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. You can also look into Joshua Bartlett’s blog to get more information about men’s grooming and the products often used for it.
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.
[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.