By Mufti Abdullah Moolla -October 19, 2022

Qatar will be hosting the FIFA World Cup from 20 November to 18 December 2022.

With all the glamour with which sport is promoted, there also comes a trail of immorality and spiritual corruption. For Muslims, sport stands for nothing and often brings disaster and devastation. In this article, we are not focusing on stats and measures of the perceived ‘benefits’ and profits that accrue from football tournaments, but rather the shocking circumstances and immoral conditions in which such tournaments are held.

When the rights to host the World Cup were granted to Qatar, from the outset, there were accusations of bribery and corruption. These accusations were substantiated later on, but Qatar did not lose hosting rights.

As time passed since Qatar ‘clinched’ the bid to host, more accusations were hurled at the nation. Issues of climate change, human rights, progress, and advancement were prominent in world media. But Qatar dealt with these charges. They showed the world their high levels of “forward thinking” and tolerance in responding to these claims. But now, that tolerance has grown to accept every sin in the book (and out of the book) for the sake of the tournament.

Qatar’s World Cup chief recently told Sky News that:

Gay fans will be welcome to display affection and rainbow flags;
FIFA will have to decide on captains wearing “One Love” armbands while cautioning against “political messages” by teams;
Areas will be set up for drunk supporters to sober up; and

Does it not strike at the īmān and nature of a common Muslim to see such things unfold in a Muslim country? Did a Muslim country just wake up and say, well, today we are embracing alcohol and gay rights? Or, is sport being used as a tool to place within Muslims the capacity to embrace all evil under the guise of advancement?

We have learnt that as things stand, Muslims, like those in Qatar, and elsewhere are willing to bend over backwards to embrace modernity, casting aside every ounce of self-respect and ghayrah for the most treasured possessions of īmān and Islām.

Why did Qatar capitulate to gay fans and rainbow flags? Did they capitulate now, or, did they willfully employ a strategy to show that they ‘capitulated’, whilst they had secretly embraced and accepted these things when they first put their bid in?

‘We had to, for the sake of the tournament’ can never be accepted as a pretext for embracing alcohol and gay rights under any circumstances.

‘But Muslim players are playing, we support them,’ is another façade. Muslim players across all sports are propped up from time to time to deceive the unwary and ignorant into embracing the evil actions and ‘progressive’ image that the so-called Muslim player displays.

The capitulation of Qatar also goes to show how dogmatic the ‘progressive’ and ‘advanced’ nations are in terms of abusing others into accepting their ways and ideas. Liberals spread immorality without fear or favor, whilst Muslim fans harp on about the achievements of the players? How does this even make sense? Who defines ‘progressive’ and ‘advanced’? The repetition of these words shows us that ‘progressive’ and ‘advanced’ are being applied selectively, because when Muslims choose to progress within the parameters of Islām, they suddenly become ‘backward.’

In what way does hosting a football tournament help the Muslims in various parts of the world, whose basic human rights are being trampled upon all the time?

We place our trust in Allāh Ta’ālā and our hope in His endless mercy to save the entire Muslim Ummah from the trap of the World Cup, and may He grant one and all the ability to see through the filth they are being fed, and the ability to refrain from everything associated with such ‘progressiveness.’