Since the beginning of the 20th century, the role of sports in helping address different major social challenges in society continues to gain wide attention across the globe. From a historical perspective, Jackie Robinson, a successfully black baseball player, had a profound effect on how people from the minority racial background are perceived. Notably, Jackie Robinson endured resentment, racial slurs and even threats to become the Baseball’s National League’s Most Valuable Player, and paved way for other African Americans to play in the Baseball National League (Otterbein 2014). In this regard, through his endurance and persistence, Robinson changed the perception that black people were inferior to whites. In the modern times, Mohamed Salah is changing the way the society views Islam, thus creating a platform to fight Islamophobia. One of the questions that emerge regards whether Mo Salah as is popularly known will become the “Jackie Robinson” of soccer.
自20世纪初以来，体育在帮助解决社会各种重大社会挑战方面的作用继续在全球范围内得到广泛关注。从历史的角度来看，杰基·罗宾逊，一位成功的黑人棒球运动员，对少数民族背景的人们的认知产生了深远的影响。值得注意的是，杰基·罗宾逊忍受着怨恨、种族诽谤甚至威胁，成为美国棒球联盟最有价值的球员，并为其他非裔美国人参加美国棒球联盟铺平了道路（Otterbein 2014）。在这方面，通过他的耐力和毅力，罗宾逊改变了黑人不如白人的观念。在现代，穆罕默德·萨拉赫正在改变社会对伊斯兰教的看法，从而创造一个打击仇视伊斯兰教的平台。出现的问题之一是，众所周知的莫萨拉是否会成为足球界的“杰基·罗宾逊”。
To begin with, one of the key similarities between Jackie Robinson and Mohamed Salah regards the societal background. Notably, during Robinson’s time, the United States society viewed black people as inferior. In the case of Salah, there has been a growing negative attention towards Islam, particularly because of increased terrorist attacks across the globe, which are perpetuated by people who portray themselves as Muslims. In the United Kingdom, the Muslim communities continues to face backlash and discrimination from the larger British society, with emergence of sentiments such as the “Punish a Muslim Day” being the worst case scenarios (Aziz 2018). Therefore, as a football player in the United Kingdom, Salah is expected to face a myriad of challenges and negativity from the larger society. Whereas this is the case, Salah, just as in the case of Robinson has managed to attract attention because of his prowess in football and has the won the hearts of many despite openly prostrating in reverence to his Muslim faith after scoring every goal. Rather than attracting negative publicity from those promoting Islamophobia, his faith continues to attract more people, which recent chanting that if he scores a few more goals, people will want to convert their faith to Islam (Smith 2018). Speaking from this point of view, there is a need to observe that Salah is already the “Jackie Robinson” of soccer. In this case, the persistence to affirm and show the world his Muslim faith and his irresistible football mastery has created a platform for this player to change the mentality of people not only in the United Kingdom but also across the globe towards Islam.
首先，杰基·罗宾逊和穆罕默德·萨拉赫之间的一个关键相似之处在于社会背景。值得注意的是，在罗宾逊的时代，美国社会认为黑人低人一等。就萨拉赫而言，人们对伊斯兰教的负面关注越来越多，特别是因为全球各地的恐怖袭击不断增加，而这些袭击是由自称为穆斯林的人造成的。在英国，穆斯林社区继续面临来自更大英国社会的反弹和歧视，出现了“惩罚穆斯林日”等情绪，这是最糟糕的情况（Aziz 2018）。因此，作为英国的一名足球运动员，萨拉赫预计将面临来自更大社会的无数挑战和负面影响。事实就是如此，萨拉赫，就像罗宾逊一样，因为他在足球方面的卓越表现而吸引了人们的注意，尽管他在每一个进球后都公开拜倒在穆斯林信仰的怀抱中，但还是赢得了许多人的心。与其吸引那些宣扬仇视伊斯兰教的人的负面宣传，不如说他的信仰继续吸引更多的人，而最近的口号是，如果他再进几个球，人们就会希望将他们的信仰转变为伊斯兰教（Smith 2018）。从这个角度讲，有必要观察萨拉赫已经是足球界的“杰基·罗宾逊”。在这种情况下，坚持向全世界表明他的穆斯林信仰和他不可抗拒的足球技巧为这位球员创造了一个平台，不仅改变了英国人的心态，也改变了全球人民对伊斯兰教的心态。
From a cultural perspective, Salah’s influence as a Muslim player has created an avenue to build bridges between Islam and the rest of the world. From the British cultural perspective, most people are finding the need to enhance their tolerance towards other religions, and particularly, Islam as a religion (Din 2018). In this case, it is difficult for the British society to separate Salah and his religion, a factor that has made it possible for him to be celebrated and for his religion to be tolerated. From a cultural point of view in the Muslim world such as the Middle East and North Africa, Salah is a hero who is supposed to be celebrated because of the way he has defended his faith (Al Jazeera News 2018). In other words, he is perceived as a champion and a “king” in a way. In this regard, the Muslim world views Salah as a person who has managed to fight against the hatred the Muslims face not only in the Middle East but in every part of the globe. With this in mind, Salah success and his adoration of his Muslim faith is seen in both the British culture and Muslim world as victory over bigotry against the Muslims not only in the United Kingdom but also in other parts of the globe.
从文化角度看，萨拉赫作为穆斯林玩家的影响力为伊斯兰教与世界其他地区之间架起了桥梁。从英国文化的角度来看，大多数人发现有必要加强对其他宗教的容忍，特别是伊斯兰教（Din 2018）。在这种情况下，英国社会很难将萨拉赫和他的宗教区分开来，这一因素使得萨拉赫能够受到庆祝，他的宗教能够得到容忍。从中东和北非等穆斯林世界的文化角度来看，萨拉赫是一位英雄，应该因为他捍卫自己信仰的方式而受到庆祝（半岛电视台新闻2018）。换句话说，他在某种程度上被视为一名和“国王”。在这方面，穆斯林世界认为萨拉是一个设法抵抗仇恨的人，穆斯林不仅在中东，而且在全球的每一个角落。考虑到这一点，萨拉赫的成功和他对穆斯林信仰的崇拜在英国文化和穆斯林世界都被视为是对穆斯林偏见的胜利，不仅在英国，而且在全球其他地区也是如此。