Passing the Plate: Fitness not Fitnah

The community is a table of hospitality and delight. Our conversations might be spiced with humor and yet nourishing, warm and delicious. As Muslims we could be passing around the plates and anticipating each other’s needs and interests.

Instead the television is on and each one has turned to his or her own way. The Head of the table is absent; he is at a second job. The Heart of the meal looks out in confusion at her I-pod children. The teenager suddenly has blond hair, when did that happen? And the three year old is reading Sayyed Qutb and plotting something on the cellphone.

Over all this, the sense and smell of burning hangs in the air, and the eyes tear up. Do we inhale a meal gone wrong or is it the acrid scent of far off fires of hell, like a scene of sectarian bombing? Is our community a table of delights-- or just another future crime scene?

Let us face the facts instead of turning on the tube. Perhaps the recipes need adjustment. What can we cook up in the cuisine of deen to remind us of our taste for living? What is the living and enlivening spirit of our deen? Islam is much larger than who we think we are.

What feeds and nourishes the growing soul? Surely not fast food in the harsh and flickering light of television. From Chicago, Abdul Malik Mujahid writes, “According to one study, ‘the average five-year-old spends only 25 minutes a week in close interaction with his father but 25 hours a week in close interaction with the TV set.’ Whose values will this baby adopt? of the old man or of a punk in the tube?”

Of course the “old man” may also not know how to share the best of his values either. He may be a weak and conflicted— or reactive and authoritarian. Let’s not overly romanticize the traditional family. Instead, let’s challenge our men and women and children to open their hearts and share what they have, even if it is only crumbs of love. Just start with what you have, not from what you wish to have. We Muslims can be so serious. And in place of more hard work, we can instead offer the team spirit of play. Why not more fun!

Yes! But now the dishes are flying like Frisbees and the three year old has taken up paintball. How to channel all this sudden burst of energy? Can we learn the adab of good sports as well as the will to win? Can our table play your table?

Sports for the whole family is now being offered to Muslim communities around the country. On May 26, ICNA New Jersey will hold the Islamic Games 2007 at Crossroads South Middle School, 195 Major Road, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey starting at 8 am. Events include Cricket, Basketball, Volleyball and many other sports for male and female 8 years and above. Awards will be given, prayers offered. As for dress code, “If you can pray in it you can play in it.” Pre-registration deadline is May 22, and information is available at http://www.islamic-games.com/.

From July 20—22, the Riyaadah Committee will hold its twenty-fifth annual Riyaadah, at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. This event has been under the leadership of Imam Jamil Al-Amin and held in various cities (New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Greensboro, Norfolk, Detroit, and Flint). It includes educational as well as sporting events, and a city-wide picnic. To register, you may contact www.riyaadah.org/ or Riyaadah Chair Nadim S. Ali at nadimlpc@gmail.com. You may also wish to call 1-888-414 4011.

In New Haven Connecticut, the 2007 Fitness Summit for Women will be held July 28-9. Sporting events will include Yoga, Swimming, Kickboxing, Line Dancing, Belly-Dancing, Water Aerobics, along with workshops on Muslimah Exercise Options,
Prophetic Medicine, Qur’anic Therapy, Hynotherapy, Weight Management, and Nutrition. The Key Note Speaker will be Sister Mubarakah Ibrahim of the Islamic Health Revival: Creating Wellness Centered Muslim Communities. (see www.fitmuslimahsummit.com/).

These are just a few of many promised summer activities. Of course some of us may also wish to participate in sports with our non-Muslim friends and neighbors. This is important. But at the same time our presence is needed at all-Muslim events to build solidarity between ethnically and religiously diverse Muslim communities. Or are we going to develop African American Muslim events and Arab Muslim Events separately?

Even the Organisation of the Islamic Conference has established the Islamic Solidarity Games to encourage cooperation among Muslim states. The Iranian Shi'a twelver Hossein Reza Zadeh first set a world record at these games as well as a gold medal in weightlifting at both the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. While lifting, he shouted "Ya Abu-Fazr!", supplicating in the name of Ali Akbar ibn Husayn.

Even since before Caliph Omar admonished us, “Teach your sons the art of swimming, sharp shooting, and horseback riding," sports have been encouraged in the Muslim community. And in today’s world, women’s sports are being more rapidly developed as well. We cannot seem to avoid the usual, sometimes harsh controversies about women’s clothing, as both markswoman Lida Fariman and runner Hassiba Boulmerka have found out. But whether you are a fan of Mohammed Ali or Laila Ali, Imran Khan or Mohamed Sissoko, Zinedine Zidane or Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there are countless role models to inspire Muslim men and women with vitality, will and skill.

As Muslims you and I, let’s accept the challenge to serve the team as we see it. If you are a baseball Muslim maybe you see an ummah with bases to cover; a soccer Muslim with a position and head and foot for passing; a long distance runner Muslim or a ju jitsu Muslim on the mat. Sport is focus, the present moment. Sport is team-work, overcoming sleep and pain. It’s not all about paintball! How do Muslims play the game of life?