The 2012 Olympics are SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF RAMADAN.

I understand people like to be sarcastic on this message board, so I will take most of the comments with a grain of salt.

Firstly, you don't have to fast while traveling, so during the Olympics, most of the athletes will not fast, making up for it later.

Secondly, it is a time of heightened charity and spirituality. It might be 'idiotic', but if people were more charitable for a month because they believe in some 'invisible big guy in the sky', then so be it.

Thirdly, the question was about fasting during the olympics, not whether God exists or not, or about various races. I find the rather inflammatory comments - even said in jest - take away from the integrity of our sport.

Thanks.

Hey Puto. Mess with La Raza and we will kick your ass. Remember that. Mexicans will punch your pale face in. Pop. Pop. Pop. Down. Your'e out cold in the gutter.

Just a reminder...

Discussion wrote:

Is Mo Farah a muslim?

I am wondering this as well. From my experience in the United States with descendants of Somali immigrants, Islam is still very strong after a couple generations and Rammadan is a must.

It would be ironic if Great Britian blew up its only chance at a men's track & field gold medal by not paying attention to Muslim holidays.

deraylicious wrote:

Discussion wrote:

Is Mo Farah a muslim?

I am wondering this as well.

What are chances that a guy named Mohammed is a Muslim? Can't believe the stupidity here sometimes...

Maybe he goes by Mo to distance himself from the implications of his full name.

Nutella1 wrote:

deraylicious wrote:

I am wondering this as well.

What are chances that a guy named Mohammed is a Muslim? Can't believe the stupidity here sometimes...

I think Discussion's question was legit, though perhaps meant in jest:

I live in NYC and have known several guys named Mo (or Moe). Not one is Muslim, as near as I know.

Moreover, I've known/known of several named Mohammed (various spellings) who were not Muslim.

Lighten up.

Remember, this year's Ramadan is straight through the month of August... so we'll see how he does at WC's.

deraylicious wrote:

I am wondering this as well. From my experience in the United States with descendants of Somali immigrants, Islam is still very strong after a couple generations and Rammadan is a must.

It would be ironic if Great Britian blew up its only chance at a men's track & field gold medal by not paying attention to Muslim holidays.

Hah!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but during Ramadan I am pretty sure an Olympic athlete can be given a pass on fasting by the Muslim establishment for doing all of this work and competing, to represent their faith in the best way possible.

Also, they can eat at night. They just can't eat during the day between certain hours.

deraylicious wrote:

It would be ironic if Great Britian blew up its only chance at a men's track & field gold medal by not paying attention to Muslim holidays.

I see what you did there.

Shoebacca wrote:

Maybe he goes by Mo to distance himself from the implications of his full name.

It's probably a smart idea in terms of marketing. However, as I understand Islam, you're born into it and you can convert to it but I don't think there is a way out.

Les wrote:

You know, I don't think this will really be a huge issue. There's not a lot of Muslim world class track athletes. Among distance runners it will probably only affect some of the Ethiopian runners. According to Wikipedia about a third of Ethiopians are Muslim.

Which of the top Ethiopian runners are Muslim? In terms of world class runners, I would think the Moroccan distance runners would have the highest number of Muslims.

Nutella1 wrote:

What are chances that a guy named Mohammed is a Muslim? Can't believe the stupidity here sometimes...

Are you an idiot or have you never met someone in your life that stopped practicing the religion in which he was raised? Or maybe you have never met someone that was named by his parents, instead naming himself after choosing which religion to practice?

Religion is flexible, but sometimes people aren't.

For Muslims it's up to them whether they fast, but they don't need to. A Muslim has a duty to earn a living for his family or even just for himself in order not to be a burden to others. Therefore they can eat during Ramadan in order to be competitive in sports if that's their profession. For amateur athletes it might be different, I don't know.

Same with observant Jews and pork. If a Jew finds himself on an island with nothing but bacon sandwiches available he may eat them to fulfil his duty (to God) to preserve his life.

Discussion wrote:

Is Mo Farah a muslim?

I believe he is and I recall that he said that he would be observing Ramadan at a later date. AFAIK this is not technically allowed, so I guess he's not all that observant, but there is a fair amount of flexibility and common-sense involved in the details of how you observe it and it's possible that some of the more liberal branches have declared that it's okay.

Doubter_ wrote:

However, as I understand Islam, you're born into it and you can convert to it but I don't think there is a way out.

Right, this was the source of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie: because he was born into a Muslim family, his becoming a nonbeliever meant that he was sentenced to death.

There's an okay summary of the subject here:

Interesting to note that al-Qur'an has no (earthly) penalty for apostasy, though the powers-that-be(and-wish-to-remain) use Hadith to patch *that* hole in their rule.

Further interesting to note that Judaism (Deuteronomy 13:6-11) apparently mandates death for at least some forms of apostasy; by extension (the "jot and tittle" doctrine, Matthew 5:18) Christianity does too.

Better question. What are the chance someone named Christian is a christian? Or what are the chances someone names Jesus is a Christian? Also, what are the chance someone called Antoine is gay?

Byron Simmons wrote:

They are talking about beelding a Mosk next to Ground Zero and you are talking about Ramadhan ? They need to kick all them Muslyms out of ore country!!!

I can't stop laughing! The poster's name is probably "Bryon" and he just misspelled it!

Don't eat pork, don't eat seafood unless it doesn't have scales, wear a headscarf, don't eat meat on Friday, go to church, go to mosque, go to synagogue, get down on your hands and knees 5 times a day, Christen your baby, remove your son's foreskin, slaughter your animals like this, don't take dairy with other foodstuffs, wear orange, wear this hat, wear that hat, don't ever drink alcohol, drink this wine because it represents the blood of Christ, don't have sex before marriage, don't use contraception, don't divorce, don't drive on Saturday, shave your head, don't eat cows, eat cows but just make sure you kill them the right way, don't eat during daylight hours, the more money you make the further removed you are from God, the richer you are the more you honour your Creator.

There are so many different brands of religion, with so many different rules and regulations it makes the European Union look like a streamlined organisation.

Let people believe what they want to believe. Just make sure that their individual beliefs remain that, and institutions and organisations aren't forced to change in order to cater for them.

If you think God doesn't want you to eat or drink during the Olympics, then don't. If you think God doesn't want you to run on Saturday, or Sunday, then don't. If you think God doesn't want you to run the marathon unless you're covered head-to-toe in cloth, then cover up.

Just as long as you don't expect the Olympic Games to cater to your personal belief system, there's no problem.