May I have your views on a South African Muslim cricketer who is being extolled as a hero.

Answer

The miserable character who is an addict of haraam cricket is astray and the ignorant are being led astray by him. It is a case of a shaitaan being admired by shayaateen. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had declared all sport haraam. This refers to even sport which is not accompanied by the many haraam acts which the cricketer travelling to England has to perpetrate. Among the major sins he is guilty of are:

• Abandoning the holy month of Ramadhaan for the sake of haraam sport. His abstention from fasting for the sake of haraam sport, riya and prizes is absolutely heinous, despicable and akin to kufr. His Imaan is at such an ebb of degeneration that his brains are clogged with the attitudes and norms of the kuffaar. Just imagine that haraam cricket is more important for him than the glorious month of Ramadhaan. In fact, in view of him having preferred haraam sport over the Fardh obligation of Ramadhaan, there is the grave danger of him having become a murtad – having lost his Imaan with the consequence of even his Nikah becoming invalid.

• Intermingling with the opposite sex • Viewing women and women viewing him • Prancing and tripudating like an ape in front of millions of people • Conveying to the world that cricket is more important than Ramadhaan. Thus, bringing disrepute to the Deen.

• Mingling unnecessarily with the kuffaar on the field, in the dressing rooms and participating in almost all the haraam paraphernalia associated with international sports.

Intentionally having his photo taken, and exposing himself to haraam photography.

He is undoubtedly a 'hero', but of a different kind. He is a hero among the shayaateen and a hero for those who follow Iblees. This character needs to be buried alive and stones and thorns filled into the pit in which he should be thrown.

Travelling for the sake of sport even during other months is haraam. Doing so in this great and glorious month of Ramadhaan is infinitely worse. This character is under divine curse for every moment that he is on the haraam journey among the kuffaar during this auspicious month. Just as the thawaab of good deeds is multiplied manifold in this month, so too is the athaab and curse for sin multiplied in this month of Barkat, Maghfirah and Rahmat.

Men who behave like apes are not heroes for Muslims. Our heroes are the likes of Umar Ibn Khattaab and Khalid Bin Walid (radhiyallahu anhuma) who raised the Flag of Islam on to the hilltops of the world by playing with swords, not hitting balls and running like monkeys with kuffaar. Our hero's are men such as Sultaan Salaahuddin Ayyubi who conquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Our heroes are valiant sons of Islam like Taarik Ibn Jabal who swam into the Atlantic ocean when he reached the furthest edge of Islam's conquered territories in the west, exclaiming: 'O Allah! If it was not for this ocean, I would have gone on conquering the world for Your Sake."

Our hero, Hadhrat Ali Bin Abi Taalib (radhiyallahu anhu) who said in the thick of a battle:

"The sword and the dagger are our flowers

Confound the daffodil and the myrtle

Our drink is the blood of our enemies

Our cups are the skulls of their heads The kuffaar have succeeded in making apes of Muslims, convincing them that it is honourable to hit a ball, to run after a ball and to tripudiate like a baboon when you hit and catch a stupid ball. May Allah Ta'ala save us all from the disasters which our Imaan is suffering nowadays at the hands of the agents of Iblees.