Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has been under fire for passing Islamophobic comments on English cricketer Moeen Ali.
The Islamophobic comments came when Moeen Ali had requested the Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings to remove the logo of the sponsor brand which is a liquor company from his jersey as it hurts his religious sentiments. His request was approved.
Now in a deleted tweet, Nasreen slammed Moeen Ali with crass remarks. “If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS,” said the author.
Are you okay ? I don’t think you’re okay https://t.co/rmiFHhDXiO
— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) April 6, 2021
Sarcastic ? No one is laughing , not even yourself , the least you can do is delete the tweet https://t.co/Dl7lWdvSd4
— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) April 6, 2021
Heartening to see the way British Cricketers have stood up for #MoeenAli after Taslima Nasreen's hideous tweet. Wish our chaps would take a cue or two and speak their mind, not just coordinate their hashtags.
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) April 7, 2021
Nasreen was confronted with intense backlash on social media soon after the tweet. Several English cricketers including Saqib Mahmood, Jofra Archer stepped forward in defense of Moeen Ali and slammed the writer for defaming the cricketer. Ben Duckett also stood up in solidarity with Moeen Ali.
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The cricketing fraternity from England and the entire world disapproved of her tweet. They asked her to apologize and take down the tweet. Other cricketers asked social media users to report her account for spewing vile and hateful comments against Moeen Ali.
She later deleted her tweet and issued a clarification in another tweet. Nasreen called her previous remarks ‘sarcasm’. Her explanations, however, did not go well with social media as she continued to receive backlash. Internet users now slammed her for twisting her remarks into ‘sarcasm’.
“Haters know very well that my Moeen Ali tweet was sarcastic. But they made that an issue to humiliate me because I try to secularize Muslim society & I oppose Islamic fanaticism. One of the greatest tragedies of humankind is pro-women leftists support anti-women Islamists,” wrote Taslima Nasreen in her tweet.
Can’t believe this. Disgusting tweet. Disgusting individual https://t.co/g8O1MWyR81
— Saqib Mahmood (@SaqMahmood25) April 6, 2021
Please everyone report taslimas account! Disgusting!
— Sam Billings (@sambillings) April 6, 2021
Haters know very well that my Moeen Ali tweet was sarcastic. But they made that an issue to humiliate me because I try to secularize Muslim society & I oppose Islamic fanaticism. One of the greatest tragedies of humankind is pro-women leftists support anti-women Islamists.
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) April 6, 2021
So now you claim the tweet was sarcastic, while at the same time claiming it is anti "Islamist"!
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) April 6, 2021
Meanwhile, Twitter users lauded the support showed by England’s cricketing fraternity to protect the dignity and honor of one of the finest cricketers in the world, Moeen Ali.
The struggles of Moeen Ali
This is not the first time Moeen Ali had requested not to wear jerseys with the logo of a liquor company. He had voiced his concerns about the logo of Royal Challengers Bangalore. Also, it was widely covered how he and another Muslim cricketer Adil Rashid had stayed away from the champagne celebrations of the England Cricket Team after winning the World Cup 2019.
Father of Moeen Ali expressed remorse over the unpleasant comments passed by Taslima Nasreen. In an interview with the Indian Express, he said that he has several times heard abusive comments passed on him in the stadium when Moeen Ali came to bat.
Read more: England’s Moeen Ali shocks Virat Kohli with a wicket at duck
“I remember sitting at the ground at Worcester years ago when Moeen walked out to bat. A loud voice shouted, ‘shave off the beard!’. I had already been hearing some murmurs in the cricketing world about Moeen’s faith,”
“I would ask her to pick a dictionary and see the meaning of sarcasm. It’s not what she thinks it is. It’s not spewing vile poisonous stuff against someone you don’t even know and then retracting it by saying it was sarcasm,” Munir was quoted as saying.