In April 2019, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said referees should stop games if a racist incident occurs, whilst FIFA President Gianni Infantino called for “harsh sanctions” to deal with racism in the sport.
Another insane manifestation of soccer fanaticism is racist attacks on players either because of the color of their skin or the origin of their ancestors, for instance, Paul Pogba was described as a dancing monkey and an (F-word) (N-word). Dani Alves had a banana thrown at him, (he ate it), and even Luise Suarez attacked Man United’s Patrice Evra on the pitch with similar remarks, which resulted in him being suspended for eight consecutive matches and fined a large sum of money. Things get worse when it comes to international matches, as the trenches get deeper, and the fanaticism gets tinged with patriotism. In 2019, during a match between Montenegro and England, several England players were subjected to monkey chants from Montenegro fans.
There is an anti-racism cliché that’s been used ad nauseam, but I would allow myself to use it one last time to describe the Islamic position on the matter as it fits perfectly and precisely. There is one race on earth, it’s the human race. This is the absolute, unadulterated truth about the position of the Islamic religion on the race issue.
In the words of the prophet Muhammed “Your Lord is one, and your father (Adam) is one, O people. “There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab, and neither for white skin over black skin nor for black skin over white skin, except by righteousness. ”
Among all the flaws in Muslim societies around the world, you will be hard-pressed to find racism among them. Most Muslims don’t see color – another cliché that applies accurately here.
For example, it was a huge celebration in the west, and a hallmark of its civilization, when Obama became the first black president of the USA. Yet in non-black Muslim countries, it’s never been an issue, Egypt had a black president between 1970 and 1981.
The reason most Muslims pay zero attention to the color of someone’s skin is the fact that it’s deeply engraved in their minds and souls that humans should be God-centred and that worshipping Allah is our purpose in life, as opposed to other self-centred civilizations that sees serving the individual as its main purpose.
