Salah’s public field-side prayer made Muslim faith visible in elite sport

Evidence

It was a new day, or at least it seemed like one. A man named Mohamed shattered longstanding English records, and did so with that patented smile on his face. But the feats Salah achieved with his feet were not as earth shaking as what he did after putting the ball behind the net. Immediately after scoring a goal, Salah would fall to his knees and bow his head on the field. This was no celebration. This was prayer. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1071

Categorization

• SEED: Angle for an essay: how a single athlete’s public devotional act rehumanized Islam in a nation where Islamophobia runs deep — the visibility politics of salah on a football pitch.