Former Germany international of Turkish origin, Mesut Ozil, has won the 2020 Global Muslim Celebrity of the Year, an award organised by Muslim News Nigeria, the most authoritative Islamic newspaper in Nigeria.
Ozil, who now plays for Turkish club, Fenerbache, was announced the winner on Thursday, February 25, by the newspaper’s Publisher, Mr. Rasheed Abubakar, in Lagos, Southwest, Nigeria.
Abubakar congratulated Ozil for clinching the Global Muslim Celebrity category of the #MNAwards2020, barely one week after another practising Muslim footballer, Ahmed Musa won the Nigerian Muslim Celebrity of the Year 2020.
Abubakar, who initiated the award in 2018 to celebrate Muslim achievers who have excelled and made the Muslim community proud in their professions hailed the footballer for being the global face of Islam in the round-leather industry.
According to him, “On behalf of the award committee, I congratulate my brother, Mesut Ozil for being the winner of this prestigious award. Coincidentally, both Ahmed and Ozil are footballers, favoured ahead of other entertainers in the movie and music industry for their philanthropic gesture and openly professing the beauties of their religion, Islam.”
Mr. Abubakar said the 32-year-old midfielder dared to walk the path other celebrities refused, by speaking up about human rights violations, especially to the oppressed Muslim minorities in different parts of the world.
“Prominent among his various solidarity messages was his social media post in December 2019, against the maltreatment of Uiyghur Muslim minorities by the Chinese authorities. He called out the Muslim world for their deafening silence.
The organisers of the award believe that Ozil, who is otherwise known as ‘The King of Assist’ never regretted all he did for humanity, as he continues to use his verified social media handles to educate his fans and preach the universality of pristine Islamic message on regular basis, especially Fridays.
“Off the field of play, we were also excited that Ozil is into charity works and has helped thousands of needy children with free food because he doesn’t want them to go hungry. A number of kids have also benefited from his free surgery initiative and a lot more. It is for these reasons, among others, we at Muslim News Nigeria announced Ozil as the Global Muslim Celebrity of the Year 2020.
“We want other celebrities in all genres to emulate him in good deeds so that they can be celebrated by Allah, the Giver, and Sustainer of wealth and life, in this life and the hereafter, ” he added.
“Ozil was arguably one of the few Muslim footballers who gave the English Premier League a new identity and projected Islam rightly during his seven-and-a-half years career at Arsenal, which evidently has a great influence on his team and numerous fans across the world.
“He was always seen on several occasions on the pitch spreading his hands out in dua (supplication) to Allah before every game.
Ozil was the 5th runner-up during the 2019 Top 5 Global Muslim Personalities, an award organised by Muslim News Nigeria. We are proud of his achievements,” he concluded.
#MNAwards is an acronym for Muslim News Nigeria Awards, celebrating Muslim achievers who have excelled and made the Muslim community proud in Nigeria and globally.
Now into its third year, the 2020 edition of the Awards features additional categories, honouring Muslim professionals in media, health, law, finance and entertainment industries.
