Here is some nice speech by Shaykh Albany rahimahullah:

أن المقصود من هذه الألعاب : هو تنمية الروح الرياضية ، والمقصود بها بطبيعة الحال : أن الإنسان لا يحقد إذا ما شعر بأن خصمه سيتغلب عليه أو تغلب عليه فعلاً ، فالمسلم لا يحقد ولا يحسد ، فلا ينبغي : أن تصبح هذه اللعبة أداة إفساد للأخلاق .

In summary, he rahimahullah mentions the main objective from these sports should be to relieve the stress from one’s self and for the sake of exercise, it should be for a genuine purpose wherein the person doesn’t begin to have enmity if he comes to notice that the opposing team is going to defeat them. The Muslim shouldn’t be one with the trait of having hatred or envy, that isn’t appropriate, it isn’t befitting for this sport to become a means to corrupt a person’s character.

The Shaykh rahimahullah is not speaking about the love to win and the hate to lose, he is speaking about when it gets to the level where Shaytan finds it a means to cause enmity between two Muslim brothers.

‘A’ishah radiallahu ‘anha said: That she accompanied the Prophet on a certain journey. At that time she was a mere girl and was neither fat nor bulky. The Prophet asked the people to move on, and they marched ahead. Then the Prophet said to me, “Come on, let us have a race.” ‘A’ishah says that she ran and remained much ahead of him. The Prophet kept quiet for some time. Later on when ‘A’ishah grew fat and loose bodied, and she forgot the previous incident. Again she accompanied the Prophet on some journey. The Prophet again asked the people to march ahead, and they moved ahead. Then the Prophet again asked her to have a race with him. This time the prophet defeated her and she lagged behind. Now the Prophet laughed and said, “This is in reply to our previous defeat.” [Ahmad, Safwat as-Safwah, vol. I, p. 68]

We take from the above narration that a person being competitive in a sport and wanting to win and disliking to lose, there is no harm in that. The harm is when it leads to what Allah dislikes of excessive argumentations and hatred and envy for one’s Muslim brother.

Translated by

AbdulFattaah Bin Uthman
Abu Fajr