Islamists denounce 'evil' World Cup but cannot ignore it
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-06-26 11:08 Long before the first
football was kicked at the World Cup earlier this month in Germany, hardline
Islamists were busily denouncing the massive competition as a corrupt show of
Western influence.
But as the daily matches have gone on, Islamists using the Internet have
shown they are not immune to World Cup fever, with some rejoicing in the defeat
of Shiite majority
Saudi Arabia's
national soccer team players pose for a team photo before their Group H
World Cup 2006 soccer match against Spain in
Kaiserslautern.[Reuters]
| Iran and others
lambasting the Saudi Arabian team for falling out of the finals.
In advance of the tournament of 32 countries, which has now also seen Iran
and Tunisia knocked out of the final rounds, one Islamist warned his fellow
Muslims against "this plot aiming to corrupt Muslim youth and distract them from
jihad."
Another called it a "cultural invasion worse than military war because it
seizes the heart and soul of the Muslim."
A Kuwaiti sheikh named Hamad al-Aali wrote in the "fatwas" page of his
website: "It is illicit to watch these matches on corrupt television channels
while our nation is decimated night and day by foreign armies."
Armed with such religious edicts, some Islamists called for a boycott of the
"Prostitution Cup," in reference to reports that several thousand sex workers
were arriving in Germany for the event.
"While our brothers in
Iraq, Palestine and
Afghanistan are
being massacred in cold blood by the Crusaders and Jews, our young people will
have their eyes riveted on depraved television sets which emit the opium of
football to the extent of overdose," wrote one Islamist who signed his name as
Abu Haitham.
He named "12 vices" linked to the World Cup, particularly "idolatry of
infidel players" and the "distraction of Muslims from jihad (holy war)."
Militants close to the Al-Qaeda militant network even posted a video of their
own "World Cup" on the Internet Friday.
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