MUSLIM FOOTBALLERS

One would have thought that Muslims would constitute at least one fifth of all footballers participating in the on-going world cup, in proportion to their share of world population. One recognizes that Islam doesn’t ostensibly prohibit football – at least for men – notwithstanding the Boko Haram dictate.

We have known that the Muslim share in Nobel Laureates, contemporary Physicists, Chemists, Mathematicians, Engineers, Geographers, Economists, Technologists and Scientists in general is not up to the mark.

We also know that a significant number of Muslim countries suffer poverty and paucity of resources – despite the oil rich few possessing enough wealth to draw parity with Christians.

But football and athletics being affordable sports one might think that Muslims have made a mark in these fields.

If this is not so, as appears the case, I invite Muslims and Muslim-friendly non-Muslims to ponder why, and what ought to be done to correct this situation.