Salah, who is one of the biggest Muslim sports personalities on the planet, posted a festive image to his millions of followers on Instagram and Twitter showing himself and his family sitting in front of a Christmas tree and dressed in matching outfits.
“Merry Christmas” read the message from the 29-year-old footballer.
Salah’s post racked up well over 2 million ‘likes’ within hours of being posted on Instagram and garnered more than 200,000 on Twitter.
But amidst the love for Salah and his family there were some who took issue with the forward supposedly celebrating Christmas.
Salah was bombarded with responses in Arabic, including many which saw the message as contradictory to the star’s Muslim principles and an affront to their religion.
“You prostrate to the one on Sunday if you score a goal and celebrate the one on Sunday that has a son,” read one reply, referencing the differences between Islamic and Christian beliefs and noting Salah’s celebration when he performs the ‘sujud’ act of prayer on the pitch after scoring.