Brazil Opens Doors to Welcome Muslim Fans
BRASILIA (IQNA) - While Brazil is rushing to be ready in time for the FIFA World Cup, staffs at the Federation of Muslim Associations in Brazil (Fambras) are calmly preparing their own warm welcome for thousands of foreign football fans expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
"We expect around 50,000 Muslim fans to visit for the World Cup, mainly from Iran, Nigeria and Algeria, but also from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia and the [Persian] Gulf region,” said Mr El Zoghbi, the federation’s Brazil-born vice-president. sitting under a framed photograph of Mecca and flitting between Arabic and Portuguese.
Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cameroon, Iran, Ivory Coast and Nigeria all have large Muslim populations. Nations such as France and Germany also have Muslim players, including Franck Ribery and Mesut Ozil.
"In some of these countries — Iran is a good example — football is a national passion like it is in Brazil,” Mr El Zoghbi, whose father moved to Sao Paulo from Lebanon in 1949, said. "We have contacted all 32 teams and told them we are available to help in whatever they need.”