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21-10-2006, 11:14 AM
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| God's Team  God's Team We have all heard the cliché of how cricket is a religion in South Asia and how the public is so enthralled by it they live it eat it and sleepit. Well the Pakistan team has gone one step further in incorporating this philosophy by becoming perhaps the most religious team in cricket. It hasn't always been like this really, back in the 80's one wouldn't dream of getting a Bismillah out of a Pakistan player being interviewed about anything, nor would one see the frequent sajdas (kneeling with face down in supplication) to thank god for the victory deserved and all that. Also the frequent mentions of the team's victories being guided by the hand of God were not there. So what has contributed to this religious hailstorm in the team? Saeed Anwar may have lent a helping hand after the death of his daughter which made him quite upset and may have made him turn to religion for support. He did join the Tableeghi Jammat (volunteer religious organization) soon after that incident. I have pondered if Bob Woolmer may have contributed to this unknowingly, as in his stay with the South African team he IMO wished to encourage a more religious unit a to achieve better unity and focus. Also the fact that most of the Pakistan teams cricketers hail from places like Multan and Sahiwal. In cities like this in some of the more underdeveloped areas of the country, religion is the focus in everyday life. Is it good for the team? As far as unity and focus is concerned definitely. The whole team appears to all back each other on every opportunity and have a lot more faith in their prowess. However it does also lead to various opportunities of all around silliness and over the top behavior. Don't get me wrong, religion is normally a good thing, but really something to be experienced and practiced in private. Too much projection of one's religious self can in the world of today lead to serious depression in one's personalities when failure happens. I mean who do you now blame for the team losing against all odds? One usually attributes loss to the batting or fielding the team has done, can the same be piled on God's shoulders? Lets consider some recent examples. The dizzy spells experienced by Abdul Razzaq of late have been due to a diet of total spinach, yes just spinach. Why? You would ask, because his Peer (religious mentor) thinks spinach will make him stronger, well he certainly isn't Popeye and it isn't helping. Also a bit over the top may be an Inzimam who after winning an important moral victory for himself and the team at "Hairgate", when asked to comment on it recites a couple of excerpts from the Qu'ran, in Arabic and walks off. It's fine to express your opinion in Arabic, but most of the world does not understand it. Perhaps he could have praised his fans a little for standing with him. It also leads to a lot of pressure within the team, for players who are not so religious, consider Muhammad Yousuf's case. One cannot help but imagine what made him give up the faith of his ancestors so quickly and without any consultation from his family. Shoaib Akhtar has on occasion been known to remark that he finds the atmosphere in the dressing room a mite stifling. It has also been suggested that the team was upset with him over his commercial for Pepsi Cola. What has all this got to do with playing good cricket? It's quickly turning into a farce at best. Preaching humility and tolerance is one thing but putting people under pressure because of their religious values is in my opinion not ok at all. Plus being a Muslim does not really make you a better cricketer, or we would have won everything since the day we started playing cricket. Even from the point of view of Islam it is all wrong. Yes in Islam you are not allowed to force anyone to change their religion, because we recognize the Torah and the Bible as holy books and ***** (Essa) and Moses (Moosa) as prophets of the same god who sent down the Prophet we follow, Muhammad. So I daresay the team should focus more on matters of cricket, and how to resolve petty differences within them, i.e Younis Khan and co for the champion's trophy ahead and then the world cup. For after all they are paid and play to win matches not become preacher men. Credits : 1. Osman Samiuddin's article "Finding the Faith: Here 2. Article on Christian Mistreatment in Sahiwal and other areas of Pakistan: Here 3. Article " Question Of Identity" From the Guardian: Here 4. Ernest for the help he gave in trying to weed out the controversial bits.
__________________ Last edited by Ernest : 21-10-2006 at 11:51 AM.  |
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