National soccer player Antonio Rüdiger (31) has asked for his much-discussed Instagram post at the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan “decisively distanced itself from any kind of extremism and accusations of Islamism”. The “Bild” newspaper published a statement on Wednesday evening extensive statement from the Real Madrid professionalwho first commented on the photo, which he posted on his account back on March 11th.
In the post, the practicing Muslim posted a photo of himself in a white robe on a prayer mat. The Index finger of his right hand points to the sky. “May the Almighty accept our fasting and our prayers,” wrote Rüdiger as a greeting to Ramadan.
Now he explained in writing: “The gesture I used is the so-called tawheed finger. This applies in Islam as a symbol of the unity and uniqueness of God. The gesture is common among Muslims around the world and has only become so in recent days classified as unproblematic by the Federal Ministry of the Interior.”
Recommended editorial content
Here you will find external content selected by our editors to enrich the article with additional information for you. Here you can display or hide the external content with one click.
I agree that the external content can be displayed to me. This means that personal data can be transmitted to third-party platforms. You can find more information about this in the data protection settings. You can find these at the bottom of our page in the footer, so you can manage or revoke your settings at any time.
In recent days, the photo has been “used by individuals to make unfounded accusations,” the professional wrote. He was probably also playing on that Journalist Julian Reicheltthe former editor-in-chief of Germany’s largest tabloid “Bild”.
In the opinion of Reichelt, who now works at the “Nius” portal, Rüdiger showed an Islamist gesture by raising his index finger. Reichelt’s criticism led to Rüdiger turning against him filed a criminal complaint with the Berlin public prosecutor’s officethe German Football Association (DFB) also reported the matter to the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) of the Frankfurt/Main Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“Violence and terrorism are absolutely unacceptable. “I stand for peace and tolerance,” wrote Rüdiger: “Respect and tolerance are fundamental principles that we all represent in our family.”
But he also recognizes that “due to insufficient attention, I gave third parties the chance to post my post deliberately misinterpreting it in order to divide and polarizeRüdiger emphasized: “But I will not offer a platform for division and radicalization, which is why I have decided to make a clear statement after our two successful international matches.” He will not allow himself to be “denigrated as an Islamist” and is therefore taking legal action : “This is about creating an atmosphere and dividing people; I will always resolutely defend myself against this.” (dpa)