Thread: Ask a Muslim...
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Old 08-27-2009, 04:27 PM   #67 (permalink)
dlish
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do i know who Hazem El Masri is???

ive met Hazem on no less than 40-50 times. He is close friends with my cousin, and knows many of my friends very well. We have similar circles. In fact another cousin of my toured with hazem whilst playing for Lebanon a few years back. The lebanese community in Sydney is quite small when you think that everyone is separated within a degree or two.

with regards to his fasting during playing, Hazem has done this for years. There are numerous sports stars who happen to do this, many that i recall played in the NBA.

There has been many debates within the muslim world with regards to professional muslim sports stars fasting during Ramadan. Most recently this week where an egyptian soccer team were exempt via a fatwa from Egypts religious institutions, but the players refused to take up the option.
Egypt footballers exempt from Ramadan fast, Egypt Football - Maktoob Business

the current argument as it stands, is that as a professional player, this is your only means of making money, and if fasting is going to be detrimental to your line of work, or dangerous, than an exemption can be made. However, knowing Hazem, he will be fasting.

For those that intent on fasting, preparation does need to be made. obviously hydration is of utmost importance, as is diet. The sydney winter sunrise is about 5am, and sunset is at 5:30pm, so he'd have gone without water or food for a good 12.5 hours by the time he breaks his fast. The bulldogs would have provided him with a dietitian to support him during Ramadan. but since she-lish is a dietitian, i can tell you that he'd be subscribed with foods that contain slow release energy so that his energy levels stay high throughout the day. he'd be loading his energy levels from a few days prior at least. His training however would most likely be at night, with probably lights training runs with his team mates.

If he feels the need to break his fast because he feels weak or lightheaded during the game, then he is permitted to break the fast and make up for the day after Ramadan. In saying that, when i was a kid as school, i would run or walk to school and back, play rugby or basketball during recess and lunch, swim for 2 hours after school and then go to track training for 2-3 hours almost on a daily basis. so an 80 minute game is do-able. so as a professional athlete, im sure he (and the bulldogs) would have made a contingency plan in preparation for Ramadan.

i wish Hazem the best of luck. He has had a great career. He's been a great ambassador not only to the sport, but as a representative of the lebanese and muslim communities. He is genuinely a 'good bloke' and his work with the youth is well known, and he deserves a big farewell this weekend. This wont be his last game during Ramadan however, since the bulldogs are top of the table and look like title contenders.

---------- Post added at 10:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:14 AM ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ananas View Post
Hi,
Although you are not from Afghanistan, I was wondering if you have seen the movie "The Kite Runner" or read the book of the same name? What were your initial thoughts?

During Ramadan is the giving of foods or other charity something that is done on a daily basis or do you select one family to help?
Ananas? you do know that Ananas mean pineapple in arabic... right? or is this just a coincidence?


sorry, back on the topic of the kite runner, no i havent seen the movie nor read the book. my wife she-lish has read both the kite runner and a thousand splendid suns and loved both books, so i have a general idea of the contents.

my thoughts on it? from what ive heard, its a fictional book accounting the atrocities of the taliban in afghanistan.

in defence of the taliban, they were never provided with the support they needed in order to set up any sort of legitimate government. their initial intentions were correct when they first came to power after many social injustices after the fall of the soviets. they just had no idea how to run anything. They were a bunch of religious students who became rag-tag soldiers, most of who were illiterate. what were people expecting? does that justify what they did to women, children and non pashtuns? no, not by any measure.

those are my initial thoughts. if you'd like me to expand, give me some more detail in your questions so i can detail my answers for you.
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