Politics is the source of every disaster, even if it was not connected to it. People blame politics for practically anything and will always be regarded as the root of destruction. Despite that, Arab countries largely compete in sports. Once Arab readers finish reading politics in a newspaper, they fall ill because of sad stories they read.
For a change, Saudis these days had a break from a steady diet of negative news. They hosted Islamic countries in a unique way in four cities to watch and cheer more than 6,500 athletes as they do battle in 15 sport disciplines.
The Saudis for the first time saw Iranian female fans sitting in stadiums and cheering their men’s volleyball team. This raised the level of competition because this type of war is without missiles and deadly weapons.
The most beautiful thing in this picture is children participation in the games. Thousands of children from the 52 countries came to stadiums to watch the games. Western media painted a dark picture about Islam and Muslims. The picture of women, children and youth reflected a most peaceful picture about Islam as a religion of peace, not a religion of destruction and killing.
I am not saying this because I am a Saudi writer writing honestly about the games, but because I truly believe that Islam is a most beautiful thing in the world. Islam gathers people and not divides them. Islam does not look at others with hostility. Islam works to make people more free.
While most athletes in the games did not have much knowledge about Islam and know about sport more than any other religion, the news of the conversion of three champion athletes, one of them from Bulgaria, was proof positive of the peaceful message of Islam.
We felt very sad when it’s the time to say goodbye to the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games. We will wait for another 4 years. We will miss these sport conventions that unite the world in honest competition and not fight. The most unique thing about sport is that it does not issue orders of assassinations, or gather groups for oppositions, or try people for crimes against humanity. We will miss this gathering when we say goodbye to more than 6,500 athletes. Losing someone would make us cry, how about losing the 6,500 brothers.
