A Nation of Football Experts

Dear friends, assalamu alaikum. We are a people, or peoples, living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and generally on the Balkans, who have half a million, a million, or more football experts. Probably it is the greatest number of football coaches, specialists, and commentators anywhere in the world. After our national team's match against Canada, where we drew 1:1, we could hear, read, and listen to various criticisms directed at the national team, at the coach, at the selector, at individual players: "this one didn't do this," "that one didn't do that," "it should have been like this," "it should have been like that." "The selector didn't do this," "the selector should have done this or that." There were dozens, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of criticisms, shamings, and so forth, which were unfortunately aired in the public space. With regard to this, I want to say a few things about how unjustified criticism can be a sin—how unjustified criticism can overstep its boundaries, transforming from critique and personal opinion into slander, into belittlement, into the beginning of a public lynching, and so on.

The Ancient Story of the Shoemaker

However, before that, I want to tell you a story that says that in ancient Greece, some four centuries before Isa (Jesus), peace and blessings be upon him, there was a famous painter who announced that he would paint a special portrait. All the people followed this event with joy and curiosity, wanting to see how it would turn out. He worked on it for a long time, and after he finished, he presented it to the public, placing it in the square. Out of fear of reactions, he withdrew to the side and listened to what people were commenting. Most people admired his picture, his art, as it was, except for one man. This man noticed someone standing in front of the painter's work, shaking his head doubtfully, finding flaws, or a flaw in the picture. So the painter approached him humbly and asked: "Sir, it seems you don't like something, something is not right with this picture." The man said: "That's right." He said: "The sandals are not right, the shoes on this portrait are wrong." He said: "I am a shoemaker, and I know well that sandals cannot be like that." So the painter asked: "This great artist, well then, how should they be? What is the error?" The shoemaker said: "The error is this and that; they should be like this and thus." And then, the painter said, he took up his brush on the spot, because he accepted the error, accepted that he had made a mistake. He took his brush, took his colors, and right there, before those people, he corrected it.

People were incredibly amazed. How could some unknown man, someone who was not even of that profession, say something, and this great artist listen to him and correct it on the spot? Of course, people began to comment on this event in some way. But this shoemaker, carried away by the moment, then began to criticize beyond that. He began to criticize and say, I don't know, "the torso is no good," "the legs are no good," "nothing is good." And then the painter told him one historical sentence, which entered into many nations of the world, and it is mentioned even today as a saying that seems to apply especially to us, and particularly in the context of this theme. He said that historical sentence: "Let the shoemaker not criticize beyond the shoe." Or: "Let the shoemaker not look beyond the shoe." And truly, as many football experts, selectors, coaches, commentators as we have, and people who look negatively instead of looking at positive things. Imagine if someone had told us in the qualifications that we would play, that we would just make it to the World Cup. I believe that 99% of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina would sign on and say: "Just let us qualify." If someone had told us before this match that we would draw 1:1 with Canada, I believe that also, 99%, or perhaps at least 90% of people would have accepted that. However, pay attention: the problem is when these young men start to be insulted—maybe people who will come across our commentary, across that review, across dozens of insults. Perhaps that will, in some way, be an additional burden. Imagine what a burden it is to wear the national jersey and know that millions, tens and hundreds of millions of people are watching you.

The Weight of Responsibility

Imagine what stress and burden lies on their shoulders before they step on that field. And because of that, truly, and I—I understand football only superficially. I like to watch a good match, I like especially to watch our national team. I was proud when I saw that the most sold items, in fact, the goods and materials of our representation, of Bosnia and Herzegovina, were everywhere, almost everywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina. When I saw truly the people who burn on the field. When I saw, from goalkeeper Vasilj, who defended fantastically, in my opinion I really liked it, to Jove, to the other young men who played, even those who were in the reserve. That is, instead of being satisfied, instead of being grateful to these young men, instead of tipping our hats to them, of course in a figurative sense, to congratulate them on their fighting spirit, on their sincerity, on truly what they showed, how much they play for this state, how much they really strive—instead of this, we had hundreds and thousands of internet experts who criticize something that mostly resembles that shoemaker criticizing something beyond the shoe.

And because of that, truly, I want to warn myself and you as well. And this is not, of course, just about Bosnia and Herzegovina's national team—it is not an isolated case. We have had, unfortunately, examples right after that match, and even before, hearing our eastern or western neighbors or comrades counting the blood cells of people within our representation. How much is someone a good Serb, how much is someone a good Croat, how much is someone like this, how much like that. I mean, it is beyond all sense. Where one sees, in fact, malice, malevolence, and so forth. There were many, of course, who were opposed to that. But then we come and say: "See, that's not right, resign, you should do it differently, this isn't good, this system doesn't work, this formation is wrong, bring in this person, bring in that person, this one is blackmailing you," and so forth. I mean, truly, some destructive things, it seems to me, were aired in the public space, without understanding that every public airing in the space with such positions is, in fact, a form of responsibility. That is, if not in this world, then certainly before our merciful God. We may hurt someone, we may shame someone, we may destroy someone's confidence, or something similar.

A Culture of Unqualified Commentary

And because of that, truly, I consider that we have many of these shortcomings where people who sit in the stands, or sit on their couches, or sit far from the match, thousands of kilometers away, think that they are the ones who are authoritative, that they determine the tactics, that they determine the players, that they determine the pace of the game, that they determine who will do what and how, and so forth. We have this, and we have it in all segments, unfortunately, of our social life. I do not believe that in any other state you have this much negative charge, it seems to me, when it comes to the national team, when it comes to these personal frustrations of people who speak, who make conclusions, and so forth. You know, yesterday we could watch that match with Curaçao—honestly, a country that I had never even heard existed, this small nation that is smaller in area than the city of Zenica itself. The entire country is only 50 kilometers smaller in area than Zenica. And that national team comes and simply loses, of course, with dignity, but by one goal, and you see joy on the faces of their fans, and we learn something new about that team, about that country, and so forth. Imagine how many people will learn something about us. And imagine how many people will be interested in us, in our culture, in our peoples, even in our history, and so forth. Instead of looking at positive things, it seems to me we often look at negative, negative things.

A Call for Responsibility and Humility

With regard to this, truly, I appeal to myself and to you, that for something about which we are not experts, something we do not know well, we should not make judgments about it. We can have our own opinion, no problem. That is desirable, that is positive. It is good sometimes to express criticism about any of us, especially those of us who are public figures. But destructive criticism is something that is ruinous, something that is bad, something that is defeating, something that, in fact, shows that we have certain complexes or inferiority or superiority complexes, and we must definitely work on that. Instead of being, that is, grateful, first of all, to our merciful God, and then grateful to these young men who play, who really gave their heart on the field, and that could be seen. People who truly achieved, in the end, a result that is solid, that is good. You know, I think it is in no way good to copy this onto all our public matters. So you have people who criticize everything alive. Everyone can be a politician, everyone can be a reis-ulema, everyone can be a mufti, everyone can be, apparently, a selector. But that is definitely one wrong, wrong thing.

Instead of dealing with our own things, instead of dealing with what we know, what we are good at, what we can use to help the people around us, and first of all, of course, ourselves, and if you like our city, our state, and if you like all of humankind, we often deal with things that are of no use whatsoever. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, was not like that. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, even when he criticized, did not want to mention the name of the person he was criticizing. When someone had done something, he would not ask: "Who did this? Let us shame him." No. Rather, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would say: "What is it with people that they do this and that?" That is, he would correct indirectly. He never allowed a person to be insulted, for a person to be named, and so forth.

I pray to Allah, glorified and exalted be He, to grant our young men good games, as they played against Canada, and even better, so that they simply illuminate the face as they have truly done so far. They are super young men. It is really beautiful to see them in the national team.