Muslim preacher warns it’s ‘haram’ to watch the Matildas
A Muslim preacher in Melbourne has warned fellow believers not to get swept up in the Matildas fever gripping Australia.
A Muslim preacher in Melbourne has warned fellow believers not to get swept up in the Matildas fever gripping Australia, reminding his followers that it’s “haram” to watch women’s sport.
Takeadean Mohtadi, imam at the MyCentre mosque in Broadmeadows, said in a viral TikTok clip on Friday that Muslims must be “careful what you watch, who you watch and who you support”.
“The Women’s World Cup — the Matildas — I’m addressing my Muslim brothers,” he said in the clip which has been viewed 46,000 times.
“Did we forget that it is haram for us to look at the opposite gender? Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala [the most glorified God] has commanded us to lower our gaze to the opposite gender. Did you forget this? And not just this … did we forget who we’re supporting?”
Mohtadi then stressed that many of the players in the competition were members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“They might be hiding under the Australian flag, but the reality is subhanallah [glory to God] these people that you were supporting, you’re liking their posts, you are sharing them, you’re commenting on their posts — these are people of the alphabets, the majority of them,” he said.
“And they are pushing this agenda through the athletes. When your kids are looking at you supporting them, sharing them, they think it’s OK. But hold on, aren’t you worried about this? But your actions are showing something that’s different.”
Mohtadi continued, “You’re gonna say, ‘Brother, you’re too extreme. It’s only a small thing, there’s more important things to worry about.’ You know what, maybe it’s a small thing. But did you forget that the mountain is made up of small pebbles?”
In a previous video last December, Mohtadi explained that he loved the men’s World Cup because it proves “you can get up for qiyam al-layl, for the night prayer, you can get up for fajir [dawn] prayer”.
“Here in Australia the games were beginning roughly around 2am, 6am,” he said. “So if you’ve gotten up for the soccer game, then you can get up for qiyam al-layl and fajir prayer — unless you’re giving preference to the soccer game more than your creator.”
Bilal Rauf, spokesman for the Australian National Imams Council, declined to weigh in on Mohtadi’s comments, saying there were “many individual posts and social media interactions each day”.
“We don’t see it newsworthy commenting on individual social media posts,” he said. “There are other matters of far greater importance which are newsworthy.”
The Matildas’ FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign came to an end on Wednesday after a crushing 3-1 loss to England at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
Spain won the final on Sunday night at Stadium Australia, keeping the Lionesses at bay in a hard-fought 1-0 match and extending England’s 57-year drought.
The previous night, Sweden proved too much in the third-place playoff at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, defeating Australia 2-0.
Despite coming fourth place it was Australia’s best-ever finish at a World Cup. The Matildas’ inspiring run drew record TV audiences and has been described as a transformational moment for women’s sport.
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