The hadith on sports: Express prohibition of public sports? a discussion

There is a well-known hadith of the Nabi (SAW) and young Hazrat Aish (RA) racing in the desert. Do you know it? It has been quoted endless times to prove the permissibility of women doing sports. However the fact that no one was around when this race took place, is taken as implied prohibition by the Nabi that women's sports should take place out of public view. Maybe behind closed doors.

I'm going to discuss my thoughts on this. I know people are going to point fingers, call me innovator and say I'm not qualified to give an opinion. AS far as being unqualified goes, that is true. I do not claim to be a scholar who can issue fatwas or guide the Ummah. But innovator, I am not. In fact, I believe the interpretation of this hadith that prohibits women from public sports, is the innovation.

Regarding the above-mentioned hadith, it was in a desert and the rest of the traveling group had moved on ahead. And no one else was around.

Still does it expressly stipulate "no public participation of sports by females"? Does it lay down that rule? Could there be no other reason why the Nabi did it in private? This recurring racing game was a private, intimate matter for them. Indeed, it is always quoted in Islamic marriage articles to show the level of intimacy and playfulness spouses should have with each other. Married couples do tend to have private jokes between them, harmless, yet nonetheless, private.

Did the Nabi expressly forbid public sports/exercise for other women? The Nabi's behaviour and expectations of his wives were somewhat more than for other women of the Ummah. For eg. The mothers of the believers were all required to wear face-veils - but this is not required of other Muslim women (according to most Muslim schools of thought).

Moving back to the hadith - they were on a journey, traveling on foot or by camel or maybe both. Are these not forms of exercise too?

I'm not sure if there is a sport such as camel-riding, but horse-back riding is similar. Walking, fast or slow, is exercise too. Running is a faster version of walking.

Yet, the women of that time walked, rode on camel's backs, in public and in private. In today's time, I'd liken that to a hijabi in modest dress, walking or cycling to work, the bus station, to the supermarket.

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If public participation of sports and exercise is unIslamic - that would affect many activities which I'm sure we may have taken for granted as exercise. Such as walking, cycling, swimming in the sea, running etc. Do you walk to the supermarket, to school or work, to the bus station? These are all public spaces. If our intention was to walk for exercise, that would make the above activities haram, that is IF "public participation of sports/exercise" was unIslamic. Which the textual evidence shows it is not.

At this point, I'd like to add that perhaps not all sports or exercise is appropriate for public participation - like belly dancing, a popular form of exercise today for women. Belly dancing includes movements which are not appropriate for public settings, and thus more appropriate behind closed doors in female only environments.

However, the same cannot be said for running, football, tennis, weightlifting etc.

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