Inzamam ul Haq and Islam

You have just lost the one-day series. And you have lost the last one dayer by a monstrous margin. Your team has been smothered in all aspects of the game. You are called to the presentation podium as the losing captain. You are asked to comment on the loss. How do you begin your reply, simultaneously telecast to millions of television sets worldwide? You begin by saying, “Bismilla-e-rehman….”

Inzamam ul Haq knows the power of religion in a country based on just that. He knows the influence of Islam in routing public anger. And he knows it’s not nice being at the receiving end in an Islamised Pakistan. The captain on a sticky wicket has just proved he knows how to quieten the critics. He knows Islam will rescue him. He knows the potential of a televised prayer.

To understand the irony, try remembering how many Indian players have invoked religion under such circumstances. Tendulkar chanting Jai Ram? Azhar crying out “Allahu Akbar”? For all our internal squabbles, we are miles ahead of our disintegrating neighbour on that count.

Even erudite cricket commentators can’t escape being the clichéd mouthpiece. Before the series began, Rashid Latif had this to say about the current Pakistani team. “Since most of the players in the team are Muslims, there’s little chance of anything sinister like match fixing happening”. Totally forgetting the fact that it was precisely those Muslim players who were the dubious pioneers of match fixing.

But this is Pakistan where religion is the unifying theme, cricket included. Where individual preferences are always subordinated to the collective will. Where the incompetent can always seek refuge in religion. Where religion is the crux of the us-versus-them conflict. Where Irfan Pathan is singled out, just like Azharuddin and Syed Kirmani before him, not for his talent, but for his religion.