Ahmed Al-Mazyad

Dr. Khalid Al-Shaya

 

One of the publications of

Introducing the Prophet (peace be upon him) Project

 

Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd Al Saud

 

Through this sport event (World Cup 2014) in Brazil, millions of different nationalities, peoples, and religions assemble to speak one language, which is football, united by love, peace, familiarity, and acquaintance. Youth show great interest in this event because of the widely popular sports around the world that take place in the context of strong competitions that show the value of sport for the peoples of the world. No wonder if we find that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) (633 AD) was interested in the practice of useful sports activities and advised his Companions of practicing them because they strengthen bodies and keep them healthy.

Of the most popular sports which he and his Companions practiced and called for are the following:

* Running: His Companions used to race, and sometimes Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) raced his wife.

* Horsemanship: It is the mastery of horseback riding and fencing, therefore he considered horsemanship is one of the best competitions.

* Archery: It is a sport that strengthens arms and needs a large force. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Verily, strength is in archery."

In addition to other multiple sports which aimed to invest and direct power.

Of the objectives of sport according to the Prophet (peace be upon him) are the following:

* Maintaining the human body strong and active, for sport is the nutrition of body and mind together, it provides the needed energy to man to carry out various actions, as it is a good investment to the time of youth and promotes their manners.

* Developing the spirit of cooperation through noble sport competitions among individuals and groups.

In the World Cup 2014, the International Federation of Football (FIFA) starts the signal to draw the attention of millions to one place to embody the meaning of human unity, harmony, love, and peace. No wonder to find Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was keen to establish and promote these feelings 1400 years ago, where he called people to show interest in youth issues, as he called to good treatment and harmony with peaceful non-Muslims and other races and nationalities.

The Glorious Qur'an established the principle of knowing one another among people and called for spreading peace worldwide.

Furthermore, he informed people that all Prophets are brothers and called the people for worshipping one Lord. So, the faith of a person is not complete but after affirming faith in Moses and Jesus besides believing in Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). You find that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to treat his Jewish neighbor kindly and buy food from Christians.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) called for many noble sport objectives, of which are the following:

1- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) show interest in health and fitness?

If you like to see yourself in a good health or see your favorite team in a good health to resolve difficult games, let it be known that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) called for caring for the body through the regulation of food; he said: "A person should keep one-third for food, one-third for drink and one-third for his breathing." Choosing useful food is also important to have a healthy body that is free of diseases. Moreover, he considered the best among his followers are those who have strong bodies and who are healthy. He was the first to call to quarantine, so he prohibited people to enter a country which contains infectious diseases, and prevented people from leaving it to reduce infection.

2- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) show interest in values, principles, and manners?

The most excellent teams are those which advance values, principles, and manners to material interests and positions, therefore you find the players of these teams more popular in the world because of their high manners. No wonder to see Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) ranks the well-mannered people in the first place. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to rear his Companions on truthfulness, integrity, and justice, and he himself was called As-Sadiq Al Amin (the truthful and the trustworthy). Moreover, he called for proficiency, positiveness, good treatment, cooperation, initiative, voluntary work, bearing responsibility, moderation, interaction with others, friendship, love, forbearing, and modesty.

3- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) deal with financial and administrative corruption?

Sometimes, we find some sport organizations and teams suffer from financial and administrative corruption, which affects their progress and material achievements.

Everyone is seeking to get rid of this phenomenon, therefore the Prophet (peace be upon him) warned of bribery, and considered giving positions to unqualified people a bad sign, laid down strict rules to confront theft to the extent that he vowed to punish thieves even if the thief is his own daughter, and prohibited cheating by saying: "Whoever cheats is not one of us." Moreover, he hated that a person is given something he does not deserve.

4- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) preserve human rights?

Perhaps there are some players suffering from the oppression of their coaches and not giving them the opportunity to show their talents, or some teams complain about the deliberate injustice of some referees. Everyone wishes to get rid of all these, so the Prophet (peace be upon him) stressed the right of man in life and the right of freedom. No one is allowed to force someone else to embrace Islam; Allah (Glory be to Him) says: "There is no compulsion in religion." Furthermore, the Prophet (peace be upon him) stressed the right of security, education, work, and possession, and informed the people about the bad consequence of oppression. He laid down the rules of justice and equality for all people and used not to differentiate between the Companions except according to efficiency and good performance. His last words which he directed to his Companions and to all people were about maintaining the rights of others, women and their rights and not to insult or oppress them, the rights of the weak, old people, and the people of special needs. Due to his intensive care of rights, he commended people to take care of plants and animals and forbade people to harm them.

5- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) confront racial discrimination?

Sometimes in stadiums we see actions that call to discrimination based on race, color, or religion, which may help to spread hatred among people. As sports fight and reject this, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the first to reject racial discrimination when he told the people that we all come down from a single father i.e., Adam. He declared that all people are equal before the community and law, and the best among us is the one who does righteous actions regardless his color, sex, or race. His Companions came from different nationalities and races, such as: Suhayb (the Roman), Bilal (the Ethiopian), and Salman (the Persian). His last words were about equality, and there is no difference between an Arab or non-Arab except by righteous deeds and noble manners.

6- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) treat intolerance that leads to violence?

Intolerance is one of the phenomena that we wish to disappear from stadiums all over the world, especially if it leads to violence or damage to the properties of others. So, we find Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) called the people to show gentleness in almost everything and called them to stop harming others or their properties, and stop insulting or uttering racial words that may harm others. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also warned of terrifying secure people and considered terrifying a bad thing that equals harming him personally (peace be upon him). He said: "There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm." He forbade bloodshed and considered it one of the major sins.

7- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) treat the problem of poverty?

When you see some sport teams allocate the income of some matches to the poor, orphans, and the distressed, or to help a hospital, do not be surprised if you find the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) encouraged people to work and even migrate to earn a good lawful living to end the problem of poverty by work and production. Moreover, he commanded the rich to allocate part of their money to help the poor, the needy, widows, orphans, and wayfarers. He exhorted to help the poor with money and food and made it one of the things that erase sins. He allocated a monthly fixed share from the state funds for the poor and the needy to remove their suffering.

8- How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) confront the danger of drugs?

Sport helps man to stay away from drugs, alcohol, and smoking because man needs fitness and acuteness, but these things confuse the mind, weaken and destroy the body. Therefore, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stressed the importance of maintaining the five essentials which are: Religion, oneself, reason, properties, and honor. These essentials are not indispensable to man in his life, so the Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade his followers to use anything that may affect the mind, harm the body, and destroy money without use. We have mentioned how did the Prophet (peace be upon him) show interest in health and fight all things that may weaken it to the extent that he made all these things prohibited to his followers so as to have a good health and clear mind which help them work and produce.[1]

All these and others do not make you wonder when you see many of world's celebrities, who did not embrace Islam, praise the Prophet (peace be upon him) for his greatness and genius. 

The famous British writer (George Bernard Shaw) said: "I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness"

The famous German poet Goethe said: “I searched history for the highest role model for man, and I found it in the Arab Prophet Muhammad. ”

American historian Will Durant said: "Prophet Muhammad was the greatest of all mankind."

The American scientist Michael Hart said: “My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level.”

How beautiful that we all cooperate for offering a cultural model, through this football celebration, a model that is based on harmony, love, peace, and promoting the values of noble manners.