Egyptians denounce attacks on World Cup fans in Uganda

By Waleed Abulkhair in Cairo
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-07-14

[-/AFP/Getty Images] The Ethopian café in Kampala, Uganda, moments before an explosion killed dozens watching the World Cup final.

The bombings that killed 74 World Cup fans in Kampala, Uganda, did not go unnoticed in Egypt, the home of passionate football fans, as well as the largest arena of modern Islamist movements and thoughts.

Politicians and civilians alike who spoke with Al-Shorfa condemned the attacks and said Islam prohibits the killing of innocent civilians. They also dismissed the idea that watching or playing football is un-Islamic, or that it made the civilians in Kampala more of a target for the bombers.

The Somali al-Qaeda affiliate Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the Sunday (July 11th) twin blasts. A few days before the bombings, al-Shabab leader Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr said that the group would strike at Uganda for its support of the Somali government.

Al-Shabab representatives have also said as late as June of this year that football is an "un-Islamic practice". Media reports during the early part of this year's World Cup said al-Shabab had banned watching the matches in the areas under its control in Somalia, and that members of the terrorist group were seen flogging people who they had found violating their edict.

"The idea of attacking civilians and fighting football is absolutely rejected," said Dr. Issam al-Iryan, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman.

Asked about links between Al-Shabab and al-Qaeda's ideology, al-Iryan said, "Targeting innocents is prohibited under Islam, and whoever commits such crimes is only using religion as a cover to achieve political objectives. "

"No Muslim who understands the nature of this true religion can allege that football is prohibited or un-Islamic," he told Al-Shorfa. "No scholar dares to issue a fatwa to this effect. There is no doubt that what happened in Uganda is rejected by Islam."

Al-Iryan said that "curtailing public freedoms, foreign interference and tyranny create a barrier that alienates senior and reliable religious scholars, who advocate appropriate Islamic thought. This creates room for strange fatwas and thoughts that contradict the true nature of Islam."

Egyptian sports newscaster and al-Ahram journalist Ibrahim Hegazi viewed the incident as "an attack against Islam itself, before being an attack against innocent civilians. There is no religion on earth that justifies killing in this brutal way."

"The real question is who is behind the spread of such thoughts, particularly the idea that it is permissible to kill innocent people and that football is prohibited," he told al-Shorfa, comparing events in Somalia to "what happened in Afghanistan, where societies were infiltrated and things end up in a bloodbath."

Hegazi dismissed fears that such thoughts, especially the prohibition of football, would spread to Egypt.

"We cannot apply this to other countries, because the Egyptian street is highly aware of the true concept of Islam in general and sports in particular," he said, adding that "sports in general and football in particular is the center of attention of all religious and political movements in Egypt, as it is a widely-spread and popular sport."

Samah Al-Hadidi, chief organiser of the Al-Ahly Club Female Fans Association, considered the attack against football fans under the banner of Islam as strange, believing it has no connection with religion.

"Some of our members belong to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups, and they face no opposition on the part of their families. Their families support them financially and morally. Interest in sports is very important, and it keeps youth away from deviant behaviours that they might commit at a certain age."

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