Moroccan football players offered “Sajdah Al Shukr,” which translates to “praising God” on the ground. They also encouraged others to convert to Islam. Moroccan football players after their defeat against France (Image source: Siasat Daily) The picture of their prayer went around the world.
After losing to France, the players of Morocco prayed and thanked the traveling fans for their support. Although this Morocco team did not win the World Cup, they still won our hearts,” ESPN FC tweeted, distributing images of players kneeling before Allah on the ground.
After defeating Portugal, the Moroccan players became the first Arab and first African nation to reach the last four of a World Cup, qualifying them for the first time in history for the semi-finals.
Earlier, after the team beat Spain to reach the World Cup quarterfinals, the players were seen .
The pleading with their supporters and the general public to embrace Islam. After the match against Spain, two players named Zakaria Aboukhal and Abdelhamid Sabiri, according to reports, returned to their hotel and broadcast a live stream in which they encouraged viewers to embrace Islam.
“Alhamdulillah. We have arrived at the quarter-finals of the World Cup and this has occurred without precedent for history. Allah is the cause of everything. Allah-hu-Akhbar. Join us! Join us! Accept Islam. Come. In the video, the players could be heard saying, “Come to the peace.”
Later, the duo also shared photos on Instagram in which they raised their index fingers, an Islamic symbol of “oneness in God.” Zakaria Aboukhal and Abdelhamid Sabiri likewise subtitled the pictures they posted on the web and stated, “Allah hu Akbar,” and “Opportunity,” individually.
In addition, multilingual male and female preachers were selected to educate tourists about Islam’s faith and “tolerance” .
At the Katara Cultural Village Mosque in Doha. At the mosque’s entrance, preachers and workers from the Qatar Guest Centre were stationed to welcome visitors and answer questions about the structure. In order to attract non-Muslim tourists, hadiths and the statements, actions, or habits of the Prophet Muhammad were written on the roads.
Additionally, it was reported that 558 individuals who were in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup allegedly converted to Islam. Following this, the country’s decision to promote Islam to World Cup visitors was also criticized by a number of Arab journalists.
Khaled Montasser, a liberal Egyptian journalist, said that Muslims’ willingness to use the World Cup in this way showed a sense of inferiority that makes them try to sell their faith to the public like cheap goods at the market, which is narrow-minded and insults Islam.
The journalists asserted that the World Cup is not intended to promote Islam and that engaging in culture, science, industry, and technology is preferable to recruiting a large number of new Muslims for development.
In addition, Kuwaiti journalist Muhammad Al-Rumaihi argued that Islam deserved far more respect and recognition than that, and Jordanian political commentator ‘Oraib Al-Rantawi wondered how Muslims would react if attempts were made to convert Muslims to Christianity during a World Cup in a non-Muslim nation.
According to reports, extremist Islamic preacher Dr. Zakir Naik, who is wanted in India, and Egyptian preacher Omar Abdelkafy had traveled to the Qatari capital of Doha at the invitation of the Qatari government in order to spread Islam to World Cup attendees.