Of all the people to pick for her schedule, I can't believe she picked my son - Moeen Ali's father.

Munir ali

It hurts and surprises me to read Taslima Nasreen’s vile comment against my son Moeen. In his “clarification” tweet, where he described his original comment as sarcasm, he also says that he opposes fundamentalism. If you look in the mirror, you will know that what you tweeted is fundamentalist: a vicious stereotype against a Muslim person, a clearly Islamophobic statement. Someone who does not have self-esteem and respect for others can only lower himself to this level.

Truth be told, I’m really mad, but I know I’d be playing into the hands of people like her if I let my anger get out of control. If I ever meet her, I’ll tell her what I really think of her on her face. For now, I would ask you to pick up a dictionary and see what sarcasm means. It is not what she thinks it is. It’s not about throwing vile poisonous things at someone you don’t even know and then backing off saying it was sarcasm. Of all the people to choose from for your schedule, I can’t believe you have chosen my son. Everyone in the cricket world knows who he is. Let me reiterate for those that don’t.

Hard initiation

My father came to the UK from Mirpur in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir and my mother is English. I loved cricket, but I couldn’t pursue my dream, but I did everything I could to help my children become professional players. Over the years, I have come across people like Nasreen who have criticized Moeen; the only difference is that they were from England.

I remember sitting on the ground in Worcester years ago when Moeen came out to bat. A loud voice yelled, “Shave the beard!” He had already heard some murmurs in the cricket world about Moeen’s faith. “Even some coaches. They would gently tell you, “Look, this is England, think about that beard.” I was worried and went to Moeen, who told me in a clear voice that it was him. That he wasn’t going to worry about criticism. That is his strong character.

It was not easy, of course. Once on a development tour to India, a trainer, who will not be named, told him to trim his beard. Moeen told him: “I will give up cricket today, but I will not give up my belief, and this is my belief. If I play, I will play with what I am. He didn’t play a single match there, I think, and when asked at the end of the tour about his learnings, he said: “nothing, just practice on the net, I could have done it in England.” Everyone else was playing, but he wasn’t playing, and he knew it was because of his beard. He was worried about his immediate future, but he racked up performances in county cricket and progressed. That’s the kind of strong character he is. He’ll shrug too, but that doesn’t mean no one can hit him like this. England cricket has changed forever over the years and everyone loves and respects Moeen.

Faith heals

I am not religious in the conventional sense of the word and I still remember when Moeen embraced Islam. He was 19 when a West Indian supporter, Wally, who used to play his game, taught Moeen about Islam. I saw that it helped calm his body, and the more he immersed himself in religion, the more he calmed down. It had a really beneficial effect on his cricket and his life. I had nothing to worry about.

In 2014, in a test against India, Moeen wore bracelets that read “Save Gaza” and “Free Palestine” while batting. He did what he believed in, but once they told him it wasn’t allowed, he didn’t. Let the people be. Religion doesn’t get in the way of your friendships. ‘Each to his own’ as he said. I feel really bad for even saying all this as if it were necessary. As if your character needs validation now. I say this because the world in general should know what kind of man Moeen is.

His journey to the top has not been easy. My journey to maintain my children’s love of the game has not been easy. There have been days when I only had 10 pounds in my pocket and had to spend 9 of it on gas to be able to take my kids to games. With the remaining pound, he would buy bread for the family. My brother also threw everything into sleep. It takes sacrifices from the family to prop up the dreams of the little ones.

I clearly remember the day he made his England debut. Four wickets fell when my daughter said, ‘Dad, Moeen is coming out. I couldn’t look. I didn’t even see the beginning. I was so nervous that my hands and legs were shaking. And I accidentally bumped my foot against a lady next to me. She said, “Are you nervous, Mr. Ali? I was too ”. I look at her and she says, “I’m Gary Ballance’s mom.” Those are the memories I want to keep; not Nasreen’s poison.

(As told to Sriram Veera)

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