AE ART – Chapter Four Bonus Allah jalla wa ‘ala says: “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even against yourselves…” (4:135) A random thought came to mind today on this verse. You don’t need to be a mega sports fan to know that there was great controversy in the Ashes Cricket Series today with England batsman Stuart Broad not being given out in a mistake by the world’s number one umpire Aleem Dar (who’s also the world’s number one top Pak according to AE standards by the way). Every single person on the field, in the crowd, those watching and even those listening could see that it was out. But in a blatant example of cheating and not just bad but horrible sportsmanship, Stuart Broad shamed himself forever by not “walking” i.e. claiming that he wasn’t actually out. As a result, there has rightfully been a huge furore in the sport; the media all over the world and all experts and fans have been discussing the morals and ethics of whether a sports professional who knows that they are guilty of something and have obtained an unfair advantage for their team as a result of it, should confess and be honest about the situation. Have no doubt that all professional sports suffer from this disease but the problem is not this disease of cheating, but the fact that so many players, administrators, commentators, and fans believe that this is acceptable behaviour – to mislead the umpire, to cheat to gain an advantage, to deceive in order to save face etc. The point though that I found fascinating was that when most of the experts were trying to justify Stuart Broad’s actions, they claimed that it was the normal standard culture in cricket for a batsman to not “walk” (i.e. walk off the pitch because he knows that he’s out regardless of whether the umpire formally gives him out or not) and they said that virtually every single batsman in the game that there is does exactly the same i.e. not walk. And as a big cricket fan myself, I’d agree. But interestingly I heard and read a number of these experts then say, “Yes, all of them don’t walk except…except…Hashim Amla and…and…well that’s probably about it.” Hashim Amla doesn’t walk. Hashim Amla doesn’t cheat. All these experts and commentators with all their experience and watching so many games, cannot think easily of a single batsmen amongst thousands who *always* walk of their own accord due to their honesty, sportsmanship and justice for the rules of the game other than one man: Hashim Amla, the South African superstar and the world’s number one batsmen, and the most easily recognisable and probably most practising Muslim at the highest echelon of world sport. Isn’t that fascinating? I mean we as Muslims wouldn’t expect anything less than Hashim than to not lie or cheat etc. But how many times have we Muslims been let down by other Muslims in cricket who cheat and deceive their way through the game. They dishonour themselves, and they also dishonour Allah as well! That’s why Allah says in the verse “Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even against yourselves…” i.e. be truthful because you are a representative of Allah and His chosen religion for mankind, be truthful even if it costs you personally, whatever the consequences of that might be. Be just. Don’t bend the rules of whatever you are doing. And if you are just, people will see *you* in the best light and they will see your religion and indeed Allah in the best light as the key influence in your decision to be just against yourself. Thus, you are truly a witness for Allah in the ayah if you act like Hashim Amla does and like every Muslim should do. All these experts and players and sports fans when they see Hashim Amla, they only think one thing: Muslim. He is a witness to Allah. And his behaviour has to be impeccable at all times because of exactly that: he is a witness to Allah. Allah and His Deen are judged by his actions. This is wrong of course because when we say “Subhanallah” then remember that it exactly means that “Allah is free from being compared to the imperfect nature of His creation!” But people are people, and they always judge your religion by you. And when Amla is just and truthful, even the most hateful and antagonistic of people will respect you for it. And thus the lesson for us: never ever belittle standing for the truth. Never ever belittle being just. Never ever consider lying, cheating, misleading or deceiving others for *any* reason. Be honest and be just and people will never forget it. Someone somewhere will see it, benefit by it, respect you for it, and even if they don’t, Allah notes it down and rewards you for your intention. You as practising Muslim men with beards and women with hijabs express a single identity to the wider community: MUSLIM. So make sure you never come short as to how a Muslim is expected to act and how the people will always remember you for.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 01:45:43 +0000
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