Analyzing sport waste of time! How? It doesn’t help religion...

Analyzing sport waste of time! How? It doesn’t help religion...
Updated 19 September 2015
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Analyzing sport waste of time! How? It doesn’t help religion...

Analyzing sport waste of time! How? It doesn’t help religion...

JEDDAH: A new fatwa has been announced which bans engaging in work as a sports analyst, supposedly due to it being considered a waste of time as it involves working on matters that do not benefit religion. Interestingly, the edict allows people to be military, political and economic analysts.
The fatwa came in response to a question posted on the website Islam: Question and Answer, run by prominent scholar Sheikh Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid.
The website noted: “We have seen many programs about sport analysis and we've seen people waste a lifetime following up on matches and players' performance. However, these activities don’t raise the person toward God and do not work to reduce his sins; if he or she invested energy into beneficial science, we may have already seen incredible miracles.”
The fatwa continued: “Art analysts are worse sinners than sport analysts because they follow up plays, films or even songs. They analyze the success of films or the failure of plays. They also analyze performances of dancers or singers, which means that they will accumulate many sins throughout their career. Then they start glorifying actors who do nothing more than corrupting our society.”
Trainer and analyst Ali Kamiekh expressed his surprise at the fatwa, saying that it is incorrect and actually unjust toward people involved in sports, and wondered what religious text was used as evidence for the claims.
He added that the Prophet (peace be upon him) raced with his wife Ayesha (blessings be upon her), meaning that there should be no objection to sport in Islam.