Challenges Posed by Muslim Orthodoxy in the West in the Domain of Women's Sports

The interference of regressive theology in sports has also seeped its way into many developed secular countries as well. Omar Hallak, principal of the Al-Taqwa college in Australia recently disallowed female students from taking part in running for fear that excessive running might lead them to “losing their virginity”. Though he denied the allegations made against him, he could not explain why exactly some girls were not allowed to participate in a running event. The principal’s views and his conviction in them is a sign of worry for the future of the game for it indicates that despite the continuing struggle to emancipate women from falsified gender barriers, there are certain schools of thought which can be detrimental if not checked. Another case on similar grounds can be cited from may 2015, when the students of an Islamic high school refused to play against a Catholic school team because it included two girls and ‘mixing’ with the other gender is supposedly against the norms of their faith, forcing the other team to bench the two girls despite getting the clearing from the governing body for fielding them. The decision to bench the girls received flak from many liberal thinkers in Canada, who criticized the Catholic school team for ‘tolerating intolerance’ and for not standing up for the two girls, who were completely eligible to take part in that game.