The Role of Islam in Life of Active Muslim Athletes in Czechia

Title: The Role of Islam in Life of Active Muslim Athletes in Czechia Objectives: The analysis of the relationship of Islam and sport is the main objective of this thesis. Sporting Muslims living in Czechia and active Muslim athletes are chosen as target group for our research. This thesis focuses on level of identification with Islam as their faith. It also focuses on their attitude to sport. It further deals with Muslim customs in terms of its effects on athletes' life. The proper example is the Ramadan fasting. Methods: We chose the semistructured interview as the method to collect data. We took seven interviews with Muslim athletes (four professional and three amateur athletes). We chose the method of open coding as the suitable method for analysing data. Results: We found out that the relationship of Muslim athletes (our respondents) with their faith can be characterized as folk Islam or folk religiosity. Respondents also consider sport as a fully satisfying part of their life, but it is not linked with their faith. However other Muslim practices (represented mainly by Ramadan fasting) do not show as problematic or incompatible with ordinary athletes' life. Key words: Islam, sport, Muslim athletes, Czechi