Real Madrid's German star defender Antony Rudiger made a post on Instagram last March 11 welcoming Ramadan. However, the German press is busy with one of his pictures given with that post. A journalist accused Rüdiger of being affiliated with the Islamic State (IS). This star defender has opened his mouth about the matter.

Earlier, the day after the incident (March 12), Rudiger filed a complaint against Julian Reichelt, the former executive editor of Bild, at the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office. Where he referred to the journalist's behavior as 'burning insult, slander and treason'. The German Football Federation (DFB) later filed another complaint against Rudiger and Julian for what they termed 'hateful comments'.

Rudiger's lawyer later sent a copy of the complaint to Bild's office. Whereupon they were again warned against making any such statements against Rudiger. However, Rudiger has not said anything publicly about the matter. He spoke in an interview with Bild yesterday (Wednesday).

There, the Real star said, 'I made a post on Instagram welcoming Ramadan, which no one criticized even in the first 13 days. But then some people raised unnecessary complaints about the picture. The gesture I have shown in the picture (pointing the right index finger upwards) is what we call Tawheed finger. Which Islam considers as a symbol of unity and one God. This is common all over the world and even a provincial minister does not think there is any problem in it.

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"As a Muslim I cherish my faith, but it has never come close to extremism or accusations of Islamism. Any breach of peace and terrorist activities are not acceptable. I am also with peace and compassion. I have people from different religions in my family, where we respect each other's religion and celebrate special days together. Respect and compassion are fundamental in our family. I never wanted to spread the message of division and fundamentalism, so I wanted to clear the matter after the two international friendlies (of Germany)."

Antony Rüdiger also said, "At the same time, I will never allow anyone to insult me or call me an Islamist." That is why I have decided to file a legal complaint. Because such a situation creates an atmosphere of division, I am always against this attitude. I hope this statement of mine will end all misunderstandings. Thanks to the Football Federation for supporting me at this time.

In the previously discussed post, Rüdiger wrote, "Mighty Lord accept our fasts and all prayers." Along with a picture of the German defender wearing a Punjabi shirt and cap, he wrote. A few days after the post went viral, journalist Julian Reichelt called it the 'finger of ISIS' on social media. There was an immediate uproar over his comment.