Muslims Fumble on Team Names

“Intifada.” “Mujahadeen.” “Soldiers of Allah.”

These names of teams in the all-Muslim flag football tournament in Irvine have upset Southern California Jewish leaders, but engendered varying reaction from local Muslim leaders.

“You pick something shocking as a young football player,” said Hussam Ayloush, the Anaheim-based executive director of Southern California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). “On face value, from a Muslim perspective, none of those names mean anything negative or aggressive against people. At the same time, we’re not naïve to miss [that] those names have negative perceptions by many people.”

The amateur league’s Web site (