Olympic gold medalist Sir Mo Farah has been hit with abuse online after he posted an image of himself wearing a Santa hat with the message “Merry Christmas.” The middle distance legend, who is a practising Muslim, shared the picture of himself on Instagram to his 667,000 followers on Christmas Day.
Mo, who was Knighted by the Queen, posted the image of him pouting wearing a Santa hat on Christmas Day afternoon.
But the race ace, 34, was then slammed by some followers who said he should not be celebrating a Christian holiday.
One user ranted: “You are portraying pagan holiday characters … this is wrong and Allah is most merciful SO PLEASE REPENT AND REMOVE THIS.” Another said: “You are being given the name of our beloved prophet Mohamed and it is better to protect the honourable name and your religion of Islam.” A third added: “Change ur name please and im saying this with respect as i use to be ur fan until now…”
Another fumed: “The respect I had for you went way down. Shame bro”, while one added: “Are you serious? You are Muslim you cant do this , I’m sorry for you.” Another of his followers told him: “Real Muslims not celebrate Christmas!!!”. And one said: “It’s haram (forbidden) to wish anyone merry Christmas at the end of the day.” Despite the outrage, a number of supporters raced to defend the British track and field legend with one saying: “Give the guy a break for god sake he is talking to his christian friends.”
Another added: “Mo is spreading love & positivity.”
Photo Credit: Getty
