Qatar removes the Zidane v Matterazzi headbutt statue after locals slam the artwork as anti-Islam idolisation

The famous statue which immortalised Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt on Marco Matterazzi in the final of the 2006 World Cup has been removed from public view in Qatar after locals complained the artwork is anti-Islam idolisation.

The Qatar Museum Authority bought the “Coup de Tete” sculpture after it was put on display earlier outside the Pompidou Centre in Paris, but now the piece of art is in need of a new home after it was briefly showcased at the Doha Corniche.

According to reports, Islamic law prohibits owning statues of human beings and animals to avoid the possibility of idolatry. While some Muslim countries do display statues in public, conservative Gulf nations mostly abstain from the practice.

The subtext from a report in AFP into the subject is that had Qatar not removed the statue, locals may have attacked it. On the public outcry and the general wider significant of the issue, the AFP wrote:

“Congratulations for having new idols,” wrote one tweeter sarcastically, as the Arabic hashtag “Zidane’s statue in Qatar” triggered massive reaction from dismayed conservatives.

“It is sad that our youth see in this art and modernity. Our children do not differentiate between the right and the wrong, or the haram (prohibited) and the halal (permissible),” wrote another…

Saudi municipal authorities in June smashed sculptures of horses erected on a roundabout in the southwestern Jazan province after the kingdom’s top cleric Abdulaziz al-Shaikh wrote to the local governor demanding their removal for being a “great sin”.

source: 101greatgoals