From a fatwa issued by the Saudi Shiekh Abdullah Al-Najdi. The fatwa, originally published on an Islamist website, hasn’t affected the National Hockey League in the slightest. Translated from the Arabic by the Middle East Media Illiteracy Programme.
1. Do not play hockey on an ice surface with boards, since this is the way of the non-believers.
2. One should not use the terminology established by the nonbelievers and polytheists, such as “shooting,” “scoring,” “high sticking,” “penalty box” and “30 second time out.” Whoever pronounces these terms should be punished, reprimanded, driven from the ice and even told in public: “You have come to resemble the nonbelievers and polytheists, and this has been forbidden."
3. If a player is knocked in the head with a stick or gets knocked into the boards from behind, he shall not say “foul” and shall not stop playing because of his injury. The one who caused the injury shall not be given a penalty but rather the case shall be judged according to Muslim law. The injured player shall exercise his rights according to shari’ah, as stated in the Koran, and you must testify together with him that so-and-so placed his stick between the injured player’s legs in order to trip him intentionally.
4. Do not set the number of players on the ice according to the number of players used by the Jews, the Christians and especially the vile America. In other words, six players shall not play together. Make it a larger or smaller number. Preferably larger.
5. Play in your normal clothing, or in pajamas, or something like that, but not in pads and cups and colourful jerseys. Pads, cups and jerseys are not appropriate clothing for Muslims. They are the clothing of the nonbelievers and therefore you must be careful not to wear them.
6. You must play the entire game with the intention of improving your physical fitness for the purpose of fighting jihad. One should not waste time in celebrating false victory or giving attention to team standings. Especially if one is in the same division as the Montreal Canadiens.
7. Do not play for 60 minutes, as is the practice among the Jews and the Christians. This is also the length of time that is accepted in the minor and international leagues of those who have strayed from the righteous path.
8. Do not play in three periods, but rather in two or four parts, so as to be different from the sinful and rebellious, the nonbelievers and the polytheists. One period is okay – five might be stretching the point.
9. If neither side has defeated the other and neither side has inserted the puck between the goalposts, do not waste further time in an extension or “shootout” until someone has won but rather leave the ice rink immediately, since this kind of victory is precisely an imitation of the nonbelievers and adoption of the despotic National Hockey League rules.
10. Do not appoint someone who skates up and down the ice and follows the players and is called a “referee,” since, after canceling the National Hockey League rules, there is no need for his presence.
11. In the course of the game, it is forbidden for groups of television cameras to gather and broadcast the game, since if you are gathering for the sake of sports activity and physical fitness, as you claim, why should anybody at home be watching you? You must make the cameramen and commentators participate in order to prepare them for jihad; or else, say to them, “Go propagate Islam and seek out moral corruption in the marketplace and the press [but never in the mosques] in order to correct it, and leave us to improve our physical fitness.”
12. Endorsement deals are right out.
13. When you finish playing, be careful not to talk about the game and not to say, “we really kicked their asses tonight,” or “so-and-so really outskated your ass,” etc. You should speak about your body, its strength and its muscles, and about the fact that you are playing as a means of training to run, attack and retreat in preparation for waging jihad.
14. If one buries the puck in the net and then starts to skate to centre ice so that his companions will skate after him and hug him, like the players in Canada and Europe do, you should spit in his face, punish him and reprimand him, for what do joy, hugging and perhaps worse have to do with sports?