Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah triggered an avalanche of criticism on social media after share a photo with family celebrating christmas holidayssomething that has been repeated every year since his signing at Liverpool, and that in this case This angered many Muslim Internet users to the point that the largest Islamic organization responded to the controversy.
The origins of this dispute lie in Christian character of Christmas holidaysnon-existent in the Muslim religion, which is the majority in Egypt, the birthplace of Salah, as well as in most Arab countries, for which Islam is the main religion.
Salah’s social media has been inundated with criticism of a photo in which he appears with wife and two daughtersin New Year’s clothes in front of the Christmas tree, with few comments in Arabic They supported the star of the Egyptian football team for this Christmas shot.
Some users attacked the Egyptian player on social media with comments such as “Such a photo will bring you closer to the British, but it will lose many of your Muslim fans in the Arab world”, “Stop bowing to the West, you are a role model for Muslim youth” and began to call him “infidel.” There were few comments that supported or defended Salah.
In addition, many users attacked Salah for do not support Saudi Arabia or Morocco in the World Cup and don’t celebrate events related to the Muslim religion; criticism to which the player responded with silence.
From my side, Dar al-Ifta of Egypt, the largest Egyptian Islamic advisory body, spoke on social media about the controversy that unfolds with every holiday associated with Christians, and indicated that “There is no prohibition in Shariah to congratulate non-Muslims on holidays, this is not a departure from Islam, as some extremists say.”
“Congratulating the partners of the country with their parties is part of good neighborliness, reciprocal congratulations and coexistence, and these are the noble human principles that are required in the Shari’ah and the Sunnah, which were practiced in the biography of the Prophet”, added in the message.
Source: La Opinion
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