Sports in the time of Dharna

The politics of “Dharna” started with the mass movement and siege of Islamabad by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership in 2014. The slogan of New Pakistan gave hope to the disheartened youth. The sports fraternity expected a turnaround in sports too, and looked at Imran Khan as the saviour of the system.

The PTI government has completed its first year. With numerous internal and external challenges, no one was expecting miracles to happen overnight. However, inexperience and lack of capacity coupled with economic crisis made way for Fazal Ur Rehman and his allies to stage yet another Dharna in Islamabad.

Being an apolitical person, I have no apprehensions about the dynamics of dharna, nor am I in a position to comment on it, but what grabbed my attention were the games being played by the simple and poor people who came from remote areas of the country.

Adam Khan had come from Bunair. A religious-minded, physically robust young pathan, he is an ardent football player.

Kashmir Highway in Islamabad became a playground, where participants of dharna played volleyball, tennis-ball cricket, football, organised cycle races and played local games like pitho garam and chinjo in large numbers.

When I asked Adam about his interest in sports, he told me that besides religious practices, football is his passion and he finds great physical and emotional solace while participating in sports. He told me that there was tremendous sports talent in the remote areas of the country.

Adam also said that students of religious seminaries participate in sports in large numbers, but sports are neither played in an organised manner nor adequate facilities and coaching staff is available for training. Adam was also apprehensive about reservations of various clerics who consider sports contradictory to religious practices and wastage of precious time.

I have noticed that many young and physically fit Muslim brothers and sisters along with certain policy makers are not clear about using sports as a hook for youth, thus drawing them to Islamic practices and sports grounds simultaneously, which was successfully done in the past by Christian community through the concept of “Muscular Christianity”. It was a movement which originated in England in the mid-19th century. It sought to inculcate discipline, sacrifice, and manliness. The movement gathered impetus in the Victorian era as a method of building character among the pupils in English public schools through a combination of physical and Christian spiritual development. It was welcomed by Catholics as well as by Protestants.

After its popularity in England, the Catholic counterparts in America introduced the concept of Muscular Christianity as a cultural trend. The Catholics used sports as a hook to recruit young members into the Church and organised sports teams and built facilities in or around the churches.

This is how Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) began in 1844 in London. The first sport played under the banner of YMCA was boxing.

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the US, brought a new energy to White House due to his young and physically robust outlook. At that time, the American football grounds were killing fields. With little protective equipment, players sustained gruesome injuries. The Chicago Tribune reported that in 1904 alone, there were 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries.

Roosevelt, a visionary leader, sought to end violence on the football field and also broker peace in Far East. He summoned the head coaches of Harvard, Yale and Princeton to White House on October 09, 1905, and urged them to curb violence and set an example of fair play for the rest of the country.

I am by no means an Islamic scholar, but I am very clear about the fact that Islam’s holistic approach to life desires us to remain strong. As reported in Muslim, our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “A strong believer is better than a weak believer.” The Prophet also said: “Take advantage of five things before five others happen: use your youth before old age, health before sickness, wealth before poverty, free time before work and life before death.”

He also said: “Many people are deprived of two mercies, health and free time.”

In a narration recorded by Imam Bukhari, the Prophet passed by some people of the tribe of Aslam, while they were competing in archery. He said to them: “Shoot children of Ishmael (prophet) your father was a skilled marksman.”

One of the two teams stopped shooting. The Prophet asked: “Why don’t you shoot?”

They answered they could not shoot while the Prophet was with them (the other team). He then said: “Shoot and I am with you all.”

A true believer recognises the wonder of the human body and is grateful to the creator. This gratitude is shown in the care and attention given to maintaining health. A truly health conscious Muslim blends diet, nutrition and exercise with the remembrance of God. There are many traditions in which the Prophet (PBUH) recommended certain martial arts for maintaining health and preparing the believers to be ready against external aggression.

The Prophet said: “Any action without the remembrance of Allah is either a diversion or heedlessness except four acts: walking from target to target, training a horse, playing with one’s family and learning to swim.”

The government has tried reforms in Madrassa curriculum without much success. This has happened because of various reasons and lack of understanding and confidence on both sides. It is unfortunate that policy makers always neglect the value of sports in developing the national psyche. They neither included sports in formal curriculum development at national level nor did they facilitate or encourage religious seminaries to organise sports to harness the energies of millions of students studying there. This is a definite need that both policy makers and religious scholars should realize.

sdfsports@gmail.com