MOEEN ALI's father said he was "hurt and shocked" to learn about the remarks that Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen made about his son in a Twitter post.
“If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join Islamic State (Daesh),” she had tweeted. Reacting to it, Moeen's father, Munir Ali, told Indian Express that the writer's remark was a "vicious stereotype against a Muslim person”, and adding it was "clearly Islamophobic”.
“Truth be told, I am really angry, but I know I would be playing into the hands of people like her if I let my rage get out of control. If I get to meet her someday, I will tell what I really think of her on her face,” Munir said.
Nasreen has now deleted the tweet, but clarified her stand with another tweet, saying the earlier one was meant to be sarcastic.
“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,” Nasreen had tweeted.
Reacting to this, Moeen's father said: “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. Of all the people to pick on for her agenda, I can’t believe she has chosen my son. Everyone in the cricketing world knows the person he is.”
Nasreen was trolled on Twitter for her remarks, with many England cricketers including Jofra Archer standing up for their teammate.
Moeen is currently in India as part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise for the 14th edition of IPL, which begins tomorrow (9).
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The festival, considered the largest gathering of humanity in the world, (Photo: Getty Images)
