Afrigather (RNS) — To say the Muslim “ummah” (international neighborhood) has been united underneath the banner of purple and inexperienced in supporting and standing with Morocco’s soccer group at this 12 months’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar doesn’t start to correctly describe it. Even of their semifinal defeat to France on Wednesday, the enjoyment, satisfaction and love for Morocco’s footballers by no means wavered.
Athletes participating in open types of prayer or non secular ritual previous to, throughout or after a sport or match isn’t unusual — whether or not an athlete is crossing herself earlier than a giant play, lifting a finger as much as acknowledge God, kneeling on one knee with head bowed in prayer or prostrating on the bottom in sujood. The latter, a apply executed primarily by Muslims throughout ritual prayer (and in addition as a gesture of submission and thanks — referred to as sajdat shukr — to God exterior of formality prayer), has particularly ignited the hearts of Muslims worldwide throughout this 12 months’s World Cup.
The Muslim sujood, or prostration, as elegantly described by Dalia Mogahed, director of analysis on the Institute for Social Coverage and Understanding, is a five-point flooring contact place: Brow, nostril, fingers, knees, toes. “Every of those physique elements signifies one thing that has been put in give up to God. The brow (my will). The nostril (my ego). My fingers (my work). My knees and toes (my steadfast ahead movement). It means I give up all of me to Him.”
She goes on to elaborate, “And what concerning the coronary heart? That is the gorgeous factor. Within the sajdah (or sujood), the center is above the thoughts, signifying that the center is king, not the thoughts. The thoughts understands in response to the state of the center. Bitter hearts have minds who suspect everybody. Pure hearts have minds who see the nice. And on this state of give up, the center is superior.”
Because of this, as Morocco continued it’s epic advance into the semifinal match, our Muslim hearts swooned to see them not solely win, however achieve this whereas being unapologetically Muslim on the sphere: from reciting Surah al Fatiha, to gamers hugging and dancing with their moms on the sphere (begetting what appeared like 1,000,000 shared photos of son-mother pleasure with some type of the caption, “Your mom, your mom, your mom,” invoking a popular hadith in Islam that pays honor to moms), to prostrating on the finish of matches.
It was a joyous expression of Muslimness in entrance of a world viewers on a world sporting stage the likes of which many people hadn’t seen in current reminiscence.
Many media retailers rushed to seize this story and describe what was unfolding on and off the pitch with breathless descriptions. However in doing so, blended in with the haste of churning out fixed tales underneath tight deadlines, some fell brief in understanding what they have been writing about, an issue I’ve definitely confronted myself once in a while in my greater than twenty years as a faith journalist and editor.
ESPN.com published a story after the semifinal match during which the primary iteration of the story described the sujood of the Moroccan players after their loss to France: “Nearly as one, they bowed to their supporters. Not like live performance pianists after a efficiency, however on all fours, heads down, showing to kiss the bottom of Al Bayt stadium. It felt solemn. It felt real. And the group roared mightily in approval.”
Please word that the story, as it’s reside now, doesn’t embrace this description of the prostration as a result of Muslims reacted in droves to the way it was initially written, suggesting that the prostration, which was for Allah, was as an alternative for the followers.
Nancy A. Khalil, an assistant professor within the Division of American Tradition within the Arab and Muslim Research program on the College of Michigan in Ann Arbor, felt the error was egregious sufficient that she reached out to the journalist. “It was a great article, and that made me really feel prefer it was price reaching out to the journalist. (The misguided description of sujood) might’ve simply been prevented and the implication was very offensive, even to the gamers who have been grieving a loss.”
The journalist enthusiastically responded to Khalil, thanking her for stating the error, and two iterations later, the road now reads, “Nearly as one, they bowed on the pitch in prayer, after which thanked their supporters. It felt solemn. It felt real. And the group roared mightily in approval.”
Errors occur on a regular basis in reporting and writing, regardless of our greatest efforts as journalists. By reflecting on this, I don’t imply to name out or belittle the ESPN journalist. However, as Khalil advised me, “It’s an fascinating second as a result of lots of people nonetheless suppose that is related to Islamophobia. Bias is implicit.”
The journalist, Khalil stated, could not suppose he was being Islamophobic however could have thought, “‘I’m going to explain it as I see it, and that’s OK.’ And there wasn’t a push from (his editors) to make sure that he was right.”
In all my years of masking and coordinating protection of Muslims in America, I’ve questioned quite a few occasions if I have to publish yet one more article on some facet of hijab or how Muslims pray or how Muslims condemn terrorism. However again and again, the need to take action is confirmed after I learn reported articles and columns that get mistaken issues that ought to be fairly straightforward to factually and precisely write.
“What I don’t need to get misplaced right here,” stated Khalil, “is how this entire context of anti-Muslim bias and orientalism is systemic, and that is the way it unfolds.”
For Khalil, it feels all of the extra insidious when it comes from allies. “Even somebody who’s writing a great piece like (the ESPN.com) one, perpetuates it. The remainder of the article was actually good, however we couldn’t deal with that.”
Maybe the largest misplaced alternative in all this was for journalists and non-Muslims to know how even in loss, Muslims will do sujood, when it’s extra frequent to see some Muslim athletes prostrate after a victory.
“As a result of that is what victory, actual victory is,” stated Mogahed. “It means you thank (God) once you win and once you lose. You thank him for getting you this far. You thank him for holding you preventing till the final second. You thank him for holding you hopeful and unapologetically who you’re by way of a course of and a world that steers you away out of your reality at each flip. That is successful.”
(Dilshad D. Ali is a journalist and weblog editor for the web site Haute Hijab, an e-commerce firm that works to serve Muslim girls. The views expressed on this commentary don’t essentially replicate these of Faith Information Service.)
