Connecting Muslims and Shaping World-Class Athletes of Tomorrow
By Misbahuddin Mirza
Nov/Dec 2024
The light drizzle had cleansed the air enough to allow the rising sun to brighten up the sky into a fairytale blue. A steady stream of vehicles packed with enthusiastic sports contestants, along with their families and friends, streamed into the grounds of St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen, N.J. The borough, located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan area. is a commuter town of New York City.
Smoke rose from the BBQ grills firing up to grill kababs and burgers. Parents lined up to buy their early morning coffee while volunteers directed participants and teams toward their venues.
Electronic display screens, timers, equipment, and umpires were ready and waiting to start the games exactly on schedule. Salaudeen Nausrudeen, founder and president of the Islamic Games of North America, constantly walked around calmly between the various hosting locations. The Uzbek teams appeared to be winning all the martial arts medals. Girls from all over the world competed vigorously in events from basketball to track & field and to taekwondo, and boys’ teams competed in games from soccer, basketball, volleyball, and football to martial arts.
Teams from New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, and Massachusetts participated. Held on June 8-9, this event featured 32 basketball teams, 71 soccer teams, 12 volleyball teams, 8 cricket teams, and 12 flag football teams, all of which competed fiercely to win trophies and medals. There were individual events for males and females in table tennis, martial arts, track (100, 200, and 400 meters), pickleball, fitness course, arm wrestling, and other categories.
Nausrudeen, a Guyanese native, grew up in New York City and currently lives in Orlando. An avid fitness enthusiast, he rides 75 miles per week and is involved in weekly basketball and fitness training events. During his high school years in New York, he started “Mujahid,” one of the first organized Muslim basketball teams that traveled across North America to participate in tournaments and build connections with communities and athletes.
Inception of Islamic Games
In 1989, he created the Islamic Games to provide a platform for Muslim athletes to meet, compete, learn, and celebrate each other. In 2006, the Islamic Games was rebranded and relaunched in New Jersey, where male and female athletes of all ages participate annually.
He says that sports are halal, healthy, and encouraged in Islam. The development of sports programs, leagues, academies, and teams in Muslim communities across North America revealed a need to develop a platform that would bring them all together to showcase athletes and teams and to celebrate their accomplishments.
According to Nausrudeen, “The Islamic Games today has grown to an event that is beyond the athletic skills. It is a grand display of diversity and unity with more than 40 different nationalities, 30 Muslim schools, 5,000+ male and female athletes of all ages, 400+ teams, 200+ events, 1,000+ games, and 200+ partners in four cities across the USA and Canada.”
The participants in these New Jersey games were natives or descendants of natives from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, India, Guyana, Indonesia, Bosnia, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Palestine, Kenya, Tanzania, Tajikistan, Morocco, Algeria and Afro- and Latino-Americans. This year, the Islamic Games were held in Dallas, Chicago, and Brampton (Canada).
A team of directors and event managers, as well as about 80 volunteers, manage the event, which costs each location $75,000+ to host. These expenses are primarily met through sponsorship, registration, and other fees.
Talking about these challenges, Nausrudeen says there was a dearth of sponsorship from Muslim companies and brands; insufficient women’s participation at the community/masjid level; a lack of efficient and professional sports infrastructure in Muslim communities; and a lack of funding for schools and communities to send teams and athletes.
Future plans include adding badminton, pickleball, cycling, 5K, swimming, archery, and other sports; expanding to more North American cities and globally with international partners; and providing support, training, and resources to communities, along with leagues to grow and develop their sports program.
Misbahuddin Mirza, M.S., P.E., is a licensed professional engineer, registered in the States of New York and New Jersey. He served as the regional quality control engineer for the New York State Department of Transportation’s New York City Region. He is the author of the iBook “Illustrated Muslim Travel Guide to Jerusalem.” He has written for major U.S. and Indian publications.