The Olympic Games - and Ramadan !

The London Olympic games scheduled for Friday, July 27 to Sunday, August 12 will pose a difficult cultural problem for the three thousand five hundred Muslim competitors who will compete.    This seventeen day event falls within the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is one of the pillars of the Islamic faith.  It is a time of fasting, prayer and attending to the charitable needs of the less fortunate.   The faithful are required to fast from sunrise to sunset on every day of Ramadan and to cease from such activities as smoking or sexual relations during daylight hours.  As a result, most Muslims have a big breakfast before the sun rises and celebrate the breaking of the fast with a celebratory meal in the evening.

The problem is that most Olympic events are held during daylight hours and diet and preparation are essential to fine tune the human body to deliver optimum performance.   This sets the scene for a clash of religion and sport and it seems certain that many Muslim competitors will be harshly criticised by ultra strict Imams, and in some Muslim countries such an adverse comment can be a virtual death sentence.

There will also be the problem of appropriate wearing apparel.   The Olympic committee has approved wearing the Hijab by women competitors, but Islam frowns upon bare legs and that will impose dress limitations at the athletic track and in the swimming pool.   A Muslim woman competing at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics won gold, but was vilified in her home country for competing with bare legs before a mixed male and female audience.

Once again the uneven treatment of the sexes will come to the fore.   The original Olympic games was a male only competition, watched by a  male only audience - and those competing did so nude.   Women made their appearance from the times of the modern Olympics, and Muslim women athletes are a fairly recent addition.
Islam appears to have accepted male Muslim Olympians in recent decades without demur, but women seem to rub a raw nerve whenever they intrude on what many Imams believe should be a male only world.

Each individual will need to make his or her own compromise with religion.  One British Muslim rower has compromised his need to break the Ramadan fast by donating 1800 meals to the poor.  He will provide sixty free meals each day to atone and hopes that this will meet religious approval.

Hopefully, moderate Islam will treat the Olympics in a spirit of goodwill and allow this meeting of nations a little latitude in the strict interpretation of Ramadan.   Muslim competitors are just as keen to bring glory to their country as those from any other religion.    Perhaps the Olympics is an opportunity for world religions to  enjoy seventeen days of peace and goodwill towards one another.