But there is something unique about it containing competitive games and not just a gathering of Muslims. I am even talking in particular about games where the competition happens real time when two team compete against each other and not that where the competition is against time or score (like gymnastics for example :-) )
The 2 things I like the most are:
I - Competitive games show the reality of people. It puts all of us under the pressure of competition which shows our real personality and push some buttons rarely pushed in real life. I can see myself and my teammates as well as other team members behaving in a way that is a little different than that when they are relaxed. When we yell at the ref., when we yell at each others, when we yell at the other team, when we even yell at ourselves and our performance we show an example of us when we are challenged in real life. When we yell at the ref it shows our tendency to blame "unfairness" taking place beyond our hands without focusing on what we should do to overcome this "unfairness" if it really exisits. When we yell at each others it shows how much of a team we are. When we yell at the other team, and sometimes become a little physical or angry at them, it shows how much competing for worldly matters is more important to us than genuine issues such as brotherhood and love for the sake of Allah.
II - Competitive games sets a clear example of who will be able to win and when victory will take place. You can find the pillars of success in life while playing competitive games. When you see clear team work in the field, when you see clear leadership and full compliance to this leadership especially in crucial time during the game, when you see support from team members, when you see a spirit of winning, when you see patience in overcoming our tiredness and our temptations to take jobs other than ours, when you experience our ability not to give up when we lose partially in the middle of the game, when you see support from people who are not playing yet would like the team to win, when you see the subs under the temptation of wanting to play prefer to sit out to give a chance for those who can do a better job, when you see us passing the ball to people even if they are not fully skillful and cheering them up when they make mistakes, you know that we are about to win. When you see otherwise, you will expect otherwise.
I really enjoyed the Islamic games and I really enjoyed reflecting on our team and other teams as well. I was very happy not only with the number of gold medals we got but with the attitude of winning that we demonstrated. I am upset from some of the mistakes some of us did but the overall spirit was a spirit of victory. Since competitive games is a very pressuring moment, I expect this spirit to hold when we carry on with our real endeavor.
3 comments:
Alhamdullilah, it was a very good event. JAK for these nice reflections.
One more positive comment: while there were some spontaneous negative reactions from many of us, I felt that these reactions were died very quickly, may it be with kind words exhanged a few seconds later or right after the game. I ask Allah to forgive us for our mistakes.
AA: Sports attracts youth. Nothing comes close. It is the best tool to put a whole bunch of them in one place to teach them, guide them, motivate them, etc... We are not doing enough of that. Islamic Games is a good start, but there was really nothing going on during the event that promotes any kind of Islamic values. It just provided an Islamic atmoshphere. No alcohol, no inappropriate gender interaction, etc...We need to create the MAS Games and make it a truly positive, effective, constructive experience built around sports. No one is allowed to play a game without getting an entry ticket distributed after salat or a special wristband distributed after a certain lecture or workshop or seminar, etc...I know none of us have bandwidth, but we could start on a small scale locally next year with the 3 NY subchapters!!!
Crazy or doable???
Tareq,
Doable!
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