A brewery has removed the Saudi Arabian flag from its football World Cup bunting displays after some Muslims in London said the text on the flag should not be displayed in places where alcohol is drunk.
Greene King, which runs about 3,000 pubs across the UK, had put up the flags of all 32 countries taking part in the competition, which kicks off in Russia on 14 June.
But the complaints were made as the Saudi flag features the shahada – a statement of faith which says: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.” The consumption of intoxicants is forbidden in Islam.
The brewery has removed the Saudi Arabian flags, but those of other Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Iran, Senegal and Tunisia, remain on display, as they do not contain the statement.
A spokesperson for the brewery said: “Following feedback from some customers in London about displaying the Saudi Arabia flag in a pub. We understand it was inappropriate as it contains the religiously significant Islam shahada in Arabic and so we have removed it.”
It comes months after German brewer Eichbaum apologised for printing the Saudi Arabian flag on caps of its beer bottles as part of the World Cup festivities. The brewery had also printed flags of all 32 countries participating in the football competition on its bottle caps.
At the time, Saudi Arabia's embassy in Germany published a statement on Twitter saying that printing the flag with the shahada on the beer bottles “constitutes a violation to the holiness of the word, an insult to the flag and a provocation against the feelings of Muslims”.
The company said: “We have no interest in religious or political manifestations – certainly not about our products. If we have offended you unintentionally, we apologise." The firm’s marketing director added: “We did not know that the characters were a creed. We only checked whether the flags of the participants are correct.”
The Independent has contacted the Saudi Arabian embassy for comment.
