WASHINGTON
A Muslim-American football player who was penalized for praying after scoring should not have been punished, the National Football League, said Tuesday.
In the fourth quarter of Monday night’s game Husain Abdullah, a safety for the Kansas City Chiefs, intercepted a pass from New England Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady, and returned it for a touchdown. Abdullah slid into the end zone and then bent forward and touched his forehead to the ground, a part of the prayer ritual for Muslims. Following the play, the Chiefs received a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The NFL has a rule that prohibits players from “going to the ground” in touchdown celebrations, but exempts players from penalties if they do so for religious reasons.
“Abdullah should not have been penalized,” the league's Vice President of Football Communications Michael Signora tweeted Tuesday. “Officiating mechanic is not to flag player who goes to ground for religious reasons.”
It is unclear if the referee who issued the penalty knew that Abdullah was taking part in an act of prayer.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the US-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that the NFL's statement remedies the situation, and has paved the way for such instances to be avoided in the future.
Abdullah is known as a devout Muslim who missed the 2012-2013 football season so he could make the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The annual hajj is a pilar of faith for Muslims.
The Chiefs went on to trounce the Patriots 41-14.
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