I hope Octopus and Parrot lose

By: Essam Derballah

As World Cup football matches are about to end, I hope the octopus and the parrot will lose. These are not, of course, football teams but they became very famous during the finals.

Although I rarely watch such games satisfied by hearing the results, I noticed that all news and sports channels focus on the octopus and the parrot.

The two animals predict the results of the matches. Football fans in Europe yearn to their predictions and believe in them.

During a prediction, the octopus is presented with two boxes. Each contains food, and is marked with the flag of a national football team in an upcoming match, among which he is said to choose his predicted winner.

Parrot Mani is owned by a fortune-teller. The man puts tiny envelops with the flags of the competing teams on them and the one the parrot picks up will be the winner.

Football fans in Europe and the world are haunted by the two creatures’ prophecies. This reminds me of the Arabs of pre-Islamic times. Each of them used to have a bird when going out of his home. Then he lets it fly. If it directs to the right, he will e optimistic and go on his way but when it heads to the left, he will return home.

Islam contradicts such beliefs and behaviors as the Messenger of Allah, peace e upon him, says:

“O Allah, there is no good except Your good, no birds except Yours, and there is no god beside You.”

I refuse to go back to superstitious illogical ideas, so, I hope the octopus and the parrot will lose for people not to be occupied by them or misled by their predictions. Such people ignore their minds which attribute victory to the better team.

You may ask me: do you want world cup matches to stay longer?

I say yes, despite the fact that I don’t watch them and I prefer to be busy by more important matters. However, I think such games, which attract millions of people, are better than impudent movies and plays and rakish clips.

You may wonder: how do you allow people to be occupied by football matches while there are major issues to care about?

I remind you of Ibn Taimiya when one of his students was going to advise some drunken Mongol soldiers to stop drinking, he said “let them because if they sober up, they will rape women and do wrong to people whereas being drunken will harm the alone.

Translated by: R. El Saeed

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