Shawn Green sat out of Blue Jay’s line-up for Yom Kippur. You guys feel the same way about that?
A devout Muslim just can’t be an NFL player, not if he puts his religion ahead of his job in this manner. He won’t be able to go all out in practice and exhibition games during the summer heat if he won’t drink water. They should just cut him from the team. There are plenty of eager talented replacements. Let him go score points for Allah somewhere else.
Sure.
And I’d feel the same way about a Christian who refused to play on Easter. Personal decision.
However, if the guy signing the paycheck doesn’t agree, those players should live with the consequences.
Living by your principles means being willing to suffer for them, not expecting others to make accommodations so you aren’t inconvenienced.
If this football player can play as well as his competition without hydration, fine. If he drops of a heat stroke or gets trampled on the field, it’s his own durn fault.
The team should make him sign a release of liability.
How about both men are stupid, besides do they still play professional baseball in the US?
Not really, I feel sorry for this guy as much as anything. He’s bought in to what Churchill referred to as the greatest retrograde force in history. Islam is a political ideology masquerading as religion which is wholly incompatible with Western ideals.
Hopefully he can get straightened out.
Did Shawn Green’s compatriots (thousands upon thousands of them) massacre others in the quest for world domination of their religion?
Shawn Green’s choice to observe Yom Kippur was a one day thing. Muslim fasting for Ramadan is 30 days in a row, smack dab in the middle of the heat of summer training and/or pre-season. So there is a difference.
That aside, Abdullah could probably get an exemption from the fast if he wanted to. One of the leading Islamic theological institutions, Al-Azhar in Egypt, has allowed that an athlete may break the fast if fasting affects performance. This ruling was made with regard to soccer players in Germany, but I can’t see where the player’s sport would affect the underlying rationale for the ruling.
Interestingly, Abdullah is recruiting others on the team to the fast, apparently with the blessing of the team’s upper office. (This is not his first year fasting, and yes, it did negatively affect his performance last year, which is why trainers and nutritionists are working with him on it this year.) One of the trainers has agreed to try fasting with him...although the effects would be quite a bit less for a non-athlete standing on the sidelines.