Conditions for playing football.

The Shaykh : We have moved on to the answer to the question, which is playing with a ball. There is no doubt that playing with a ball is the case with all games, or all the games known today, except for a few, for their origin is foreign. The dice are called "nardshir" from Persia, and chess, as I think, is from China or other countries. The point is the same for football. This is a game and a modern innovation that came to us from European countries. If Muslims wish to play it, the first of all things is that they must intend to strengthen their bodies in preparation for what is obligatory upon them to engage in, in the near or distant future, in confronting the enemies of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. In this situation, their bodies must be firm and strong, standing firm before the strong enemies of Allah. It came in the authentic hadith from his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: So the believer does not lack good, even if he is weak, even in his faith; he does not lack good that may save him from eternal abode in the punishment on the Day when it is said to Hell, "Are you full?" and it says, "Is there any more?" If strength is desirable in the Muslim, then there is no objection, and it is perhaps recommended that the Muslim engage in this play with this good intention. It also came in the authentic hadith, his saying, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, in explaining the noble verse: He said, peace be upon him: So playing with shooting, whether old with the bow or new with bullets or projectiles or similar destructive weapons today, is among the means that the Muslim must engage in to strengthen his body. This may require leaving the town so that some Muslims are not accidentally harmed by the shooting. As for this game, the game of ball, there is nothing to fear from it except what we mentioned earlier, which the player may be exposed to in chess. We must restrict the permissibility with those conditions. It is observed that most games, and let us say especially the matches that take place between two teams, even if they are Muslims, do not observe the limits of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Some of the prayers may be missed by the players, such as the 'Asr prayer if the match starts before 'Asr, or the Maghrib prayer if the match starts after the 'Asr prayer and before the Maghrib prayer. This is a condition covered by the previous discussion. There is another matter related to this game and its like, such as basketball. The custom of the disbelievers, since they are the ones who invented this game, is that they wear a special garment for it, a short garment that does not cover the 'awrah that is obligatory to cover by the Shari'ah. This garment exposes the thigh, and the thigh, as it is authentic from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, that he said: The thigh is 'awrah. So it is not permissible for the players, even if they are just passing by, let alone if they are competing with others, to wear this short garment which is called in the language of the Shari'ah, the Arabic language, "tabban." The tabban is the trousers that have no waistband, and the tabban is the trousers that have no waistband. It is called in some countries by the foreign name "shorts." And I do not know what you call it?
The audience: Shorts.

The Shaykh : Perhaps it is an English word. So its Arabic name, remember this, because it is of Islam that we replace what is better with what is lower, that we replace the Arabic word with the foreign word, that we set aside the foreign word and place the Arabic word in its position, because it is the language of the Noble Qur'an. So this garment, the tabban, is not permissible for the Muslim to wear in front of anyone except his wife only. So the one who plays this game in the sight of some people, that is forbidden, not for its own sake, but for the unlawful garment surrounding it. So with us, regarding this game specifically, it must not distract, like chess, from some of the religious obligations, and especially the prayer.
Second, that the garment be lawful and covering the 'awrah. And third, that the play be with what is called today "sportsmanship," I say a name for something that is not what it is named, because often fighting and beating occurs between the competing Muslims, let alone the disbelievers. And in the West, huge problems occur where people are killed, and they claim that the purpose of these games is to develop sportsmanship. And the intended meaning, of course, is that a person does not hold a grudge if he feels that his opponent will overcome him or has actually overcome him. So the Muslim does not hold a grudge and does not envy. So it should not become a tool for corrupting morals. And when that happens, even if the conditions or the two previous conditions are met in terms of not being a cause for missing prayers or exposing the 'awrah, if we suppose that this game is free from these two phenomena that contradict the Shari'ah, but it develops and strengthens in the hearts of the players the spirit of revenge, hatred, and overcoming the opponent by falsehood, then at that time this matter is among the causes that necessitate preventing the engagement in this game. So the original, I will now summarize what has preceded: The original ruling on the amusements that people play with, except for the four characteristics mentioned in the hadith of Jabir, is that they are invalid, vain, and have no value, and it is not permissible for the Muslim to waste his time on them, except if the intention is good, and at least that the purpose is to relax the self, with attention to the conditions mentioned previously. This is what is available to me as an answer to that question which was directed to me in the recent session.