During the past couple weeks, I’ve talked with three impressive young men about their commitments to their Muslim religion and how they balance playing sports with fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

Much of their story appeared in yesterday’s article.

All three -- Randallstown soccer player Ousmane Toure, Oakland Mills football player Fuad Suleiman and Gilman cross country runner Adil Agha Khan -- have strong convictions about their religion. That’s something I find very impressive in an age when many teenagers, and even adults, can’t seem to find a place for a strong faith in their busy, demanding lives.

One of the things that I could only touch on in the story was how all of them talked about how their religion is a peaceful one. Because extremists and terrorists grab the headlines, many people think Islam is all about violence. But that could not be farther from the truth, the boys said.

And their example is spreading that truth.

Oakland Mills football coach Jim Riss said he has learned a lot about Islam from Suleiman and the other Muslim athletes he has coached.

"All we hear is what we see on the news," said Riss, "and you think, ‘Oh, they’re bad,’ but it’s not like that. It’s really a morally-grounded religion and it’s unfortunate that the extremists give it a bad name, because people who are ignorant, like I was, make an assumption. It’s kind of like the Ku Klux Klan claiming they’re doing everything in the name of Christianity."

Because of his belief in non-violence, Suleiman nearly quit the Scorpions football team during August two-a-days when the competition for roster spots grew intense.

"In a sense, football in my religion would be haraam. It means sinful because it’s a very violent game," he said. "So I believe it was the second or third day of two-a-days and I walked up to coach. This is how serious I am about it. I played football for two years, right? I love the sport, but as soon as I heard it could be haraam, I was ready to quit the game, just so I could stay on the righteous path."

Riss convinced Suleiman that the game is really about fun. Although it’s hard-hitting, it’s not meant to be violent.

"I mean, hell week was hell week," said Riss, of two-a-days. "We were trying to weed out the weak of heart, body and mind and Fuad said, ‘Coach, it’s not fun and it’s not part of my religion to go out and try to hurt people.’ I said, ‘We’re not trying to hurt people, but it’s football and unfortunately, at times, people get hurt.’"

"I said, ‘I’d hate for you to give up on football just because this week has stunk so bad. It’s going to get fun again once we get past this.’"

So Suleiman stuck around.

But he, like Toure and Khan, keeps sports in the right perspective. As Toure said, and all three demonstrate every day, "Religion comes before sports."

-- Katherine Dunn