{"id":2307,"date":"2014-09-30T11:04:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T15:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?p=2307"},"modified":"2014-10-01T16:00:32","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T20:00:32","slug":"hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html","title":{"rendered":"Hussein Abdullah gets a penalty for doing sajda in the endzone on Monday Night Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What&#39;s the difference? <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/2Je8PSJ8GW\">pic.twitter.com\/2Je8PSJ8GW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL_Memes\/status\/516788936996573184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.haibane.info\/2014\/09\/10\/a-football-newbie-chooses-a-team\/\">(very) recent convert<\/a> to the joy of American Football, I am fascinated by the penalty issued to Kansas City Chiefs&#8217; safety Hussein Abdullah for performing a <em>sajda<\/em> (prayer prostration) of thanks after an epic 39-yard pick-six on Patriots&#8217; QB Tom Brady. Public prayers by Christian players such as Tim Tebow have been celebrated, but despite the large number of Muslim players in the NFL, there still isn&#8217;t enough awareness on the part of referees. Abdullah&#8217;s sajda was flagged as &#8220;unsportsmanlike conduct, going to the ground&#8221; and Kansas City was penalized 15 yards. <\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfl.com\/static\/content\/public\/image\/rulebook\/pdfs\/15_Rule12_Player_Conduct.pdf\">relevant section<\/a> from the NFL rules:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Section 3 Unsportsmanlike Conduct<br \/>\nArticle 1 There shall be no unsportsmanlike conduct. This applies to any act which is contrary to the<br \/>\ngenerally understood principles of sportsmanship. Such acts specifically include, among others:<br \/>\n(..)<br \/>\nTAUNTING<br \/>\n(d) Individual players involved in prolonged or excessive celebrations. Players are prohibited from<br \/>\nengaging in any celebrations while on the ground. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>However, as former referee and rules expert Mike Pereira noted on Twitter last year, players are not penalized for going to the ground to give praise after a TD:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">you&#39;re not penalized for going to the ground to give praise after a TD<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikePereira\/status\/404767176634028033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 25, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>You can see from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfl.com\/videos\/nfl-game-highlights\/0ap3000000403207\/Tom-Brady-throws-pick-six\">the video<\/a> that Abdullah&#8217;s prayer was indeed a personal praise moment and not performed with intention to taunt.<\/p>\n<p>Hussein and his brother Hamza Abdullah are devout Muslims who took the year off in 2012 from the NFL to perform the Hajj &#8211; and were featured in a <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/video\/clip?id=8432250\">documentary from ESPN called &#8220;outside the line&#8221; about their pilgrimage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Abdullah himself did not take offense at being penalized &#8211; <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Husain Abdullah was very gracious about the penalty. Says he was praying but thought he was flagged for sliding into it. &quot;I got too excited&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Danny Parkins (@DannyParkins) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DannyParkins\/status\/516797015830048768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Abdullah said the ref didn&#39;t say anything to him and he didn&#39;t ask for an explanation because he was pretty sure it was for the slide.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Danny Parkins (@DannyParkins) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DannyParkins\/status\/516797166598508544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>And the NFL officials also admitted that the penalty call was an error this morning:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Abdullah should not have been penalized. Officiating mechanic is not to flag player who goes to ground for religious reasons.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Michael Signora (@NFLfootballinfo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLfootballinfo\/status\/516942894318383104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>so, all&#8217;s well that ends well. <\/p>\n<p>Overall, this issue demonstrates the need for more awareness about Islam, and is an honest case of misunderstanding and lack of knowledge. The benefit of this is that it helps to raise that awareness, and the longer term benefit of that is surely worth 15 yards. It&#8217;s not like that penalty made any difference as far as the Patriots were concerned!<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: Stephen Colbert has a <a href=\"http:\/\/littlegreenfootballs.com\/page\/311925_Muslims_in_the_End_Zone_-_the_\">hilarious take on the issue<\/a>, as usual. Best line &#8211; &#8220;How can muslims even play football if they&#8217;re not allowed to touch the pigskin? We&#8217;re gonna have to switch to halal balls!&#8221; LOL<\/p>\n<p>Also, this gem fwded me via chat &#8211; which i wish i could take credit for:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;after further review, it has been determined that the ball carrier was not facing Mecca at the time of his celebration, therefore the penalty stands.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#39;s the difference? pic.twitter.com\/2Je8PSJ8GW &mdash; NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) September 30, 2014 As a (very) recent convert to the joy of American Football, I am fascinated by the penalty issued to Kansas City Chiefs&#8217; safety Hussein Abdullah for performing a sajda (prayer prostration) of thanks after an epic 39-yard pick-six on Patriots&#8217; QB Tom Brady. Public&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[24,33,461,400],"class_list":["post-2307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islamerica","tag-islam","tag-muslim-americans","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hussein Abdullah gets a penalty for doing sajda in the endzone on Monday Night Football - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hussein Abdullah gets a penalty for doing sajda in the endzone on Monday Night Football - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What&#039;s the difference? pic.twitter.com\/2Je8PSJ8GW &mdash; NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) September 30, 2014 As a (very) recent convert to the joy of American Football, I am fascinated by the penalty issued to Kansas City Chiefs&#8217; safety Hussein Abdullah for performing a sajda (prayer prostration) of thanks after an epic 39-yard pick-six on Patriots&#8217; QB Tom Brady. 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Public&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html","og_site_name":"City of Brass","article_published_time":"2014-09-30T15:04:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-01T20:00:32+00:00","author":"Aziz Poonawalla","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html","name":"Hussein Abdullah gets a penalty for doing sajda in the endzone on Monday Night Football - City of Brass","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-30T15:04:12+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-01T20:00:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hussein Abdullah gets a penalty for doing sajda in the endzone on Monday Night Football"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/","name":"City of Brass","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Aziz Poonawalla","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb","name":"Aziz Poonawalla","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","caption":"Aziz Poonawalla"},"description":"Aziz Poonawalla is a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2307"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2316,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions\/2316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}