Admiration for the games of disbelieving players and loyalty to them
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, some of the young men, may Allah guide them, admire the games of some disbelieving players, while not admiring their religion. Is that considered part of the forbidden loyalty?
The Shaykh:
What is he saying?
The questioner:
He says: Some of the young men, may Allah guide them, admire the games.
The Shaykh:
Games, yes, or games.
The questioner:
The games of some disbelieving players, while not admiring their religion. Is that considered part of the forbidden loyalty?
The Shaykh:
First, what is the point of admiration in the games? The games are blameworthy; the games are never mentioned in the Qur'an except as blameworthy. So what is there to admire in the games? Admiring the games, even if they are played by Muslims, is not to be admired. One does not admire the games of Muslims because the games are a waste of time. But if his intention is physical exercise, this is not called games; it is called exercise to strengthen the limbs. This is called physical exercise, and it is permissible and required. However, one does not admire it in the way one admires the games.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, some of the young men, may Allah guide them, admire the games of some disbelieving players, while not admiring their religion. Is that considered part of the forbidden loyalty?
The Shaykh:
What is he saying?
The questioner:
He says: Some of the young men, may Allah guide them, admire the games.
The Shaykh:
Games, yes, or games.
The questioner:
The games of some disbelieving players, while not admiring their religion. Is that considered part of the forbidden loyalty?
The Shaykh:
First, what is the point of admiration in the games? The games are blameworthy; the games are never mentioned in the Qur'an except as blameworthy. So what is there to admire in the games? Admiring the games, even if they are played by Muslims, is not to be admired. One does not admire the games of Muslims because the games are a waste of time. But if his intention is physical exercise, this is not called games; it is called exercise to strengthen the limbs. This is called physical exercise, and it is permissible and required. However, one does not admire it in the way one admires the games.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من باب بيان زوال تطهيره — islamhouse.com (1:10:23)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.