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rubiesand
05-01-2006, 09:26 PM
MILITANTS acting in the name of Islam, Christianity and Judaism are at loggerheads across the world. But in Berlin at least the great religions hope to settle their differences on the football field.
With just over a month to go before the World Cup, a team of imams will play a team of Christian priests. “It’s been difficult to find a rabbi who will referee on the Sabbath,” sighs the Rev Christopher Jage-Bowler, “but we are trusting in God.”

Switching the game from next Saturday to Friday has been ruled out by the Muslim side, since this is their day of prayer. The Christian clergy, meanwhile, have a problem with Sunday. The 44-year-old vicar, mastermind of the seven-a-side match, is confident that the problems will be resolved before kick-off.



The imams are ready to abandon their Kufi hats and the vicars will leave their cassocks in the vestry in favour of orthodox football kit.

The aim is to link the game with a workshop on racism in football sponsored by the British Government. Leading black players will gather in the British Embassy to discuss how to involve more Muslims.

Anyone hoping for a thumping victory for Christianity on Saturday should take note of a similar experiment held in Leicester, where imams and Christian clergy played a game to raise money for charity.

The imams had a clear lead at half-time and lent several Koran scholars to the Christian side to prevent a humiliating defeat for the vicars. In the end, Islam thrashed Christianity 6-0. The under-12s game was also won by the Islamic side after sudden-death penalties.

The choice of referee in Berlin remains a critical point — the Leicester game was refereed by a member of the local Hebrew congregation — since some tricky decisions may have to be made: should the yellow card be shown for blasphemy? The game is being staged at a highly sensitive moment in Christian-Muslim relations in Germany. The cartoonist of the newspaper Tagesspiegel had to go into hiding after he depicted the Iranian national team as potential suicide bombers.

Across the German Muslim community nerves have been frayed by new citizenship tests to check whether Muslims can conform to German cultural traditions. Aspiring Germans are asked to explain what is meant by the Holocaust. They are also tested on their attitudes to “honour killings” and arranged marriages.

Mr Jage-Bowler was struck by how few points of spontaneous contact there were between the Muslim and Christian communities in Berlin. Since the World Cup is being marketed in Germany as a cultural melting pot, the vicar — a colourful character in the Berlin expatriate community and a former Moët & Chandon tour guide — thought that football would break down barriers.

This inspired him to contact Imam Harun Bulat, of the Sehitlik Mosque, which has a large Turkish congregation. “I’m hoping it will become a regular event,” the vicar said. “It is, after all, a beautiful game.”

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extinction
05-01-2006, 09:28 PM
well we all know who is going to win this one....could you please follow up and let us know who won and so on?
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rubiesand
05-01-2006, 09:44 PM
Sure, insha Allah.
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north_malaysian
05-02-2006, 03:30 AM
Why cant we play soccer on Friday? Friday prayer only takes about 2 hour time. We have no Sabbath in Islam.:rollseyes
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glo
05-04-2006, 11:30 AM
Allow me to cut and paste this story (sourced from 'The Australian'):

**Imams and priests share faith in football
Roger Boyes, Berlin
May 02, 2006
MILITANTS acting in the name of Islam, Christianity and Judaism are at loggerheads across the world. But in Berlin, at least, the great religions hope to settle their differences on the soccer field.
With just over a month to go before the World Cup, a team of imams is preparing to play a team of Christian priests.

"It's been difficult to find a rabbi who will referee on the Sabbath," sighed the Reverend Christopher Jage-Bowler, "but we are trusting in God."

The Muslim side will not play on Friday instead of Saturday, because this is their day of prayer. The Christian clergy, meanwhile, have a problem with Sunday. But the 44-year-old vicar, planner of the seven-a-side match, is confident that the problems will be resolved before kick-off.

The aim is to link the game with a British government-sponsored workshop on racism in soccer. Leading black players will gather in the British embassy to discuss how to involve more Muslims.

Anyone hoping for a thumping victory for Christianity on Saturday should take note of a similar experiment held in Leicester, where imams and Christian clergy played a game to raise money for charity.

The imams had a clear lead at half-time and lent several Koran scholars to the Christian side to prevent a humiliating defeat for the vicars. In the end, Islam thrashed Christianity 6-0.

The game is being staged at a highly sensitive moment in Christian-Muslim relations in Germany. The cartoonist of the newspaper Tagesspiegel had to go into hiding after he depicted the Iranian national team as potential suicide bombers.

Across the German Muslim community, nerves have been frayed by new citizenship tests to check whether Muslims can conform to German cultural traditions. Aspiring Germans are asked to explain what is meant by the Holocaust.

They are also tested on their attitudes to "honour killings" and arranged marriages.

Father Jage-Bowler was struck by how few points of spontaneous contact there were between the Muslim and Christian communities in Berlin. Since the World Cup is being marketed in Germany as a cultural melting pot, the vicar thought a soccer game would break down barriers.

This inspired him to contact Imam Harun Bulat, of the Sehitlik Mosque, which has a large Turkish congregation.

"I'm hoping it will become a regular event," the vicar said. "It is, after all, a beautiful game." **



Peace! ;D
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rubiesand
05-04-2006, 11:34 AM
Already posted about this... see this thread
:)
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mizan_aliashraf
05-04-2006, 11:36 AM
Salam
what a joke
Wassalam
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glo
05-04-2006, 11:38 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by rubiesand
Already posted about this... see this thread
:)
Bother!
I'm not doing well today with creating duplicate threads! :rollseyes

I did check if there was a thread already, but I couldn't find one.
Thanks for letting me know. :)
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glo
05-04-2006, 11:41 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by hafizmo
well we all know who is going to win this one....
Ha! Oh yeah?!
That's fighting talk ... ;D ;D ;D

We'll see ...:giggling:
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mizan_aliashraf
05-04-2006, 11:42 AM
Peace
No probs, just don't make it a regular thing :)
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glo
05-04-2006, 11:44 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by mizan_aliashraf
Peace
No probs, just don't make it a regular thing :)
I'm afraid it is a regular thing!! :rollseyes
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Eric H
05-04-2006, 11:54 AM
Greetings and peace rubiesand,

All events that bring people together must be good, hopefully both Christianity and Islam will benefit from this.

I feel that the Hebrew community have drawn the short straw, nobody is likely to be supporting the ref!!!

In the spirit of fostering interfaith friendship

Eric
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mizan_aliashraf
05-04-2006, 11:55 AM
Peace
Never mind, the mods are in charge (and im not one of them)
Anyways, we're wandering off-topic
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glo
05-04-2006, 12:05 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by mizan_aliashraf
Peace
Anyways, we're wandering off-topic
And that seems to be another regular thing for me! :giggling:

Never mind, I am sure the moderators will link this thread to the first one - or indeed zap it completely.
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rubiesand
05-04-2006, 01:20 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Eric
I feel that the Hebrew community have drawn the short straw, nobody is likely to be supporting the ref!!!
lol You may be right about that! :giggling:
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rubiesand
05-12-2006, 09:50 PM
So, are you ready to see the final score of the match of the year? :shade:




Well then, read on.....





Priests 12; Imams 1

:uuh: :hmm: :eek: :ooh: :rolleyes: :-[ :mmokay: :okay: :happy:



Story : here
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Eric H
05-16-2006, 01:36 PM
Greetings and peace rubiesand;

Priests 12; Imams 1
I think the Imams spent too much time in their Mosques and not enough time training.;D

In the spirit of seeking greater interfaith relations

Eric
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Muezzin
05-16-2006, 01:39 PM
'Dum dum - dum dum dum - DUM DUM DUM

ISLAM!'

'Come on you Greens!'

'Swing low, sweet masjid van, coming for to carry me hooooooome'
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HeiGou
05-16-2006, 01:42 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Muezzin
'Swing low, sweet masjid van, coming for to carry me hooooooome'
>groan<

Of course the Imams didn't have a hope - the Catholics have all those Brazilians and Argentinians to call on. How many Imams could compete with Pele?
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