What is the ruling on showing loyalty to some disbelieving players and hostility toward some Muslim players?
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Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says that some football and sports fans love and show loyalty to some disbelieving players, while in contrast they hate and show hostility to the Muslim players in the club they do not support. The question is: What is the ruling on this action of theirs? And does it lead them to apostasy from the religion of Allah?
Answer:
This is one of the harms of matches. If there is loyalty and disavowal based on this action, which has no benefit, then this is one of the harms of matches. It is not permissible to love disbelievers and show hostility to Muslims just because they are not on his team or in his club. This is what the disbelievers intended by establishing these matches and these clubs; they wanted to plant in the hearts of Muslim youth loyalty and disavowal for other than Allah and other than Islam. This is one of its negatives, so the Muslim should beware of this.
They wanted to occupy them with what does not benefit them or their community, so that they would not learn the beneficial knowledge for religion or for worldly life. Rather, they occupy them with these matches until they become of no benefit to society. And in order to plant in their hearts the belief of loyalty and disavowal for other than Allah the Exalted, this is one of the harms.
Yes, playing football is permissible if it does not lead to religious prohibitions. However, if it leads to religious prohibitions, it is forbidden. And one of the greatest prohibitions is what you mentioned: making loyalty and disavowal for the people of this work, even if they are not Muslims. This is absolutely not permissible and does not occur from a Muslim.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says that some football and sports fans love and show loyalty to some disbelieving players, while in contrast they hate and show hostility to the Muslim players in the club they do not support. The question is: What is the ruling on this action of theirs? And does it lead them to apostasy from the religion of Allah?
Answer:
This is one of the harms of matches. If there is loyalty and disavowal based on this action, which has no benefit, then this is one of the harms of matches. It is not permissible to love disbelievers and show hostility to Muslims just because they are not on his team or in his club. This is what the disbelievers intended by establishing these matches and these clubs; they wanted to plant in the hearts of Muslim youth loyalty and disavowal for other than Allah and other than Islam. This is one of its negatives, so the Muslim should beware of this.
They wanted to occupy them with what does not benefit them or their community, so that they would not learn the beneficial knowledge for religion or for worldly life. Rather, they occupy them with these matches until they become of no benefit to society. And in order to plant in their hearts the belief of loyalty and disavowal for other than Allah the Exalted, this is one of the harms.
Yes, playing football is permissible if it does not lead to religious prohibitions. However, if it leads to religious prohibitions, it is forbidden. And one of the greatest prohibitions is what you mentioned: making loyalty and disavowal for the people of this work, even if they are not Muslims. This is absolutely not permissible and does not occur from a Muslim.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم موالاة بعض اللاعبين الكفار ومعاداة بعض اللاعبين المسلمين؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.