Adil Najam
Given all the discussion about cricket and Islam (here), sooner or later we will come to beards and cricket and whether beards of a certain length or style are ‘religiously intimidating’ for some (related story here).
I thought I would pre-empt the discussion by sharing some images of a few ‘great beards’ of cricket. Readers are, of course, welcome to add to the list.
For that it seems to me that the obvious choice is one of Pakistan’s most graceful batsmen ever (and that is saying something!) Saeed Anwar. He is also generally considered a mentor to many of the more religiously inclined players in the current Pakistan team.
His, however, is not the only set of religiously motivated set of facial hair to adorn cricketing fields. One of my all-time favorite cricketers and all-time favorite famous persons is former Indian Captain Bishen Singh Bedi. His fine-looking facial hair and head-dress - and of many others - were also clearly religiously-motivated and a constant expression of his faith.
By way of disclosure I should add that I occasionally sprout facial hair of my own but am mostly clean-shaven. But as a deep and committed adherent of people’s right of expression (how can a blogger not be that!) I stand committed to defend people’s right to facial hair, whether they are grown for stylistic elegance or religious expression.
Maybe its just me, but can some help me recognize everyone in the photos above?
Beards are fascinating, especially when not only viewed in the contrext of religion. What do women think of men with beards? Any commentators on it from the female side?
I remember a certain chowkidar in our mohalla who probbaly had a beard longer than the famed Sir Syed Ali beard. When he rode the bicycle, his beard would split and fly backwards, making it an interesting sight. However, he could, demonstrably, lift weights tied to his beard. According to him it waa the oil he put in the roots every night.
Not having anything better to do, it being a rainy Saturday in New York, I started thinking about beards:
In the context of Pakistan, one observes three or four types of beards:
1. Tribal beards: These are usually short, covering the cheeks and the neck and are always accompanied by mustache, sometime waxed and pointed and sometimes trimmed. All Bloch wear such beards just as they wear their distinctive looking white or black turban. Incidentally, the Gulf Arabs also wear more or less similar beards. Their mustache, however, is never waxed and pointed. (I have never seen an Arab twirling his mustache.)
2. Designer beards: are worn by some people for the effect just as they wear designer clothes. And, like all other designer things, these beards come in different shapes, forms and lengths. And like any other fashion they come and go. People associated with arts or artistic professions generally seem to wear what is called a “French beardâ€Â?, which is grown only on the chin. People in the navy also tend to sport a distinct type of beard — short, and accompanied with mustache.
3. Religious beards: Religious beards are always long — Long enough to comb one’s fingers through them. But there are important differences: Deobandi beards are “full-bloodedâ€Â?, growing all over the face and accompanied with trimmed mustache. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman comes to mind as an example. The Brailvi beards, on the other hand, are also long, in fact longer, but come with clean upper lip and the cheeks are also carefully razor-cleaned. The late Maulana Noorani comes to mind.
4. Born-again beards: are the beards, usually on the Brailvi pattern, grown by young men who suddenly discover or re-discover religion and start growing a beard as manifestation of their newly discovered faith. Some of our cricketers and and one or two singers fall in this category.
I hope the ATP will excuse me for this longish and probably irrelevant comment. As I said in the beginning I had nothing better to do this morning.
[quote post="377"]In any event, we should be making a concerted effort towards making Pakistan a tolerant and plural country where diversity is appreciated and celebrated… as per the wishes of our founding father. [/quote]
Agreed YLH. In any case, the argument is not with Islam, it is with this attempt to make all Muslims conform to a monolithic form of Islam. In my opinion, being a Muslim is just one part of our identity. There are many more facets to our identity that we have; our being a man or woman, nationality, ethnicities, our politics, our professions etc etc. I bristle when people try to make me a Muslim above everything else.
[...] A very interesting post and discussion at Pakistaniat discussing facial hair and cricket. “Given all the discussion about cricket and Islam (here), sooner or later we will come to beards and cricket and whether beards of a certain length or style are ‘religiously intimidating’ for some (related story here).” [...]
In any event, we should be making a concerted effort towards making Pakistan a tolerant and plural country where diversity is appreciated and celebrated… as per the wishes of our founding father.
Adnan Siddiqui,
Anyone who forces another person by conduct or undue influence to pray or act religious is a mullah.
Now as far as your issue with the West Indies board… I’d like to see Sarwan preaching Hinduism… (though the analogous situation would be Brian Lara preaching the gospel)…
We cannot continue on hypothesis… South African Team was pretty religiously christian during the late 1990s… but they never forced Kallis for example to conform to their religiousity.
I agree Samdani. It is not depressing that they lost, but HOW they lost. Sometimes I think that our cricket team is a microcosm of Pakistan; no institutionalization, adhocism, nepotism, run by people with no experience, flashes of brilliance and tolerance of mediocrity.
I think some heads will roll now. The head I see being lopped off first, unfortunately, is Bob Woolmer’s. What our team needs is a psychologist, someone who can teach them mental toughness and the ability to close the deal.
Pakistan is now out of the ICC trophy. It was a sad and depressing performance. Not becasue they lost. Its just a game. But how they losy. 89 all out, liek a high school team. Sad to see what was a great team collapse like that.
Please, everyone, don’t try to turn this defeat into anything of your religion stuff. I am tired of the nastyness and bad language that some people have been bringing in.
As to beards, I actually like W.G. Grace’s; I thought very graceful. Yes, the Bulleh Shah picture elsewhere on this site has a great beard too. On beards, I agree with the last paragraph here.