Liverpool's Salah criticised for Christmas greetings

Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah sparked a wave of criticism on social media after sharing a photo with his family celebrating the Christmas holidays, something that has been repeated every year since he joined Liverpool, and which on this occasion generated discontent among many Muslim internet users to the point that the largest Islamic organisation reacted to the controversy.

The origin of this controversy lies in the Christian character of the Christmas holidays, which are non-existent in the Muslim religion that is the majority religion in Egypt, the country of Salah's birth, as well as in most Arab countries, which have Islam as their main religion.

Salah's social media was buzzing with criticism of the photograph of him with his wife and two daughters in Christmas clothes in front of a Christmas tree, while few comments in Arabic were supportive of the Egyptian national football team star's Christmas snapshot.

Some of the users attacked the Egyptian player on social media with comments such as "a photo like this will bring you closer to the English, 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 even called him an "unfaithful". Few comments supported or defended Salah.

In addition, many users attacked Salah for not supporting the Saudi Arabian or Moroccan teams in the World Cup and for not celebrating events that have to do with the Muslim religion in the same way; criticisms to which the player reacted by keeping silent.

For its part, Egypt's Dar al-Ifta, Egypt's largest Islamic advisory body, has spoken out on social media about the controversy that erupts with every Christian-related holiday, stating that "there is no prohibition in the Sharia, to congratulate non-Muslims on their holidays, this is not a departure from Islam as some extremists say".

"Congratulating the country's partners on their holidays is part of good neighbourliness, returning greetings and conviviality, and are noble human principles called for in the Sharia and Sunna, which were practised in the Prophet's biography," the statement added.