Adil Najam
According to a Reuters report (CricInfo version here) Pakistan cricket players have “been advised to strike a balance between religion and cricket.” This according to Dr. Nasim Ashraf, the new Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The report goes on to say:
Since last year, the Pakistan team has made it a point to pray in public and hold religious gatherings in team hotels. Ashraf said in a television interview he did not believe there was any connection between Maulvism, ultra orthodox Muslims, and cricket. “There is no doubt their religious faith is a motivating factor in the team. It binds them together. But there should be balance between religion and cricket,” Ashraf said.
Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, batsman Mohammad Yousuf, who converted to Islam from Christianity earlier this year and former leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed have been in the forefront of projecting a religious image of the team. Ashraf said he had no problems with the players saying their prayers regularly but he had told Inzamam that Islam does not allow the imposition of views on others.
“I have told him clearly that there should be no pressure on players who don’t pray regularly or any compulsion on them to do it under pressure,” he said. “I have told him there should be no perception among players that if they don’t pray they will not be in the team… He has assured me there is no pressure on anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. I have also told him players should get proper rest for their cricket,” Ashraf added.
The report does not come as a surprise (click on image to see story from Jang, 9 October), but it is still a bit of a shock.
I do not like the word ‘Maulvisim’. I do not know what it means, and whether that was the intent or not, it is likely to be seen as a slur and a coded attack. I worry greatly these days about an increasing tendency to use polarizing language, the use of which can only spell trouble in an already much-fractured society. I am hoping that it is a word coined by an over-eager Reuters reporter and not Dr. Nasim Ashraf.
I should add that I have known Doctor Sahib for some years. I know that personally he is a man of strong personal faith and religious conviction and for that reason alone I think he would be well suited to have discussions with the team on these issues in ways that others might not be able to. But such discussions are intensely personal and should remain private (but not secret). Please note that I am not calling for secrecy, but I do not think that Reuters wire services or television airwaves are the best medium for this conversation. I fear that in the glaring lights of the media circus , this important conversation will necessarily become polarized, simplistic, and accusatory and will degenerate towards crass finger-pointing, self-righteous chest-thumping, and loud but hollow sloganeering.
I should thank Adnan Siddiqi’s blog (here) for first alerting me to this brewing controversy. Since then I have tried to keep a tab on this issue. Today, Teeth Maestro also has a commentary on his blog (here). My own views on this stem from the very same logic that had influenced my views on the story about Habib Bank requiring employees to trim their beards which I had commented on in the very earliest weeks on this blog (here). The parallels between the two are strikingly similar, but so are the principles:
- First, no one has the right to restrict anyone’s else’s right to personal expressions of belief and faith, no matter what that belief or faith might be.
It would be wrong, therefore, if PCB, ICC, or anyone else were to restrict the expression of personal faith by any set of players. Whether it is saying one’s prayers in public and in jamaat or growing a beard, that is a matter of personal choice. One’s inclusion in the team should not be a matter of whether one has (or does not have) facial hair. It should depend solely and only on one’s cricketing abilities. Despite the headline statement, a careful reading of the news item above suggests that the PCB is acknowledging that faith is a key “motivating factor” for this team and is not asking anyone to either restrict their beliefs or the expression of those beliefs. If it were ever to do so, it would be a matter of grave and serious concern indeed.
- Second, and relatedly, no one has the right to impose their own religious beliefs on others through direct or indirect pressure.
It would be wrong, therefore, if senior players were somehow pressurizing or forcing teammates to adopt a particular behavior. To repeat what I have already said above: One’s inclusion in the team should not be a matter of whether one has (or does not have) facial hair. It should depend solely and only on one’s cricketing abilities. A careful reading of the news item above makes clear that Inzimam, at least, understands that there should be (and is) no such pressure. If any players were ever to feel pressurized by the religious beliefs of their team-mates or were made to feel that their continued inclusion in the team would depend on their praying habits (rather than their playing abilities), then - and only then - it would be a matter of grave and serious concern indeed.
My only hope right now is that the media circus - in Pakistan and abroad - will not sensationalize this important issue and force even greater fissures and polarizations than already exist. I fear that this hope will not be realized.
But let me also say that I have much greater confidence in Inzimam, his teammates and Dr. Nasim Ashraf and pray that they will resist the media’s provocations and will refuse to fall into petty bickering or sloganeering opportunities.
and pls hamdani, do read again, do provide references to put some weight on your statments. When i said i ignore your statment about statment then it means I have some proof to refute your claim. If you re in karachi, you may go to “Ilmi Cassette ghar” near Madni Masjid F.B.AREA karachi and could grab the audio cassette “Mey Musalman Kaise Bana by Muhammad Yousuf” and listen in his own voice. I know it would pisses you off that cassette is available near Tableeghi markaz in Ayesha Manzil F.B.ARea but deal with it. Yousuf is a muslim now. If you can grab cassette from somewhere else then good for you. I could give you a website link but i know u would reject it as “fake” material. Oh by the way video is available too incase if you troll that it’s not his voice. Geo Super also did a program with Yousuf in which wasim was host. you may also watch it to enlighten yourself. Now bring such evidence so that I[we] take your seriously.
According to Merriam-Webster “Hypocrite” is:
a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
If i used a single word for you and you take it as “Personal attack” then you shouldn’t argue on a public forum.
[quote post="376"]don’t have any real
answers[/quote]
Again hypocrisy. Give me the referrence which you used to back your statments. Childish statments like “Yousuf was forced” or “Mullah thugs and rest are best” clearly tell your background of education. I assume you re 20 and can provide “Refernece” to back your statments. So far you or any other liberal failed to provide any such reference. I say again that provide reference that yousuf was forced and Paksitan team failed to perform in last 2/3 years. If you provide source, fine, you would be credible, if not then better save yourself to make baseless commments on a public forum.
[quote post="376"]you are the laughing stock of this website.[/quote]
They laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at them because they are all the same
So doesn’t matter me. As i said here do ponder about it and comeup with something which can produce something good from you. Till then tata.
Adnan,
I can’t do anything if you persist with personal attacks. It is clear that you don’t have any real answers - which is why you are the laughing stock of this website.
Yasser as I once said, the day you quit your hypocritic and ignorant behaviour, you would be started taken seriously. Your latest rant again shows your ignorance manyways. Forget about me, when one of our neighbor visitor already declared you a “strawman” then it would be very stupid for me that I keep myselg engaged with you. Bring some maturity in your arguments so that your oponents do like to reply you. I would just give 2 examples if your ignorant/arrogant attitude.
1)Force converstion of Yousuf:
==================================
may I dare to say that I have listened him[ yes in his voice about his converstion].
2)Pakistani team didn’t bring a good change
=============================================
Some idiot only would take your charge seriously while records of past 2 years clearly says how pakistan is performing and how united they are. Even your guy Nasim Ashraf is forced to say it
A friendly advise, next time whenever you wish to discuss things with me, do comeup with references, you are not some Makhdoom neither yo are my “Sain” that I blindly believe whatever stuff you say on basis of your limited knowledge.
Otherwise, I am really not willing to take part in your trolling contest. Keep burning yourself, its not harming anyone anyway. Things are not neither in my hand nor yours. I already once quoted a verses that people keep making plans but the end result is based on What God thinks so do act upon it and accept whatever is coming to you with open heart. Bye
[quote comment="5877"]
It does not help anyone, not even them. But if you dont stop them, they just keep going on and on and on.[/quote]
Humaira, you can’t stop them if they are not your kids, unfortunately. Ignore them like we do in real life.
Khalid, When kids fight they have this way of going ‘he did it’, ‘no I did not’… ‘he did it’, ‘no I did not… ‘he did it’, ‘no I did not… ‘he did it’, ‘no I did not… ‘he did it’, ‘no I did not…
It does not help anyone, not even them. But if you dont stop them, they just keep going on and on and on.
Dear Adnan Siddiqui,
Let us go over this again.
Pakistani cricket team - which was once a bastion of inclusive Pakistani nationalism- has undergone a rather unfortunate change in the past few years.
It is said that Inzi and his Mullah thugs force their own interpretation of Islam on other cricketers, Muslims and Non-Muslims … as a precondition for selection to the team. Infact recently I heard someone say … the team that prays together stays together…
No one is against Islam or praying. But these actions of the Tablighis in the team are against Islam itself. Islam says “La-ikrah-fiddeen� - there is no compulsion in religion.
You say that you’ve heard Yousaf Youhanna say that he converted out of his free will… I don’t have anything against conversions. Infact I am a big fan of Muhammad Ali Clay … and as a Muslim I am proud of him for being a Muslim… but he converted against all odds. His conversion to Islam symbolised a rebellion against a racist white supremacist superstructure justified by a form of Christianity that projected Jesus Christ as a blonde blue-eyed Aryan.
Now let us see what Yousaf Youhanna went through. He was from a very impoverished family … a family which was once probably scheduled caste Hindu a few centuries ago… but which in caste-less Pakistan was still forced to seek its subsistence through sweeping gutters. For 8 years Yousaf Youhanna was hounded by the Mullahs - especially that Saeed Anwar fellow… he was told that it was only through Islam he could become the Captain… on foreign tours his wife was isolated and other wives would not talk to her… he was made to feel like shit. This along with constant preaching of the faith in the most charb-zuban form one can think of… at other times his home was attacked by a bunch of Mullahs… pressure was created. Youhanna broke and converted to Islam. I would say this had more to do with his social status. After all… the St. Patrick’s educated upper middle class Hindu Danish Parbharkar Kaneria has not bowed down to the pressure of the Mullah thugs…
As a Pakistani… especially one whose family was very active in the Pakistan Movement… I am quite upset by the forced conversion of Yousaf Youhanna… we made Pakistan because, we were a minority scared of the tyranny of the majority… and yet we’ve done to Youhanna exactly what we were scared others might do to us…
Therefore… I ask you to pause… cry halt. This is not Islam… This is not keeping in the spirt of Pakistan. Inzi and his Mullah thugs are religious fascists pure and simple. Lets accept it ..
My Country right or wrong.
When right continue to keep right.
When wrong make right.
Pakistan Zindabad
Down with religious fascists.
[quote ]“… we poor moderate souls who prefer to practise religion in its orignal shape rather than imposed by left liberals like Musharraf, Ahmad Ghamdi,Dr.Mehdi Hasan etc. or by right extremists like all secterian political religious groups MMA”[/quote]
Adnan Siddiqi Sahib,
Agar jaan ki amaan paayooN tau ek swaal poochooN. Yeh asli aur wadhiya Islam jis ka aap zikar kartay hain, kon si dukaan peh milta hai. Please zara hamain bhi bata daiN. Nawazish ho gi.
Duago
MQ