Newcastle United’s Muslim players have been warned that wearing the club’s new sponsored shirts would infringe upon Sharia Law.


The club announced a new £24 million shirt deal with
controversial moneylenders Wonga on Tuesday, and now the Muslim Council
of Britain have attempted to intervene.
United have received widespread criticism after unveiling the
four-year deal with the short-term loan company, and the MCB has now
piled on further pressure.
Four Muslim players represented the club against Manchester United on
Sunday – Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Cheick Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa – and
all are now being urged to make a stand.
Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the MCB, said:
"There are two aspects to this. We have the rulings of the religious law
and we have the individual's choice and decision on how they want to
follow or not follow that rule.
"The idea is to protect the vulnerable and the needy from exploitation by the rich and powerful.


"When they are lending and are charging large amounts of interest, it
means the poor will have short-term benefit from the loan but long-term
difficulty in paying it back because the rate of interest is not
something they can keep up with."
He added: "The Islamic system is based on a non-interest-based system of transaction."


The club did its best to offset criticism of the new deal by
announcing that the Sports Direct Arena would revert to its original
name of St James' Park, but it has not prevented MPs and large numbers
of people through social media declaring their disgust.


Source - http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/newcastles-muslim-stars-told-play-new-kit-070006117.html