When Mustafi Al-Garawi decided to have his jersey display his name in Arabic script, the Iraqi-American athlete says he did not expect such an intense reaction.
The name on the back of his Western Michigan University jersey – Ajoum – is his family's name, while Al-Garawi denotes his clan. WMU's athletics department said that Al-Garawi is believed to be the first college athlete to have Arabic script on a jersey.
Photos of the defensive tackle's jersey have gone viral on social media, with thousands of comments and millions of likes. Most of the engagement on social media from around the world was positive, but there were negative, xenophobic comments.
When The National first approached Al-Garawi for an interview several months ago, he declined.
"I prefer not to have too much media," he said at the time. "I’m just a Muslim man blessed to play football and earn my education. I'm not really into the spotlight."
WMU defensive tackle Mustafi Al-Garawi is one of the first Division 1 US football players to have his surname displayed in Arabic.
So the amount of attent
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