Red card for Saudi Arabia’s World Cup f lag in pubs
THOUSANDS of pub landlords have had to rip out Saudi Arabia flags from strings of World Cup bunting after complaints from offended Muslims.
Brewery giant Greene King supplied the decorations featuring the national flags of all 32 teams to celebrate the tournament, which starts on June 14.
But because the Saudi Arabia flag features the Arabic words from a sacred Islamic text – and drinking alcohol is banned under Islam – Muslims complained to the company that flying it outside pubs offended their religion.
Greene King staff have now had to go through the bunting to cut out all the individual Saudi Arabia flags.
The nation’s green flag has large white Arabic writing above a white sword. The text, known as the shahada, is the Islamic statement of faith and reads: ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger.’
The flags of six other Islamic nations which are competing in the World Cup – Iran, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia – remain in the bunting, as none of these features Islamic text.
Greene King runs more than 3,000 pubs across the country and has been brewing beers at its headquarters in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, since 1700. A spokesman said: ‘To celebrate the World Cup, we have been displaying the flags of the participating nations to promote what we hope will be a great tournament for all.
‘Following feedback from some customers in London about displaying the Saudi Arabia flag in a pub, we understand it was inappropriate as it contains the religiously significant Islam shahada in Arabic, and so we have removed it.’