The Muslim World in the Global Sporting Arena

The Muslim World in the Global
Sporting Arena
Mahfoud Amara
Lecturer in Sport and Leisure Policy and Management
Loughborough University
The dominant line in Western scholarship argues that the emergence of modern sport
in nineteenth century Europe was associated with the advent of capitalism, industrialization, urbanization, and the nation-state system. Hence, based on the ideas of
regulation, disciplining the body, aesthetism, meritocracy, division of labor, bureaucratic
organization, and rational measurement of performance, modern sport—particularly
in its competitive form—constructed its meaning and value system in opposition to
traditional physical practices. Accordingly, the acceptance of modern sport practice by
native or colonized populations—which happened most of the time to the disadvantage
of traditional games—was explained as a sign of their assimilation of modernist values,
and thus, of the Western civilizational project.
Yet this linking of modern sport to Western secular and rational modernity has
pushed physical activities that are attached to religious belief off to the domain of
tradition. This dichotomy has created a crisis of meaning around the value of modern
sport in different societies. The Muslim world is torn between its fascination with
Western modernity—represented by the nation-state system, industrial advance, and
information technology—and its struggle against Western colonial and neocolonial
dominance. The world of sport has this same conflict. The Muslim world has, on the
one hand, accepted modern sport as a symbol of modernization in Muslim societies
and as a privileged tool for nation-state building. But on the other hand, many Muslims—particularly representatives of Islamist movements—are wary of modern sport
as a symbol of secularism and a deviation from the authentic societal concerns of the
Ummah (the nation of Muslim believers).
Mahfoud Amara is a lecturer in sport and leisure policy and management at Loughborough University. His
principal research area is comparative sports policy, and he has a specific interest in sport in Arab–Muslim
contexts, having published material on the politics of the Pan-Arab Games, sport and media in the Arab
world, sport in colonial and post-colonial Algeria, and sport in the Persian Gulf region.
Copyright © 2008 by the Brown Journal of World Affairs
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Mahfoud Amara
This article investigates how modern sport—as a product of Western modernity
and a symbol of globalization—both shapes and reflects the changes in the Muslim
world.1 Sport and nation-state building, sport and gender in Muslim societies, and the
new Islamic Solidarity Games initiated by the Islamic Council are used as illustrative
examples to explore the current debates on globalization and localization, as well as
modernity and authenticity, in the Muslim world.
Sport, Politics, and Economy
68
in the
Postcolonial Era
Modern sport was adopted by many countries after decolonization for political, social,
and cultural purposes. In the postcolonial period, sport became a tool par excellence for
single-party states and monarchical regimes in their projects of mobilizing populations
around nation-state building and integration into the international system.2
Meanwhile, the formerly colonized countries, including Muslim ones, have used
international sporting events—and particularly the media coverage that such events
attract—as a space to express their regional political and ideological concerns, such as
anti-imperialism, the Non-Aligned Movement, pan-Africanism, and pan-Arabism. In
some cases, this development led to crises such as Black September at the 1972 Munich Olympics and the boycott of the 1976 Olympic Games to denounce apartheid
in South Africa.3
The use of sport to express the developing world’s discontent reached its peak
with the initiation of the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO). The games
were initiated by Indonesia (the most populated Muslim country) under the leadership
of Sukarno, the father of the Indonesian revolution and one of the principal leaders of
the Non-Aligned Movement. The games were held for the first (and the last) time in
Jakarta in 1963. The idea behind GANEFO was to bring together nations from Africa,
Asia, and Latin America with the aim to revive the spirit of the Bandung conference
of 1955, whose stated goal was to promote economic and cultural cooperation among
states in the developing world and oppose imperialistic forces. The games also sought
to promote a new world order of more equitable North-South relations. But the games
“died quietly in 1966” as a result of changes in the geopolitical condition (the end of
Sukarno’s era and the cultural revolution in China, the main financial supporter of the
games) and particularly as a consequence of the pressure exercised by the International
Olympic Committee and International Sports Federations. For them GANEFO was a
threat to their domination of the intentional sporting affair. 4
Today, in the alleged era of globalization, sport is an ingredient in the general
strategy of transformation from socialism or controlled liberalism to the market economy
and integration into the world market. Consequently, commercial sport, previously
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The Muslim World in the Global Sporting Arena
prohibited because of its liberal and neo-imperial intentions, is recognized today as
the norm—part of a strategy to reduce the size of public-sector budgets and promote
private investment. The significance of commercial sport is evidenced nowadays in the
urban regeneration and the branding of the Gulf region. Large investments are being
poured into the region to stage and sponsor the world’s leading sporting events and
exhibitions and to build sports infrastructure. Examples include:
•
•
•
The Bahrain International Circuit (US$150 million), the only desert track
in the world to stage the Formula One Grand Prix. The circuit was named
after the official sponsor, the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, and is held in
partnership with Toyota in the automotive industry, Arcapita in banking, and
Batelco in telecommunications. In 2009, Abu Dhabi will follow Bahrain’s
example by joining the F1 with a second Middle Eastern round of the FIA
Formula One World Championship.
The Dubai World Cup of horse racing, inaugurated in 1996, awards a huge
purse of US$6 million to the winner—the largest offered in all of racing.
Chief supporting races for the 2008 meeting are the US$5 million Dubai
Duty Free and the US$5 million Dubai Sheema Classic. Also on the card
are the Dubai Golden Shaheen and UAE Derby, both worth US$2 million,
and the US$1 million Godolphin Mile.5
A US$2.8 billion budget was allocated by the Qatari state to stage the Doha
2006 Asian Games.6 They were second biggest international sport event after
the Olympic games, in terms of the number of countries represented (45),
sporting events (39), volunteers (45,000), viewers (cumulative audience of
1.5 billion), and broadcasting (2,000 hours of television coverage).7
This contemporary utilization of modern sport can be explained as a way for Gulf
countries to build a new identity as an emerging model of a modern monarchy-state
that has succeeded in finding the right balance between modern efficiency, symbolized in the efficient management of mega-sport projects, and the authenticity of Arab
culture, in maintaining a tradition of “authentic” sport culture under the patronage of
royal families.8 Traditional sports such as camel racing (sibaqat al hejin) and falconry
are becoming increasingly lucrative, with camel races being broadcasted live on both
satellite and land channels.9 Falcon racing tournaments and hunting championships
are being organized “to reinforce the younger generation’s interest in the traditional
sport.”10
The other interesting phenomenon is that of media sport broadcasting. If we look
at the Arab world, the number of Arab state-run, private free-to-air, and pay-per-view
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TV sports channels has significantly increased in the last ten years thanks to satellite
broadcasting technology. TV broadcasting offers diverse sports programs; debates;
documentaries; and national, regional, and international sports competitions, ranging
from traditional sports such as camel and horse racing to extreme sports such as the
Offshore Powerboat Championships. The dramatic rise in sports channels has also
brought increased competition in the advertising market, valued according to industry
estimates at $300 million.11 Private sports channels, dominated by Arab Radio and
Television (ART), are challenging the old concept of locality, particularly state sovereignty, and demonstrating that the power over media and communications no longer
lies solely within nation-state borders.12
Sport and the Condition of Women in Muslim Societies
70
Turkey was the first Muslim country to send female athletes to the Olympic Games,
followed by Iran in 1964. Algeria, Libya and Syria did so in 1980 and Egypt in 1984.13
The first Muslim woman to win a gold medal, Nawel Moutawakel in the 1984 Los
Angles Olympic Games, announced the beginning of a new era in Muslim women’s
participation in international sporting events. For female athletes in Muslim countries,
the international sports arena has become a privileged space where they can regain their
status as full citizens and as role models. This is illustrated in the following statement
by the Algerian gold Medallist Hassiba Boulmerka:
When I won in Tokyo, I wasn’t comfortable with being the center of attention. . . . I
like to keep things simple, not to be a star. But I’ve become a representative of all
Algeria, and of young women in particular. I’ve gotten so many letters wishing me
courage. . . . In athletics, on the track, I learned to suffer, to love my country, to
concentrate, to take responsibility. I believe you can express yourself in sport maybe
better than in other field. All that, and it brings everyone together, too.”14
Other women sport stars also emerged, such as Moroccan Nawal El Moutawakel, Algerian Hassiba Boulmerka, and more recently Bahraini Ruqaya Al Ghasara in athletics,
Egyptian swimmer Rania Elwani, Algerian judoka Salima Souakri, and Iranian racecar
driver Lale Seddigh.15
The Islamic Women Games were another factor that changed the attitude towards
Muslim women’s participation in sport. Created in 1993 and organized by the Islamic
Federation of Women Sport (IFWS), the Islamic Women Games have increased Muslim
women’s participation in sports, but this comes only within the context of sports events
closed to males and the media. The main objectives of the Islamic Women Games are
to organize different sport competitions for female athletes that pay attention to Islamic
beliefs (e.g., dress code, modesty, women-only setting) while fortifying solidarity among
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The Muslim World in the Global Sporting Arena
Muslim women. The fourth edition of the games, which were held in September 2005
in Teheran, gathered 1,587 Muslim (and for the first time non-Muslim) women athletes
from 42 Muslim and non-Muslim countries (including the United States, the United
Kingdom, Russia, and Japan) who competed in 18 different disciplines such as taekwondo, karate, futsal (five-a-side soccer), and table tennis for women with disabilities.
Although for some women athletes the Islamic Women Games are the only occasion to
compete at the international level, the games nonetheless suffer from a lack of public
female audience, little media attention, and low levels of competition.16
Muslim women’s participation in sport has raised the questions of women’s
conditions and the struggle over their bodies in Muslim communities.17 Women’s participation in sports, as part of the public sphere, is being used as an indicator to judge
the level of progress and secularization or conservatism in Muslim societies and the
degree of integration or acculturation of Muslim minorities in the West. For example,
in the Baden-Württemberg federal state in Germany, Muslim immigrants applying for
citizenship have since January 2006 faced a lengthy interrogation (“conscience test”)
which involves answering a catalogue of 30 questions on their political, cultural, and
social views. One of the questions is, “Would you allow your daughter to participate
in sports and swimming classes at school?”18
Another example can be found in the participation of the 17-year-old Robina
Muqimyar from Afghanistan in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.19 Her participation
was politically used to symbolize the “liberation” of Afghan women from the Taliban’s
regime, and thus to legitimate the occupation of Afghanistan. The emancipation of
Robina Muqimyar was presented in the Western media by her replacing the traditional
burka, the sign of “oppression,” with modern sport clothing. Such orientalist notions
can be simplistic and culturally imperialist. These ideas portray women in Islam only
as passive and oppressed, and condition the emancipation of Muslim women and
progress in Muslim societies to women’s participation in international competitions
(i.e., embracing the Western form of sport practices).
The Islamic Solidarity Games
In 2005, Saudi Arabia hosted the first ever Islamic Solidarity Games. Said to be the
largest sporting event after the Olympic Games, the Solidarity Games attempt to
rebuild a sense of Islamic unity and reinforce the universal values of Islam as the second largest religion in the world.20 The games were organized under the patronage of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Islamic Solidarity Sports
Federation. The idea of the games was proposed by the late Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin
Abdulaziz during the Third Islamic Summit, held in Makkah Al Mukarramah in 1981.
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72
The objectives of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation are to strengthen Islamic
solidarity among youth, promote Islamic identity in sports, inculcate the principles of
non-discrimination according to the precepts of Islam, advance cooperation among
member states on issues pertaining to sport, unify positions in international sporting
events and cooperate with international sporting bodies, and preserve sports principles
and promote the Olympic movement in the Muslim world.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference decided to hold the games in Saudi
Arabia in 2005 during its meeting in Bamako, Mali in June of 2001.21 The games were
an occasion for the al-Saud family, in the aftermath of 9/11, to present to the world
an image of Saudi Arabia as a moderate Muslim country open to progress and modern
technology.22 Ahmed Khudidi, director of international relations for the games, explained: “All the world thinks the Islamic youth are terrorists. We need to change that
image.”23 Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, in his opening speech, hoped that the Islamic
Games would achieve their goals and that countries would carry good memories of
Saudi Arabia on their way home. He added that “the games would further strengthen
the relationships between Islamic countries and make them more proud of their Islamic
values.”24 These intended goals are yet to be seen in reality.
The first edition of the games witnessed the participation of 7,000 (all male)
athletes, including Christians, from 54 Islamic countries competing in 13 sports.25
The next two tournaments are scheduled for 2009 in Iran and 2013 in Syria. Given
the level of political fragmentation, the deficit in economic development in number
of Muslim countries, and the financial cost for hosting the games, the first challenge
that the OIC will face is to sustain the Islamic Solidarity Games.26
Conclusion
The previous three examples show that Muslim societies can adopt modern sport
practices while acknowledging Islamic belief, the universal values of Islam, and the
contexts of Muslim societies. The relationship between global and local in the domain
of sport is not always that of a clash between modernity and tradition or Western and
non-Western cultures. Despite sport’s nationalist, sectarian, and separatist nature, it
can nevertheless offer a forum for dialogue between Muslims and other cultures. Based
on the number of participants (at elite and mass levels), fans and viewers, organized
domestic and international sports events, sport channels, national sports federations,
and National Olympic Committees, it is clear that the desire to practice or to be part
of international sporting experiences is real in the Muslim world.27
The mass celebration which followed the Iraq national team’s victory in the Asian
Cup, and the more recent success of Egypt in the African Cup of Nations, are illustra-
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The Muslim World in the Global Sporting Arena
tions of the significance of sport (especially soccer) and the symbolic force that it has
in mobilizing nations to overcome class, gender, and sectarian divides—at least for the
duration of the match. Sport—due to its generalization—also provides for cross-cultural encounters with the other of a different cultures and faiths.28 In this sense sport
becomes a shared form of communication.29
Most powerfully, as sport scholar and sociologist Richard Giulianotti wrote, “Playing sport competitively forces us to think ourselves into the shoes of the opponent.”30
In this sense, sport can contribute to understanding what Paul Ricoeur refers to as
the “foreignness” of others.31 Sport can provide an avenue for the Muslim world and
the West to negotiate their different identities beyond the usual national and culturally-fixed borders—and this in turn can contribute in bringing valuable cross-cultural
learning experiences.32 W
A
Notes
1. As an illustration of the global reach of sport, the 2004 Olympics in Athens were watched by 3.9
billion people, producing a cumulative global audience of around 40 billion for the 17 day event (Richard
Giulianotti and Roland Robertson, “Recovering the Social: Globalization, Football and Transnationalism,”
Global Networks 7, no. 2 (2007): 166–186.
2. Youcef Fates, Sport et Tiers Monde: Pratiques Corporelle (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1994);
Mahfoud Amara, and Ian P. Henry, “Between Globalisation and Local Modernity: The Diffusion and
Modernisation of Football in Algeria,” Soccer and Society 5, no.1 (2004): 1–26.
3. One Day in September, directed by Kevin Macdonald, (Arthur Cohn Production, 1999), documentary; Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois
Press, 2002).
4. Rusi Lutan and Fan Hong, “The Politicization of Sport: GANEFO-A Case Study,” in Sport, Nationalism, and Orientalism: The Asian Games, ed. Fan Hong (London: Routledge, 2007). The People’s Republic
of China paid US$18 for the transportation costs of all delegations. More than 2,200 athletes and officials
from 48 regions including France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and the Soviet Union attended
the Games (Luton and Hong, 31)
5. See the Dubai World Cup official web page, http://dubairacingclub.com/dubaiworldcup/ (accessed
2008).
6. The Qatar state is officially bidding to stage the 2016 Olympic Games.
7. Mahfoud Amara, “A ‘Modernization’ Project from Above? Asian Games—Qatar 2006,” Sport in
Society 8, no. 3 (2005): 495–516.
8. Ibid., 495–516.
9. Prestigious trophies are offered to the winners (money, a golden sword, or 4-wheel drive luxury
vehicles). In an effort to combat child trafficking, new rules published by the Emirates Camel Racing
Federation in June 2003 stipulated that any camel jockey must be aged 15 years or more and weigh at
least 45 kg. An unnamed Swiss company was reportedly paid $1.3 million to develop the robotic jockeys,
which will be sold for around $5500 each. See Will Knight, “Robotic Camel Riders are Ready to Race,”
New Scientist, April 11, 2005, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7251.html.
10. Fazza Falcon Hunting Championship, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, The
government of Dubai, http://dubaitourism.co.ae/News/default.asp?ID=1030 (accessed 2008).
11. Habib Battah, “SMS: The Next TV Revolution,” Transnational Broadcasting Studies Journal 16,
(2006), http://www.tbsjournal.com/Battah.html..
12. ART paid US$220 million for the exclusive right to broadcast the 2006, 2010, and 2014 FIFA
soccer World Cups to North Africa and the Middle East. See Mahfoud Amara, “‘When the Arab World
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Mahfoud Amara
74
was Mobilised around the FIFA 2006 World Cup,” The Journal of North African Studies 12, no. 4 (2007):
417–438.
13. Sami Aldeeb, “Limites du Sport en Droit Musulmans et Arabe,” Confluences Méditerranée, 50
(2004).
14. Kenny Moore, “A Scream and A Prayer: Politics and Religion are Inseparable from Sport in the
Lives of Algeria’s World-Champion Runners, Nourdine Morceli and Hassiba Boulmerka,” Sport Illustrated
77, no. 5 (1992): 58–61.
15. Egypt’s greatest swimmer retired from international competition at the age of 23 after deciding
to put on the Hijab (Islamic veil). She was selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
as a member of the Athletes Commission (she was nominated in 2002 and elected in 2004) and as a
member of the Medical Commission (2003–present). Nashwa Abdel-Tawab, “Rania Elwani’s Love Affair
with Water Continues,” Al-Ahram Weekly Online, May 16–22, 2002, no. 586, http://weekly.ahram.org.
eg/2002/586/sp4.htm.
16. Gertrud Pfister, “Focus: Islam in a Changing World: Islam and Women’s Sport,” SangSaeng 15
(Summer 2006).
17. Jennifer Hargreaves, Heroines of Sport: The Politics of Difference and Identity (London: Routledge,
2000). Particularly by the adepts of culturalist interpretation, a culturalism which according to J.F. Bayart
maintains that a “culture” is composed of a stable, closed corpus of representations, beliefs, or symbols that
is supposed to have an “affinity” with specific opinions, attitudes, or modes of behaviour. Jean-Francois
Bayart, The Illusion of Identity (London: Hurst & Company, 1996), ch. 2. Orientalist notions portray
women in Islam as “passive,” “subservient,” and subject to gross inequalities though treatment of women
and rights varies across different Muslim (and Western) societies. Such treatment is often legitimated by
reference to Islamic tradition or requirements.
18. Sonia Phalnikar, “New Rules for Muslims in German State Blasted,” Deutsche Welle, January 5,
2006, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1840793,00.html.
19. Robina Muqimyar in athletics and Friba Rezihi in Judo were the first Afghani women to take part
in the Olympics. Afghanistan was suspended from the Olympic movement in 1999. Robina Muqimyar
was given the flag of Afghanistan during the opening ceremony to symbolise the return of Afghanistan to
the international community. See also Liz Robbins, “Summer 2004 Games; Free at Last, Islamic Women
Compete With Abandon,” New York Times, August 21, 2004.
20. It is interesting to make a parallel here with the “Maccabi Games,” which are the games of the
Jewish communities around the world.
21. “First Islamic Games Send Message of Peace,” Islam Online, April 8, 2005, http://www.islamonline.
net/English/News/2005-04/08/article05.shtml.
22. Ibid. The Saudi Sports Unions have sought some 48 million rials (US$13 million) to provide necessary equipments for the event, to make it on the level of world events.
23. Alan Hubbard, “The Islamic Games: ‘Love, Friendship and Humility,’” The Independent, April 10,
2005.
24.������
Ibid.
�����
25. Reported in Middle East North Africa Financial Network, June 22, 2005, http://www.menafn.
com. See also Fawaz Mohammad, “Christian Athletes to Compete in Pan-Islamic Games,” Islam Online,
February 9, 2005.
26. It is interesting to compare the Islamic Games founded on the religious principle of pan-Islamic
solidarity with the long established Pan-Arab Games constructed around the (secular) idea of ethno-cultural group identity (based on race and language) Ian P. Henry, Mahfoud Amara, and Mansour Al-Tauqi,
“Sport, Arab Nationalism and the Pan-Arab Games,” International Review for the Sociology of Sport 38,
no. 3 (September 1, 2003).
27. Youcef Fates, “L’Islamisme Algérien et le Sport: Entre Rhétorique et Action,” Confluences Méditerranée no. 50 (Summer 2004), at http://confluences.ifrance.com/ numeros/50.htm.
28. Richard Giulianotti, “Human Rights, Globalisation and Sentimental Education: The Case of Sport,”
Sport in Society 7, no. 3 (2004): 355–369.
29. Based on the motto: “Universal language of sport brings people together.” The United Nations
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The Muslim World in the Global Sporting Arena
General Assembly proclaimed 2005 to be the International Year of Sport and Physical Education. Following the footsteps of the UN, 2008 has been designated by the European Commission as the “European
Year of Intercultural Dialogue.”
30. Giulianotti, “Human Rights, Globalisation and Sentimental Education,” 366.
31. “To receive the foreign language at home, and live in the language of the other.” Paul Ricoeur,
“Foreignness of the Foreigner,” Reflexion, Le Nouvel Observateur no. 2121 (June 30, 2005).
32. A good example of this is the first official friendly game which took place between the Iranian
women’s football team and a local (multicultural) Berlin’s women’s team (BSV-al Dersimspor) in front
of more than a thousand cheering female fans. A documentary was produced to tell the story behind the
meeting. For more information about the film, see Football Under Cover––der film, http://football-undercover.de. See also Ariana Mirza, “Soccer under the Veil,” Qantara.de, February 15, 2008, http://www.
qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-310/_nr-503/i.html.
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