Scholar warns watching football may be forbidden

Two prominent Saudi Islamic scholars hit out at football players for what they described their bad behaviour during matches and one warned that such practices could lead to the prohibition of attending matches.

“The spread of such acts at play fields is a clear indicator of a decline in moral values and the transformation of sport from fair competition into bigotry,” said Sheikh Abdullah bin Suleiman Al Manei, a member of the Gulf Kingdom’s seven-man supreme scholars committee.

“The continuation of these bad phenomena which pose a threat to the ethical values of our sons makes the attendance of these matches a hateful thing. This means that going to these matches could become prohibited because what is happening there has a strong negative impact on the society.”

Al Manei, also an adviser at the Saudi royal court, told Alsharq daily that such a behaviour by the players is “haram” (prohibited).

“This is because swearing by Allah (God) falsely as well as fighting, abuses, swearing and other prohibited practices have all turned the playfields into a harmful and bad environment which threatens the youth attending matches.”

Another member of the supreme committee slammed football players who try to deceive the referee to get a penalty for their team.

“These are acts of deception, which is hated and forbidden in Islam…..the sin becomes worse when the player swears by Allah falsely…players should refrain from such wrong acts as they have become a bad example for the young generation,” said Sheikh Abdullah Al Mutlaq.

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