The Beautiful Game on a Muslim Pitch
How Football and Religion are Shaping Identity and Society
Published on 31. May 2025
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-1-3995-3841-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book showcases how football and religion are increasingly coming together in Muslim contexts to interact with and influence both identity and society. The first part of the volume is devoted to issues of identity, showing how football aids in its construction, maintenance and subversion. The second part reveals the deep-rooted connections between football and political and religious establishments by demonstrating how these establishments frequently use the game to disseminate or propagate their larger messages. Taken together, the book reveals how football has increasingly become a site for confrontations and negotiations over different understandings of religion - as a racial category, as gendered power, and as it is invested in issues of state politics.
Reviews / Votes
The book is very well placed in recent anthropological and social studies of football. The writing is compelling and attuned to the fact that the topic is huge in global popular culture. -- Sune Haugbolle, Roskilde UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
3 black and white tables
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
467 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3995-3841-1 (9781399538411)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Aaron W. Hughes is Dean's Professor of the Humanities and the Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Religion at the University of Rochester. Hughes specialises in three fields: Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies and Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, and has written numerous books in all three. He is co-editor of the book series Advances in the Study of Islam at Edinburgh University Press and of the Journal of Religious Minorities Under Muslim Rule. Leif Stenberg is Professor in Islamic Studies at the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) and a visiting professor at Karlstad University. He is the co-editor of What is Islamic Studies? European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field, also in the Exploring Muslim Contexts series at Edinburgh University Press.
Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Beautiful Game on a Muslim Pitch: How Football and Religion Are Shaping Identity and Society
Aaron W. Hughes and Leif Stenberg
Part I. Football and the Maintenance of Identities
1. Benzema, Les Bleus and the Culture des Quartiers
Samuel Sami Everett
2. Football Nation, Muslim by Default
Carl Rommel
3. Jewish Israeli Football Fans and 'Traditionism'
Tamir Sorek
4. The Touchline of Fair Play: Football, Head Coverings and the Constantly Shifting Secular
Aaron W. Hughes
5. Pakistan's Hidden Football History: Capital, Women and Challenging Social Norms
Leif Stenberg
Part II. Football and Social Maintenance
6. Fashioning Football Conservatism: Ruling Networks, Culture and the Creation of Turkey's Istanbul Basaksehir Football Club
John McManus
7. Football Comes to the Silver Screen: The Contentious Politics of Football Spectatorship in Iran
Nazanin Shahrokni
8. Egyptian Islamism and the Noble Game of Football
Bjorn Olav Utvik
9. Why Hizbollah Loves Football
Dag Tuastad
About the Contributors
Index
Introduction: The Beautiful Game on a Muslim Pitch: How Football and Religion Are Shaping Identity and Society
Aaron W. Hughes and Leif Stenberg
Part I. Football and the Maintenance of Identities
1. Benzema, Les Bleus and the Culture des Quartiers
Samuel Sami Everett
2. Football Nation, Muslim by Default
Carl Rommel
3. Jewish Israeli Football Fans and 'Traditionism'
Tamir Sorek
4. The Touchline of Fair Play: Football, Head Coverings and the Constantly Shifting Secular
Aaron W. Hughes
5. Pakistan's Hidden Football History: Capital, Women and Challenging Social Norms
Leif Stenberg
Part II. Football and Social Maintenance
6. Fashioning Football Conservatism: Ruling Networks, Culture and the Creation of Turkey's Istanbul Basaksehir Football Club
John McManus
7. Football Comes to the Silver Screen: The Contentious Politics of Football Spectatorship in Iran
Nazanin Shahrokni
8. Egyptian Islamism and the Noble Game of Football
Bjorn Olav Utvik
9. Why Hizbollah Loves Football
Dag Tuastad
About the Contributors
Index