Saquib Salim

“Sport is an integral part of culture and reflects changes that occur in the wider culture that it is located within”, writes, Dr. Ali Khan of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in his 2019 paper titled, Cricket, society and religion: a study of increasing religiosity in the national cricket team of Pakistan. Dr. Khan words struck my mind on hearing star bowler from yesteryears, Waqar Younis, say that more than the win of Pakistan over India during the recent T20 encounter, his happiness lies in the fact that a Pakistani player, Mohammad Rizwan, performed namaz during the match in front of a ‘Hindu’ Indian team.

Somewhere else, Sheikh Rasheed, minister of Pakistan government, claimed that the win of Pakistan cricket team over the Indian counterpart is a win of Islam. The man has the audacity to claim that Muslims across the globe, including the Indian Muslims are celebrating this rare Pakistani feat of defeating India.

Also Read: Waqar Younis apologises for his 'namaz' comment

These two statements, one by a former cricket captain and another by a sitting minister, display the rot Pakistani society is living in. Recently a Pakistani shared a meme, where a question was asked. “What do most Pakistanis believe Islamic but is not?”, and the reply was, “Pakistan”. This is the problem most of the Pakistani politicians are facing. They take themselves as the self-appointed flagbearer of Islam, forgetting that India has a larger Muslim population than Pakistan, and also has respected Islamic institutions like Darul Uloom, Deoband.

Yunis does a huge disservice to Islam by celebrating the namaz by a Pakistani player in front of a ‘Hindu’ Indian team. He made a mockery of Rizwan’s namaz, which, I believe was because of his piety, good intentions and obedience to none but Allah, by equating it to a tamasha or a show-off. On the other hand, by equating Indian cricket team ‘Hindu’ he puts a question mark over the religious faith of Mohammad Shami, who is the part of this ‘Hindu’ team. Our religious faith, piety and righteousness can only be decided by Allah on the day of judgement, who is Yunis to judge that Rizwan offered namaz to show-off in front of Hindus or Shami is a lesser Muslim than anyone else. Moreover, does he know that 14% of the Indian population professes Islam and offer namaz, which of course, are witnessed by Hindus of this country. Neither Indian Hindus feel indignity at the sight of Muslims offering namaz, nor do we Indian Muslims offer namaz to show-off. We pray to obey Allah, and for no other reason.

I would like to relate an incident which I have witnessed, in Delhi. I buy my daily needs from a general merchant, a Hindu Brahmin, who owns a shop in a Hindu-dominated locality. One day while I was buying stuff from him and a bearded Muslim came, and shopkeeper offered him a discount, which was never offered to me. I asked him why did he discriminate against me. His reply was that he offers discount to people doing religious work, including Muslims. Does Waqar Yunis want to mock such Indians by offering namaz? Can he actually mock them? No. In fact, he mocked Rizwan’s intentions and will be answerable to Allah.

Sheikh Rasheed displayed how Pakistani leaders lives in a make-believe world. Muslims across the world do not even know about cricket. The game is played in a few countries and among them India and Bangladesh, with huge populations, play against Pakistan. Indian Muslims do not need to look towards Pakistan as saviour of Islam. India is a country where Islam has deep roots. The problem lies in a decision taken by Indian politicians and the British government 75 years ago.

In words of famous Pakistani author, Ibn-e-Insha:

Phir ye (Pakistan) alag mulk kyu banaya tha?

Ghalti hui maaf kar dijiye aainda nahi banayenge

 (Then, why was this (Pakistan) separate country formed?

It was a mistake, forgive us, we won’t form country again)

(Saquib Salim is a Writer and a Historian)