Instigator / Pro
1
1709
rating
565
debates
68.23%
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Topic
#4841

Any Muslim that consensually has been, is or will be in Professional Boxing and UFC (if involving striking arts) was/is/will-be a sinner that violates Islam. [Kritiks banned]

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Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Winner
1
0

After 1 vote and with 1 point ahead, the winner is...

RationalMadman
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Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
One week
Max argument characters
24,000
Voting period
One month
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Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
0
1500
rating
1
debates
0.0%
won
Description

I have to do it unrated as mods are not protecting me from votebombing abuse and it's entirely exploitable.

For this debate, the real 'Islam' is defined as that deriving from the Qur'an, Hadiths and through early Islamic practises. The Sunnah itself is disregarded by both sides as I am not whatsoever only representing Sunni Islam.

I firmly believe that Muhammad Ali, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Mike Tyson as well as Andrew Tate and many others who engage in aggressive (as opposed to solely defensive) martial arts for entertainment are violating Islam and cannot claim to be genuine practising Muslims regardless of whatever other sins they do or don't do.

To strike upon the face and head is Haram and to be violent for entertainment purposes is also Haram. I wish to prove this in multiple ways. Do not expect an easy debate.

Troll Kritik angles like 'Islam is fictional and so you can't really sin in real life for a fantasy' and such are banned. No Kritiks allowed, genuine discussion of if it is possible that these guys aren't sinning in Islam while claiming to be Muslim is the focus.

Round 1
Pro
#1
Brothers and Sisters under Allah, please observe today the great debate of if violence is permitted in Islam in the context of entertainment.

Today we have Rational Madman coming forth as the humble servant of Allah, he is here to speak the word so mighty that all shall fall before the greatest deceiver and planner of all time... That's right... It's Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala (SWT). You know it. I know it. We can deny it but it is the most beautiful truth and no book is greater written than the Qur'an other than Harry Potter but because of the witchcraft I must tell you to avoid the fine work of Rowling. She is, after all a Kafir and we must steer well away from them unless they convert.

Please play this wonderful preaching while you listen, to put you in the right state of mind and soul-activation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gyujsOo3IQ

High volume is recommended, do not listen to any music on the side, a single instrument especially percussive can make it Haram to listen to the tune as it will entrance you in the way of Iblis... Leader of the Shaitans!!

The greatest tolerance and peace is found in the not-almighty-but-better-than-all-other-humans Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him *PBUH)! Let me tell you a story of how merciful and fantastic a Muslim he was.

Abu Huraira reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was asked about the slave-woman who committed adultery and was not protected (married). He said: If she commits adultery, then flog her and it she commits adultery again, then flog her and then sell her even for a rope. Ibn Shihab said: I do not know whether he said this (his statement pertaining to the sale of slave-woman) at the third or the fourth time. Ibn Shihab said that the word) dafir (used in the text) means rope.

What a great man, he is the one true merciful one, notice he did not say to kill her! To 'flog' what is this? Let's explore.

The very emotionally intelligent and intellectually gifted Muhammad PBUH was held 'true' to this stated idea in an earlier hadith...

It is recorded in Sahih Muslim (Kitab al-Hudud, the Book of Punishments), that there came to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) a woman from the tribe of Ghamid. The woman approached him and said, “O Allah’s Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me.” The Prophet’s eyes filled with grief and he turned away from her, dismissing her from the gathering.

The next day, al-Ghamidiyyah returned and once again publicly confessed her crime. “O Allah’s Messenger, why do you turn me away?” she beseeched. “Perhaps you turn me away as you turned away Ma’iz. By Allah, I have become pregnant!”

Prophet Muhammad answered, “If you insist upon it (the punishment), then leave and return only after you give birth.”
Months later, al-Ghamidiyyah returned to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), with her baby wrapped in blankets. She presented the child, saying, “Here is the child whom I have given birth to.”

Prophet Muhammad answered, “Leave, and suckle him until he is weaned.”

Approximately two years later, al-Ghamidiyyah returned with her child, who was holding a piece of bread in his hand.
“O Allah’s Messenger, here is my child, as I have weaned him and he can now eat (solid) food.”

Upon this, Prophet Muhammad entrusted the child to one of his other Companions, and pronounced the punishment of zina upon al-Ghamidiyyah. She was placed in a ditch that came up to her chest, and he commanded the people to come forth and stone her.

Khalid ibn Waleed flung a stone at her head, at which blood spurted forth from her and splashed Khalid’s face. Furious, Khalid verbally abused her. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) heard Khalid’s curses and rebuked him, saying “Khalid, be gentle! By Him in Whose Hand is my life, she has made such a repentance that even if a wrongful tax-collector were to repent, he would have been forgiven.”

After she died, Prophet Muhammad prayed the funeral prayer over her body and al-Ghamidiyyah was buried.   [1](Sahih Muslim)

The merciful and wise Muhammad PBUH noted either that the direct unwarranted vicious strike to her head was immoral or the additional verbal abuse while she was there, bleeding, ravaged as the whip lashes gashed her face and shoulders... Oh the merciful Muhammad PBUH noted that Khalid took it a step too far as he was so furious at this woman for striking his own face with her blood-drop, it would only be natural to beat her some more, the sinner may assume. wrong you must not strike the face and head unless to directly punish and never as a form of entertainment.

The prohibition of hitting the face is not restricted to fighting; rather, it is forbidden in all cases.Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet  said, If one of you were to hit, he should avoid the face...[Musnad Ahmad]As-San'aani said in Subul As-Salaam:

“This is evidence on the prohibition of hitting the face, and it means that one should avoid hitting or slapping the face, even if this is regarding one of the Islamic Hudood (plural of Hadd, i.e. the corporal punishment determined by the Islamic Law), and even in jihaad, because the face encompasses all beauties; its parts are sensitive and include most of the senses of perception. Hitting the face may cause defects to them or impair them, and it may cause disfigurement. Disfigurement in the face is grave because it is visible and cannot be concealed. When the face is hit, it is rarely spared from deformity. This forbiddance (to hit the face) is general regarding any beating or slapping regardless of whether it is in order to discipline or else.”Since this act is forbidden in jihaad, then with greater reason its prohibition becomes applicable to cases other than jihaad, among which is self-defense. The mention of jihaad proves the prohibition of this act even when fighting against the Kaafir (non-Muslim), and it shows that this is not restricted to fighting the Muslim. Also, it should be noted that repelling the attacker should be done with the easiest, and then the less easy method, as stated by the scholars.With regard to the word 'fight' that is mentioned in a relevant

hadeeth, Al-‘Iraaqi said in Tarh At-Tathreeb:
“If fighting occurs between two parties, even when repelling an attacker and the like, he should avoid hitting his face; even more so if the other party is not hitting him. In this latter case, it is with greater reason that it becomes more applicable to avoid hitting his face, because the one who is defending himself may be forced to hit the face; however, despite this fact, it is prohibited in the Sharia to hit the face, so it becomes applicable to the one who is not fought by someone else, with greater reason, that he is ordered to avoid hitting his face.” All this is evidence that hitting the face is forbidden regardless of whether there is a sound justification for fighting.

Some scholars exempted jihaad in particular and permitted hitting the face for a necessity. Mulla ‘Ali Qaari said in Mirqaat Al-Mafaateeh, “There is no doubt that this is not meant in all cases, because we can authoritatively assert that in case of war with the non-Muslims, if one is in a situation where he has to hit the face of the one who is fighting with him, or when he is face to face with him when he is attacked, he does not withhold himself from hitting him. If he withheld himself, he could be killed by the attacker.”Some scholars exempted other parts of the body from hitting, such as the private parts, as ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Avoid hitting the face and the private parts.” [Ibn Abi Shaybah]Some scholars also forbade hitting the head, while others permitted it, as ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, hit Sabeegh on his head; this story was reported by Ad-Daarimi in his Musnad.

Now that we have established that there is a very particular aversion to face-striking in the Hadiths and early (original/authentic) Islamic Sharia, we must then establish when exactly violence is called for in Islam and when bodily harm is considered 'okay'.

I stand firm that there are only 2 scenarios allowed in Islam to be violent; punishment and self-defense (extending to defense of family, friends and other Muslims).

In a situation of professional boxing and UFC, you have consensually placed yourself into a ring where you must rack up points by brutalising the opponent. Even if you somehow always waited to hit second (which is futile and couldn't work if both had the same pseudo-Islamic approach to it), you have placed yourself inside of a competition where the scoring rewards aggression directly especially head-strikes.

Even if Con decides to take the pro-terrorism stance of Islam where Con states that the verses restricted to war-time of Islam are to be enacted, there's another problem here; you are not actually aiming to kill or convert.

If you happen to kill someone in the ring, you cannot justify that as the wartime verses and furthermore that's not likely to convert people to Islam. Even if you say you're doing the entertainment stuff with a net goal of conversion, you are more likely to avert people away from Islam. You also have no idea how close or far the person you just killed was from finding their way to Allah before they passed away had you not intervened in a Haram manner. To add to this, the brain damage and other things you inflict on the person can seriously mess with their righteous path to convert to Islam.

According to Quran 8:39,[84] the objectives of Muslims in their fighting should be to:[54]
  1. Put a stop to tumult, oppression injustice (Uproot fitnah (فتنة) or persecution, some scholars argue that the word fitnah means Shirk[85] )
  2. Establish supremacy of God, through Islam, in the Arabian Peninsula
I argue that via the Hadiths and certain other verses, there is a third use for violence and it's to punish sinners and deter others from sinning due to said flogging etc.

In the act of violence that one engages with regularly in a boxing or UFC ring/cage, they will be placing themselves into a scenario where their violence neither furthers the cause of Islam in a positive light nor stops injustice or persecution of Muslims. Instead, they will be gambling that they keep winning and win in a way that somehow appears to win people over instead of make Islam seem barbaric.

Let's discuss a bit about gambling and that entire side to competitive sports.

“They ask you [Muhammad] concerning wine and gambling. Say: ‘In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit.’… Thus does Allah Make clear to you His Signs, in order that you may consider” (Quran 2:219).

“O you who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, dedication of stones, and divination by arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handwork. Eschew such abomination, that you may prosper” (Quran 5:90).

“Satan's plan is to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer. Will you not then abstain?” (Quran 5:91).

Not only is one encouraging and enabling the entire world of sports betting (which is actually one of the main reasons violent sports are so successful, not because of popularity of the sport itself). Everything about the sport is 'gambling' you are even gambling with your own body parts and wellbeing as well as gambling you won't kill the other.

Now, let's observe absense of martial arts as any remote form of entertainment in all Islamic history.

This is the key thing that nearly no other culture on Earth lacks; fighting for entertainment. Let's not kid ourselves and say Muslim men couldn't fight, they did prefer weapons but I mean even with weapons they never wielded them as a joke. Islam is strong on discipline, I don't mean some hypocritical sheikhs with belly dancers, in a nightclub smoking shisha going to fuck them later and cheat on their wives. Perhaps that was always a part of Islam as they conquered women and even raped them but what I am getting at is that nowhere in Islamic history was fighting for fun part of the cultures that evolved.

Islam only utilises fighting as pure discipline, a spiritually cleansing experience and for self-defence purposes. It is actually Haram to even be screening anything like boxing and MMA-for-entertainment in the Sharia nations, they just don't seem to fully realise it.

"Especially boxing and fighting [sports] without rules are considered, from the religious point of view, haram, as they can damage health, disable someone," said Abdulkodirzoda, who is appointed to his post by the government.

He added: "All kinds of games and duels [done] for money are haram. [They are a waste of] time, without benefit to the mind and body. This is haram."

Abdulkodirzoda said he believed Tajik youth should engage in what he called "normal" sports, for example wrestling, to "develop physically and spiritually." Such sports require the "achievements of our youth, so that they proudly raise the flag of the country and enhance the image of the nation and state."
Con
#2
Forfeited
Round 2
Pro
#3
Forfeited
Con
#4
Forfeited
Round 3
Pro
#5
Forfeited
Con
#6
Forfeited
Round 4
Pro
#7
Forfeited
Con
#8
Forfeited