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Kōdōkan jūdō and Islam
Kanō Jigorō developed Kōdōkan jūdō as a practice that could be accessible without distinctions of age, gender, political orientation, or religious faith.
Today, jūdō has more than 50 million practitioners, many of them in countries with a strong Muslim presence.
The Islamic tradition also preserves an account, to be used with caution, in which the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ engaged in wrestling and successfully defeated a man remembered for his great strength.
Understanding whether Islam forbids the practice of judo — that is, whether judo is ḥarām — can help instructors, students, and families find the right form of mutual understanding.
Allowed and Forbidden
To describe something as permitted, that is ḥalāl حلال, or as ḥarām حَرَام, meaning forbidden, Islamic jurisprudence relies on very precise criteria:
- the Qur’an, from which the Sharīʿa شريعة derives. The term means “way” or “path” of the human being. To a certain extent, it may be compared with the concept of dō 道, understood as what the human being ought to accomplish, but from a philosophical and religious point of view the two concepts remain independent;
- the aḥādīth are transmitted reports concerning the words, actions, tacit approvals, and qualities of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ; in a broader sense, they may also include traditions relating to the Companions.
How, then, can we determine whether judo is ḥarām?
Sunnah and Ahadith
The Sunnah primarily indicates the normative model of the Prophet ﷺ: his words, actions, and tacit approvals. The earliest generations, the Salaf, have great interpretative authority, but they are not simply synonymous with the Sunnah.
Three main forms of Sunnah are commonly distinguished:
- specific words: Sunnah qawliyyah;
- habits and practices: Sunnah fiʿliyyah;
- silent approvals: Sunnah taqrīriyyah.
Aḥādīth are themselves classified as authentic, acceptable, weak, or fabricated. For a ḥadīth to be considered authentic, ṣaḥīḥ, its chain of transmission must be continuous, its transmitters reliable and precise, and the text must not present irregularities or hidden defects.
The definition of what constitutes Sunnah very often rests on the tradition of the aḥādīth, that is, on the attestation of what Muḥammad ﷺ said, did, or tacitly approved. The earliest generations have great interpretative importance, but they do not simply coincide with the Sunnah.
Muhammad ﷺ’s fight against Rukana
One of the aḥādīth narrated by al-Shāfiʿī tells of a hand-to-hand contest between the Prophet and a man called Rukāna, who belonged to the Quraysh. Rukāna challenged Muḥammad ﷺ to wrestle with him, in order to test the truth of his message.
According to the same account, the Prophet demonstrated the strength of his faith by causing a myrrh tree to respond to his command, move towards him, and then return to its original position
The tradition is reported in Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī. It is interesting, but it must be treated with caution, because its chain of transmission is indicated as unsound.
Rukāna was remembered as a man of great strength; the account emphasises that the Prophet ﷺ nevertheless managed to throw him to the ground three times, leaving the expert wrestler amazed and confused.
Arabic:
أَنَّ رُكَانَةَ، صَارَعَ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَصَرَعَهُ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم
Working translation:
“Rukāna wrestled with the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ threw him to the ground.”
The account of Rukāna can be cited, with caution, to show that hand-to-hand combat is not alien to the Islamic tradition; by itself, however, it is not sufficient to establish a definitive legal conclusion.
So, is judo not ḥarām? In principle, no — but the matter is not that simple. To understand the problem, we need to look more closely at the foundations of Islamic faith.
The Five Pillars
The practice of Islam is based upon a set of fundamental actions, known as the Five Pillars:
- Declaration of faith (Shahāda)
- Prayer (Salat)
- Fasting (Ramaḍān)
- Almsgiving (Zakat)
- Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), for those who are able to do so.
Prayer occupies a place of special importance in the life of an observant Muslim. It is performed five times a day, according to clearly defined forms, and includes a predetermined number of bows and prostrations. During prayer, the Muslim prostrates to indicate submission to God.
Arabic:
وَمِنْ ءَايَـٰتِهِ ٱلَّيْلُ وَٱلنَّهَارُ وَٱلشَّمْسُ وَٱلْقَمَرُ ۚ لَا تَسْجُدُوا۟ لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
Working translation:
“Among His signs are the night and the day, the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate before the sun or before the moon, but prostrate before Allah, who created them, if it is Him that you worship.”
In a spiritual reading, the standing posture could also be seen as expressing the dignity and responsibility of the human being, but this is not the primary legal meaning of the posture.
Tawḥīd
In Islam, the term tawḥīd توحيد indicates the absolute oneness of God. As such, God is the exclusive object of the Muslim person’s worship. During the prayer, the gesture of extending the index finger is often understood as a reminder of the oneness of God.
Nothing outside God may be worshipped without committing the sin of shirk شرك, or idolatry. More precisely, the term indicates the association of something or someone with Allah in worship, lordship, or divinity.
Arabic:
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِۦ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدِ ٱفْتَرَىٰٓ إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
Working translation:
“Indeed, Allah does not forgive that anything should be associated with Him; but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. Whoever associates something with Allah has committed an immense sin.”
Here the problem arises. From the point of view of some Muslims, ritsurei 立礼 and especially zarei 座礼 may visually recall Islamic cultic postures such as rukūʿ and sujūd, even if their meaning and technical form do not necessarily coincide.
Some scholars of a more restrictive orientation, often associated with Salafi environments, consider it problematic or forbidden to bow to another human being even without the intention of worship, because this may be equivalent to committing the sin of idolatry, and is therefore forbidden.
Arabic:
يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ الرَّجُلُ مِنَّا يَلْقَى أَخَاهُ أَوْ صَدِيقَهُ أَيَنْحَنِي لَهُ؟ قَالَ: «لَا»
Working translation:
“O Messenger of Allah, when one of us meets his brother or his friend, should he bow to him?” He replied: “No.”
This text is useful for understanding the restrictive position, but it should be cited with caution: Sunnah.com reports al-Tirmidhī’s assessment as ḥasan, while Darussalam classifies it as ḍaʿīf
Respect and Sportsmanship
The Islamic world does not have a single central figure endowed with the authority to establish unequivocally the position of the religion on a given issue, in the way the Catholic Pope or the Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism might do. For this reason, different experts may hold diametrically opposed views.
In 2019, a scholar belonging to the Salafi current, Yasser al-Borhamy, issued a fatwā, or legal opinion, in which he described the practice of martial arts as “an abomination”, precisely because of the use of bowing as a form of greeting. This position does not represent a general consensus, but rather a restrictive reading of the problem.
The response by Ahmed al-Bahi, a scholar at al-Azhar University in Cairo, considered one of the most prestigious centres of Islamic learning in the world, clarified that “prostrating with the intention of glorifying a creature in the manner of God is completely forbidden. Muslims must bow only before God.
However, this must not be confused with the modern intention of bowing between opponents in certain sports, where it is considered a sign of respect and a demonstration of sportsmanship.”
The New Arab reports that al-Azhar distinguished between prostration with the intention of glorifying a creature and the modern sporting bow as a sign of respect and sportsmanship
Conclusion
As such, hand-to-hand combat cannot automatically be considered ḥarām. The tradition concerning Rukāna may be cited with caution to show that physical wrestling is not alien to the Islamic context, even though the specific transmission is not strong enough to establish a definitive legal conclusion by itself.
The main issue, therefore, remains the meaning of the greeting. If the rei of jūdō is understood and practised as a conventional gesture of respect, discipline, and sportsmanship, and not as an act of worship, the opinion attributed to al-Azhar distinguishes this practice from shirk.
Arabic:
إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ، وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى
Working translation:
“Actions are judged according to intentions, and each person will have according to what he intended.”
It should be noted that some Muslim scholars adopt a more restrictive position and prefer to avoid or replace every form of bowing towards human beings. For this reason, in educational and sporting contexts, the most reasonable solution is dialogue: explaining the meaning of rei in jūdō and, if necessary, agreeing on alternative forms of respect that do not place the Muslim practitioner in a position of religious difficulty.
Related Paths
Some of the themes discussed in this article — greeting, inclusion, and the transmission of practice — are also addressed here:
Judo and hijab
The development of judo from the Meiji Renovation / 2
Do we really teach judo well?
Keikojo etiquette 1 — Rei and jōseki
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