It all started with Mohammed Shami posting a pic of himself with his wife in a gown a few days ago, after which he received a barrage of hateful messages from Islamic fundamentalists on the online, asking him to behave in an ‘Islamic’ way and ‘make his wife dress in an Islamic way’. The messages were full of hate and many were threatening in their tone. However, Mohammed Shami silenced all of them by posting the pictures of his wife yet again and asking others to mind their own business. He strongly hit back at the trolls and self proclaimed custodians of religion that it is the choice between him and his wife, further asking the haters to look within themselves. He went on to post another lovely pic with his wife on the occasion of new year, sending a strong signal to the fundamentalists and trolls.
Ye dono meri zindage or life partner hai me acha trha janta hu kiya karna hai kiya nahi.hame apne andar dekhna chahiye ham kitna accha hai.?
— Mohammad Shami (@MdShami11) December 26, 2016
Na Sathi Hai Na Hamara Hai Koi Na Kisi Ke Hum Na Hamara Hai KoiPar Apko Dekh Kar Keh Sakte Hain Ek Pyarasa humsafar hai Koi Happy new Year pic.twitter.com/YzBJmkiqha
— Mohammad Shami (@MdShami11) December 31, 2016
The dust around Mohammed Shami episode had not even settled down and it was the turn of another cricketer Mohammad Kaif, who was targeted by fundamentalists and trolls after he posted his pictures doing Surya Namaskar. The self-proclaimed guardians of religion, calling Kaif’s Surya Namaskar as ‘unislamic’ subjected him to a volley of hate messages and trolls, from fundamentalists belonging to Islamic community. This was the tweet which Mohammad Kaif had posted :
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) December 31, 2016
When the trolls and haters started to spew their venom and narrow mindedness in response to Kaif’s tweets, calling his practice ‘unislamic’, calling him a disgrace to the religion and similar expletives, he put up a further tweet where he again clarified that Surya Namaskar is an exercise which benefits all, and while performing Surya Namaskar, he had Allah in his heart. “In all 4 pics, I had Allah in my heart. Cant understand what doing any exercise, Surya Namaskar or Gym has to do with religion.It benefits ALL,” Kaif tweeted.
It seems that this reply from Mohammad Kaif was not enough to shut the trolls and they continued with their hate-filled messages directed towards the cricketer. One of the twitter users, by the name Md Iftakhar Kazmi (@KazmiIftakhar ) tweeted , “@MohammadKaif Surya namashkar is adverse our culture society and traditions of islam.why are you posting a controversial statement.” Mohammad Kaif took him head on and silenced him in one go, exposing his hypocrisy in the most gentlemanly and diignified way one could have imagined. This is his response :
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) January 1, 2017
Very soon, Mohammed Shami was back with his well directed bouncers against the hate mongers. Rubbing further salt into their wounds, Shami extended his support to Mohammad Kaif and elaborated the benefits of Surya Namaskar for physical fitness. This is what Mohammed Shami had to say :
proud of you kaif bhai kiya bat hai ..Good for health Surya Namaskar is a complete workout fr the physical system ?
— Mohammad Shami (@MdShami11) January 2, 2017
Irfan Pathan also joined Shami and Kaif, and indicated his support in a tweet which was appreciative of Mohammad Kaif’s answer to his trolls.
Kaifu bhai ??
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 1, 2017
It is people like Mohammed Shami, Mohammad Kaif and Irfan Pathan who represent the virtues of diversity, open mindedness, progressiveness and modernity. India needs many more of such icons who have the guts to take the religious fundamentalists and self proclaimed guardians of religion head on. The ills of religious trolls and intolerance will only end when the icons take a stand and speak strongly against such hate mongers. This will surely inspire many more rationalist and broad-minded progressive people to speak up. Kudos all three of you ! You have kept Indian flag flying high by your great performance and dedication on the field, and you are keeping the progressive secularism of India intact by taking a stand against fundamentalists. Well done ! The country is with you.