When Mustafi Al-Garawi decided to have his jersey display his name in Arabic script, the Iraqi-American athlete says he did not expect such an intense reaction.
The name on the back of his Western Michigan University jersey – Ajoum – is his family's name, while Al-Garawi denotes his clan. WMU's athletics department said that Al-Garawi is believed to be the first college athlete to have Arabic script on a jersey.
Photos of the defensive tackle's jersey have gone viral on social media, with thousands of comments and millions of likes. Most of the engagement on social media from around the world was positive, but there were negative, xenophobic comments.
When The National first approached Al-Garawi for an interview several months ago, he declined.
"I prefer not to have too much media," he said at the time. "I’m just a Muslim man blessed to play football and earn my education. I'm not really into the spotlight."
So the amount of attention he received during WMU's first game in August had to have been uncomfortable.
Several months later, Al-Garawi agreed to explain the decision that prompted the outpouring of support and some vitriol.
He was born in South Dakota and grew up in Tennessee, but both of his parents come from near Najaf in Iraq. Al-Garawi said his father eventually decided to flee the country during Saddam Hussein's reign.
Growing up in the US, he recalled initially being reticent to talk about his family's history and culture. Yet his ability to excel in sports such as football and wrestling, he said, helped him gain considerable confidence.
"As I got older, I became more proud," Al-Garawi told The National.
"I'm definitely proud of being from Iraq. And if anything, I want to encourage younger people to be proud of where they're from."
He has visited Iraq – which he calls "the cradle of civilisation" – several times to visit family, and plans to go again. He said his relatives in Iraq first saw the jersey on Facebook.
"My dad shared it on there and they all thought it was really cool," Al-Garawi said.
He said that although he believes he is the first player in US college football to have Arabic script on his jersey, the inspiration came from the University of Notre Dame.
He watched a Notre Dame game on TV during the 2024 season and saw one of their players, Charles Du, originally from Beijing, who had his name written in Mandarin.
"That's when I thought, 'maybe I should do the same with Arabic'," he said, adding that WMU's equipment manager, Luke Garrett, made it a priority to find a seamstress near the university to do the work.
Although the Arabic script is the most noticeable thing about his jersey, Al-Garawi said that his choice of number, zero, also has significance.
"It's all about my roots and zero was invented in Iraq," he explained.
The truth of that statement is debatable – many scholars give India credit for inventing the mathematical concept of zero. Others say it originated in ancient Mesopotamia and still others insist the Mayans developed it.
Al-Garawi said he was amazed by the amount of debate around his jersey number. He added, however, that zero was not his first choice.
"I wanted number 11 but my guy Dame got it first," he recalled, referring to his friend, WMU defensive end Nadame Tucker.
Ultimately, he said that zero works for him on several levels. "I look at myself as nothing and Allah being everything ... I just focus on playing well and doing my best."
Playing in his senior year for WMU, Al-Garawi said he wants to play football for as long as he can, and ideally would like to have the opportunity to play at the next level, while working towards becoming a dentist.
"I want to open up my own private practice and give back to my community, both here and in Iraq," he said.
His main focus at the moment is to help WMU win more games to become eligible for the bowl, and continue to inspire others.
Despite the occasional critics on social media over his choice of jersey script, Al-Garawi remains unrelenting in his pursuit to be himself.
"Be proud of who you are, your heritage, your bloodline, and wear your history on your sleeve," he said when asked about his message to those who might feel unheard.
"It really doesn't matter what people think of you as long as people that you love think of you in a good light."
