Pakistan ponders the conversion of Mohammad Yousuf

[AYOUB]

Pakistan ponders the conversion of Mohammad Yousuf

 

Alex Brown on the issues raised when the Christian formerly known as Yousuf Youhana embraced Islam

 

Wednesday November 9, 2005

The Guardian

 

 

In England, supporters await word on wrenched knees and wretched batting. In Pakistan, however, the most emotive topic of conversation ahead of the first Test in Multan has not been Michael Vaughan's fitness or England's woes with the willow, but religion - in particular the decision of Yousuf Youhana to abandon Christianity, embrace Islam and adopt the name Mohammad Yousuf.

Just before the tourists' arrival here last month Yousuf, then the only Christian in Pakistan's team, shocked many by praying with team-mates, including his captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, and announcing that he had changed religions. The response was immediate and intense.

 

His mother was quoted in a newspaper as saying: "I don't want to give Yousuf my name after what he has done." The Pakistan Cricket Board felt compelled to issue a release stating that "no religious-oriented pressure or influence was brought to bear on him by current or former players". Social commentators debated his religious shift and how it would be received by the nation.

 

Yousuf, meanwhile, has kept a low profile since his announcement. Anxious to avoid reigniting the issue that attracted so much attention, Pakistan's top-order mainstay - and veteran of 59 Tests - agreed to be interviewed only on condition that his conversion was not raised.

 

"The one thing I will tell you straight away is that I am not talking about religion in this series," he said. "I am totally focused on my game."

 

The leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, a Hindu, is now the only non-Muslim senior member of the squad. More than any other team in international cricket, the Pakistanis are centred on religion. Prayer sessions are common and holy periods - such as Ramadan, the month of fasting that ended last week - are observed.

 

It was not always thus, as noted recently by Osman Samiuddin, the Pakistan editor of the Cricinfo website, in an essay titled Finding Faith. Attempting to explain the increasingly devout nature of Pakistan's cricketers, Samiuddin touched on factors including the involvement of Saeed Anwar, the former batsman turned Islamic teacher, and the influx of players from rural areas and towns outside the traditional powerhouses of Lahore and Karachi.

 

A national trend towards stricter adherence to the teachings of the Qur'an was also cited, and as Sharda Ugra, a senior editor of the publication India Today, observed last year: "As sportsmen not only are they under scrutiny for their professional conduct, they have also become characters in a public morality play, always vulnerable to being accused of match-fixing should they fail."

 

All interesting points. But how does such religious devotion sit with the demands of professional sport? Has the home side been disadvantaged by the fact that, for example, Ramadan coincided with the build-up to the first Test?

 

Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer, a former England Test player who describes himself as "not very religious", sees both advantages and disadvantages in his squad's religious beliefs. "It has created a terrific discipline in the side, and I am very happy about that," he said. "I have spoken to Inzamam a lot about it. Everyone understands that in the dressing room it is cricket first. There is a very serene atmosphere and one of discipline.

 

"But there is the odd problem. You have to train the players with less intensity during Ramadan, or do it at a time of day when they have more strength. In some respects that can be frustrating as a coach, if you are trying to prepare for something like an important Test series."

 

This, of course, is not Woolmer's first international coaching assignment, nor is it his first association with a religious team. During his time with South Africa, Hansie Cronje, along with his team-mates Jonty Rhodes and Andrew Hudson, formed a devout Christian core of the Proteas. The similarities in the two teams are clear, Woolmer said, despite the different faiths involved. "It tends to bind teams together very solidly," he said.

 

According to some, Yousuf's decision to convert was in part motivated by an eagerness to blend in with the team and improve his captaincy chances. But that theory was dismissed at the time by the Pakistan board and queried by Woolmer, who described his players as tolerant towards other faiths - the squad hosted a Christmas dinner for the coach and Yousuf in Melbourne last year. "In today's world there are people who use religion as a means to an end which is wrong and something that doesn't happen in this team," Woolmer said.

 

And Yousuf? Ahead of a series in which his sound right-handed batting, which has produced 4,272 Test runs at an impressive 47.46, should figure prominently, he would comment only on Pakistan's "good mood at practice" and that England had "the best bowling attack in the world".

 

Earlier, though, he told the BBC what a "great feeling" he got from conversion. And provided Mohammad Yousuf reproduces the batting feats he performed as Yousuf Youhana, most in Pakistan would share that sentiment. His mother, presumably, excluded.

[Jabhad]

Maasha'allah. Very good news sxb!

[Baluug]

Very good to hear, Masha Allah.