Entire soccer team converts to Islam

Rasa - A soccer team made up of 23 players from Cameroon decided to convert together to Islam at the end of a two-month training camp in Dubai.

News ID: 1173

Date: 18 September 2014 - 15:26

RNA (Cameroon) - A soccer team made up of 23 players from Cameroon decided to convert together to Islam at the end of a two-month training camp in Dubai. According to a local newspaper, they say the action was  due to the “peace and serenity they felt in Islam.”

According to the United Arab Emirates newspaper The National, the men, who are in their twenties, converted two days before returning home to Africa, where they participate in a soccer academy for the poor and orphaned.

Javeed Khateeb, a senior religious adviser at the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department, the government agency which appears to have spearheaded the conversion, told The National that the men – some of whom came from Christian backgrounds – were seeking “faith and enlightenment.”

The Cameroon team was taken for two full day sessions to the Islamic institute aimed at “alleviating any doubts,” about the faith, Khateeb said.

“We wanted to make sure they had proper understanding of Islam. Many of their questions were about halal and haram, consuming alcohol, and how the prophet Jesus is portrayed in Islam,” the religious advisor added.

The government agency organizes programs for non-Muslims in schools, shopping malls, and other places, to expose them to the “moderate message of Islam,” The National reported.

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