UCL Final: Has Salah Repented Now?

Mohammad Salah (last season)

Millions of Muslim football fans believe the 2017/2018 UEFA Champions league final ended the way it did because Mohammed Salah showed disregard for his Creator by choosing fame and wealth over his religious obligations. 

For the second year running, Liverpool FC have gotten to the UEFA Champions league final. The 2018/2019 season finale will be played on June 1st 2019 at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain. Kick-off time has been slated for 21:00 Spanish time, 45 minutes earlier than last year's final.

It will be played in the month of Ramadan again. To be specific, on 27th Ramadhan 1440. 

Muslim fans have been asking, will it be a repeat of last season when Salah refused to fast and Liverpool still lost?

Well, from indications, Salah has Repented.

The 26 year old has returned to performing Sujud (prostrates) whenever he scores a goal, this is something he stopped doing towards the end of the 2017/2018 season when he began to top the goal scorers chart.

In 2018, the bond between Salah and the Egyptian regime was so strong he was viewed by many as a Sisi lap dog. 

That relationship has turned a bit sour. Salah blamed Egypt's poor performance at the 2018 World cup in Russia on the politicisation of the National team and this brought about serious tongue-lashing from people in the Sisi regime.

On 28th August, Salah posted two videos on his Facebook page lamenting the contribution of the Egyptian to the national team's woeful performance at the 2018 FIFA world cup in Russia. 

He is quoted to have said, "We had many disturbances at the team's camp during our participation at the World Cup in Russia," Salah said, adding that he was disturbed in his room in the middle of the night by visitors wanting to "chat". "I'm the person that these things happen to. I'm the person who gets harmed by these things."

In response to this, a senior member of the Egyptian FA named Khaled Lateif Tweeted: "I'd like to remind @MoSalah that your mother is still in Egypt. So don't act oblivious and like you can do as you wish because you live abroad. An intelligent man will understand."

Another senior member of the Egyptian FA, Magdy Abd El Gany, called Salah a pig after Salah showed disapproval for his picture being conspicuously painted on the plane carrying the Egyptian national team. 

Magdy posted on social media, "Here is a picture of me with four players and a pig in white" Magdy said in a caption accompanying an image of himself, Salah and four other footballers.

These are obviously blatant threats.

In a nutshell, of the three defects Salah went into the 2017/2018 final with; two have been fixed.

In the 2017/2018 UEFA Champions league final, Christiano Ronaldo was the man to watch for others. But for a lot of Muslim football fans, Mohammed Salah was the man. Not because he was the only Muslim on the pitch but because he was the Muslim who showed the most devotion and love for Islam. 

The UEFA Champions league final of the 2017/2018 season was played in the fasting month of Ramadhan (the 11th of Ramadhan 1439 to be precise). 

Days to the final, the authorities at Liverpool FC disclosed that Mohammed Salah will not be fasting in the days leading to the final.

According to them, this was to enable him train better. From all indications, Salah did not fast on 11th Ramadan 1439 AH (26th May 2018) the day the final was played. 

The 26 year old Egyptian was cynically tackled by Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos in the 25th minute which saw him surfer a dislocated shoulder and was not able to complete the game; he was substituted in the 29th minute and Liverpool FC lost the game 3-1.

Will Mohammed Salah keep up the fast in the days leading up to the final? Time will tell. 

We pray our Muslim brother, Mohammed Salah, learns from the mistakes to of the past year; the wisdom that we got everything we have by the permission of Allah and nothing comes from turning one's back on Allah but regret.