Islam, Marathons and Choice

I have a dream...One day my beautiful little girl will do what her father never could (on the men's side)...Don the Pakistan colors and represent her country in the Women's World Cup of Cricket.

I would like to say a few things on the religious opposition to women's participation in the Lahore marathon or any other healthy sporting activity. I lay no claim to liberal intellectualism or rigorous interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah. These words are just what I feel as a father who loves to play sports and would like his daughter to have the choice to do the same.

I think people politicize some issues to gain points in their struggle for power or domination over others and one can usually marginalize the religious right and to some extent the die-hard liberals for pushing their private agendas regarding participation of women in sports.

Many God fearing people may ask: What will make Allah happy? I think any person who has some faith tries to answer this fundamental question no matter how hard it may seem or how helpless they may feel in today's world...At the end it is between that individual person and his Creator who decides how he scored on the exam of happiness (life)...

Regarding the question on what will eventually make Allah open the doors of heaven for us, I think He has given us some clear pointers in the Book and for the remaining grey issues we use our best judgment and then ask for His forgiveness in any misinterpretations we make while applying the divine principles to our daily life. Where does a "marathon" or a sport fit in to this picture? I haven't come across a clear prohibition in any of my personal readings of the Book...Hence the basic question then becomes: Why are so many people (usually Muslim men, literate or otherwise) so against the marathon/sports activities of women?

In order to answer the above the following issues must be brought to light:Should women not participate in any sport or physical activity of any sort because that is what a certain group's interpretation tells us? Is that not a question an individual woman must decide for herself? Furthermore if a woman, of her own free will, decides to participate in a sport, and some (of the male gender) disagree with her interpretation of the divine message, then what should society do?
Should we:
A) Kill her for disagreeing with our interpretations
B) Condemn her as a kaafir and file a case for blasphemy or apply the hudood ordinance
C) Respect her right as a free individual in a civilized society to participate in a healthy activity no matter that certain people disagree with her participation on religious grounds.

The reasons for choosing C) are plentiful:
-- No matter how much we would like to deny it, Pakistan is populated not just by moderate Muslims (of many different sects) but by a sizeable number of non-Muslims as well. A certain percentage of the Muslims might not agree with the "running" around of women, but do the non-Muslims or Muslims who have a different interpretation, being equally patriotic Pakistanis, have to stop running because of them?
-- If this female wins an Olympic medal or World Cup for her sporting achievement, should we disown her from our religion or country? Should we stop participating in Olympics and any other world sports because women are present or participating in the sport notwithstanding that being a clear violation of the Fundamentals of Olympism which we are a signatory to (see footnote).
-- Why do certain people interpret the Holy Book as allowing men to run around and play sports but women cannot? It's funny how there is never any fatwa or religious ruling prohibiting "men" from participating in sports.

Using similar logic to further elaborate this issue for (dense) men, some Muslim schools of thought consider the entire banking system based on time value of money(interest) as haram(unlawful) and any one who either works there or does any kind of business with a modern banking institution is doing a huge sin(Kufr) thereby condemning themselves to hell fire. Now as a business'man' living in the same country and trying to run my shop on small business loans to feed my family and pay some charity, what should I do:
A) Stop running my business because of the interpretation of this sect?
B) Go kill any person who belongs to that sect or re-condemn them to hell (or heaven, whichever they please)?
C) Try to work with the system and run my business on ethical principles always keeping in mind that the Big Boss is watching?"
My hope is that the moderate person of any religion will pick C.

I believe strongly that the participation of females in a sporting activity of their liking is entirely their choice. The Islam I read about asks them to portray modesty and ask for forgiveness for any intentional or unintentional transgressions (sins) but it does give the female the "CHOICE" just as it gives the same choice to a man! If someone doesn't like that choice then they don't have to witness it...simple. Just like the woman must have the choice to say yes or no to a suitor for marriage or her choice to commit/not commit a sin according to her interpretation. I recently saw this documentary on Kyrgyzstan where to this day a certain section of their Muslim society practices forced kidnappings for marriage! If a guy likes a girl, he conspires with his friends to go abduct her and bring her to his house. The guy's mother and other female relatives then apply tremendous mental pressure and considerable physical restraint to have the girl agree ( most of the girls do so after the horrendous ordeal because it is accepted in their culture). At the end of the night, when the harassed girl finally gives up, they send a messenger to the girl's parents announcing their agreement to the union. Both families then conveniently participate in a grand nikah and ceremony not unlike ours. As a person from a civilized and/or Muslim society should I do as the Kyrgyz do? After all they are Muslims too! What would I do if some man or his family tried to do this with my daughter? I will let you think about that answer....

I hope that when my daughter grows up she has the choice to participate in healthy sports activities without fear of someone trying to attack her physically or harass her mentally because they don't agree with her interpretation of the Holy Book. This ofcourse does not absolve me from teaching her about the religion she was born into and to have her be educated and strong enough to make judgments between right and wrong. In the end, when she faces the Big Boss I cannot be standing by her side to save her no matter how much I would want to.

I pray that Allah opens the doors to heaven for the men's and women's cricket team!