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World Cup? What’s That?
July 5, 2006 on 7:17 pm | In Articles, Tazkiyyah| By Ilm Seeker
While FIFA World Cup blares over TV, reports on the radio, articles in the paper, we see our friends, our family, our co-workers, all of them glued to this new world.
Here are eleven reasons to unglue them (and yourself!) inshallah ta'ala:
- I will be questioned on the Day of Judgement about how I squandered and wasted my time.
- Who are those guys running around like headless chickens kicking that ball? Why should they matter to me?
- I still need to memorize the Qur'an or learn how to pray properly, so why am I watching FIFA instead?
- I veg on the couch and consume large quantities of junk food during matches--but imagine how much exercise I could get if I played soccer half that much!
- There are better ways to make the best use of our limited time, like sitting with family, discussing with friends, going for a walk, learning something new and useful, etc.
- It keeps me distracted from the bigger things in life -- getting rid of injustice oppressers have instilled, spreading the message of Islam (especially in light of the 17 arrests in Canada), etc.
- I can start a business or an exciting new da'wa project and get as much fun (and more benefit!) out of that!
- The time I spend watching is preventing me from giving others their due rights--like my parents.
- I could be watching something beneficial (and minus the partly-dressed women during commercial breaks) like Foundations of Islamic Studies instead!
- Death can strike at any moment, would I want to die with a bag of chips in one hand and "viva Portgual!" on my lips?
- It promotes nationalism. (Pop quiz: what did the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) say about nationalism?)
And this applies to time-management (or mis-mangement) in general, and not just World Cup specifically.
May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) give us the tawfiq to use our time in the best way--the way that benefits us most in the akhir. Because when life ends, that's what really counts.
Don't misunderstand--leisure time has its place in Islam. The companions used to use their leisure time--but productively. One of them said, that it refreshes his mind and helps him worship Allah better. Subhanallah.
So what are you doing with your lesiure time? Is it a spring-board to good deeds, or a gateway to sins?
Subhanallah, even non-Muslims agree that we shouldn't watch TV all the time! You can read an interesting study on TV here, and some more advice from Young Muslims on what to do about it here.
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junk food,… junk minds… what do we get? junk hearts
Comment by Abdullah — July 5, 2006 #
Assalamo Alekom
I agree that watching the matches if you are not doing anything else while watching the matches is a big waste of time.
Why do people watch it? Mostly for the \”water cooler talk\” effect. They don\’t want to stand around feeling stupid when everyone is talking about it. is that justified, well, no as you could just watch the highlights!
If I do watch the mateches, I usually do 2 or 3 other things. I don\’t just sit down on a couch and wait for a team to score a goal. I watch it while I am checking my email or working on an essay. (well work, not just chilling email checking)
That said, entertainment is crucial to everyone\’s mind and body. Sometimes you just feel like doing nothing (well, you should not, but sometimes it happens). In that case try to benifit from the entertainment as much as you could. Analyze camera angs of the match, analyze corporate sponsors and how many times their ads showed on the screen, analyze the commentators language what verbs he uses and which team is he siding with and how you know that….etc… sound geeky? lol.. well, if you are wasting your time, you might as well do it…
Comment by Amer — July 6, 2006 #
As Salaam o Alikum
That is an incredibly harsh judgement. Moreover it seems to be made by someone who does not watch soccer or atleast is not a part of the whole phenomenon itself.
The idea of promoting nationalism is false, I can say that because my home country isnt in the worldcup, well closest thign would have been Saudi :P We all support multiple teams and on the merit of their play. Brazilians have a flair and a flow to their game. While you will see most european teams playing in a very organised manner etc. To those who play soccer regularly its not a matter of just vegetating in front of the tv, there is alot of analysis etc.
There is also nothing wrong with entertainment so long as it is once in a while. Having said that bashing the world cup is hard since it only comes every 4 years, atleast here in Canada there is no international soccer whatsoever apart from the world cup.
The World Cup is big enough to get frineds together, or atleast families. For me this is family times, at the very least my brothers sit with me, usually the whole family is there cheering on their favourite team. Today inshAllah the whole family and a few freinds will be over, many things will be discussed, many projects talked over. Again there isnt just vegetation.
Alhamdulilah so far there hasnt been any food while i watch the game so :P to that hehe…
All in all we need to be careful making sweeping generalisations of this sort. People watch this sport for entertainment, granted there must be those who go overboard but its hard to find in the Islamic world simply because our teams dont tend to do very well…
Ofcourse…the worldcup is an incredible geography lesson…
PS forgive me for anythign i might have said wrong, the wrong is from myself and the shyateen, and whatever good is there is from Allah swt…
Wasalaaam
Comment by Chaudhry Saab — July 8, 2006 #
Just imagine he \”bashed\” cricket…. then the real boxing match would start.
Actually FYI it was not written by Ashiq. Please see When Wolves Become Shepherds by Muhammad Alshareef
Comment by Abdullah — July 8, 2006 #
Now you know why I don\’t watch TV. =] Granted, there are some beneficial gatherings where good stuff comes out. But I\’m talking about the general masses of World Cup fans. And remember, we reap the results of ALL actions in the hereafter.
Comment by Ilm Fruits — July 8, 2006 #
a rightly guided italian child? :D
check it out…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ZFNOJmQ5s&mode=related&search=
Comment by Zeeshan — July 11, 2006 #