Posted on 10/14/2006 3:41:13 PM PDT by Pokey78
The 2012 London Olympics have been plunged into controversy by the discovery that the Games will clash with Ramadan, the most holy month in the Islamic calendar.
The clash will put Muslim athletes at a disadvantage as they will be expected to fast from sunrise to sunset for the entire duration of the Games.
In 2012, Ramadan will take place from July 21 to August 20, while the Olympics run from July 27 to August 12.
An anticipated 3,000 Muslim competitors are expected to be affected.
About a quarter of the 11,099 athletes who took part in the 2004 Athens Olympics came from countries with predominantly Muslim populations.
Because the Muslim calendar is based on a lunar cycle, the ninth month of Ramadan - which runs from the appearance of one new crescent moon to the next - gets earlier by around 11 days each year.
The clash will be a huge embarrassment for Lord Coe, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, and London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who have been keen to ensure the Games involve all Britain's ethnic communities.
Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "They would not have organised this at Christmas. It is equally stupid to organise it at Ramadan.
"It shows a complete lack of awareness and sensitivity.
"This is going to disadvantage the athletes and alienate the Asian communities by saying they don't matter.
"It's not only going to affect the participants it's going to affect all the people who want to watch the Games.
"They won't want to travel during Ramadan and they won't want to watch sport. It's a spiritual time."
Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, an imam on the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said: "I'm sure the athletes will seek advice from their scholars.
"They are obviously going to be at a disadvantage because other competitors will be drinking and keeping up their energy levels.
"But they are athletes and I am sure they will train their bodies to cope with this.
"A Muslim might feel it would have been nice to avoid this month but life doesn't stop for Muslims during Ramadan even though they are fasting.
"The best thing for a Muslim is to continue his or her life as normal. This is the real test."
The British Olympic Association is now planning a meeting with the organisers of London 2012 to discuss how the timing will affect UK Muslim athletes.
And Muslim countries such as Turkey are calling for the date to be changed.
Togay Bayalti, president of the National Olympic Committee of Turkey, said: "This will be difficult for Muslim athletes.
"They don't have to observe Ramadan if they are doing sport and travelling but they will have to decide whether it is important to them.
"It would be nice for the friendship of the Games if they had chosen a different date."
The International Olympics Committee insisted the Games take place some time between July 15 to August 31, giving more than a week either side of Ramadan.
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said: "We give a window to the five bid cities. The host city selects the dates within that window.
"The Games bring together virtually every religion and creed. How to deal with religious clashes is up to the athletes."
Joanna Manning Cooper, spokeswoman for London 2012, said: "We did know about it when we submitted our bid and we have always believed we could find ways to accommodate it.
"We had lots of things to consider when we submitted our dates, including the fact that transport will be less crowded in the summer holiday.
"We also need 70,000 volunteers and this is the best time to find them.
"We are working with the Muslim Council of Great Britain to find ways to accommodate Ramadan during the London Games."
Well, there you have it. All this outrage is a bunch of camel crap. These athletes DO NOT HAVE TO OBSERVE RAMADAN. Which is most likely why this issue has never come up in the past.
Thats hilarious.
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To me this only proves the hollowness of Islam. If it had any true susbstance it's adherents would treat this as an act of faith, and expect that their faithfulness would be rewarded with perhaps even better performance.
When you complain about everything, yet ignore the garbage in your own house, no one will ever listen.
Quote from Muslim in the article:
"They would not have organised this at Christmas. It is equally stupid to organise it at Ramadan."
It's the SUMMER OLYMPICS. SUMMER OLYMPICS. Since when is summer in December you moron?
Chariots of Fire was the first thing that came to my mind too.....well actually first I thought "Muslims are offended, cause it's a day that ends in "Y"".
Deport large numbers of them NOW, before they in effect control your government , Brits. This is WHAT THEY WANT/
A NINE YEAR OLD CAN SEE IT, unless they too have already been brainwashed. Apparently not a day is allowed to go by in which someone in the West, or some government,or some policy is not seen as committing some serious infraction against the Muslim leeches. I simply do NOT know how the British countenance this, though I have read all the explanations. It is a measure of the depth of Islamic dysfunctionality that they would even CONSIDER pulling this crap and making these demands, but it has now become THEIR WAY OF LIFE, and it is presented as the ONLY alternative to their more active demonstrations of outright violence, beheadings, bombings, etc.---all the stuff in their Jihadist toolbox. Remember the slogan "Tomorrow the World" ---It is now imprinted on tens if not hundreds of millions of Islamic minds.
I will repeat my point above, because I think it is a good one: the political pressure they are exerting here, with its explicit lecturing and hectoring about "insensitivity", is being presented as THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE MEDICINE THE WEST WILL GET, SO THE WEST BETTER SWALLOW IT NOW.......the not-so-subtle implication (to me) , but apparently invisible to most others IS that:
YOU KNOW WHAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF IF WE DON'T GET OUR WAY.
SO-----once again, the equation reads "SUBMIT---OR DIE."
I think such an article was posted.
On April 1st.
Pic officially stolen.
It seems accurate.
Did Sandy demand that MLB delay the first game of the World Series to avoid Yom Kippur? That is the equivalent here, except Jews get no exemption for "traveling or sport" as do Muslims for Ramadan.
...but life doesn't stop for Muslims during Ramadan even though they are fasting.
That is too early in the winter season; not enough snow on the ground then.
Will "being offended" be an official event in the 2012 games?
Let 'em eat cake.
I wonder if I can riot when Lent conflicts with St Patricks Day.
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