Cisse and Ba could lead Muslim players' boycott of wearing new Wonga sponsor on Newcastle shirt.

Newcastle's Muslim stars could refuse to wear the club's new sponsor on their shirt.
In the latest controversy surrounding the club's deal with loan company Wonga, Newcastle now face a tricky situation with several of their senior players.

Under Sharia law, Muslims must not benefit from either lending money or receiving money from another person - meaning that interest is prohibited. Interest is not paid on Islamic bank accounts or added to mortgages.
Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Cheick Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa are all practising Muslims.

Deal: Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, managing director Derek Llambias, Wonga CEO Errol Damelin and chief narketing officer Darryl Bowman

They may follow the stance of former Tottenham and West Ham striker Freddie 

Kanoute, who refused to wear the logo of gambling website 888.com on his Seville shirt over his religious beliefs.

Kanoute instead wore an an unbranded top in Spain, although he agreed to wear the logo during training.

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, told The Independent: 'There are two aspects to this. We have the rulings of the religious law and we have the individual’s choice and decision on how they want to follow or not follow that rule.

'The idea is to protect the vulnerable and the needy from exploitation by the rich and powerful. 

'When they are lending and are charging large amounts of interest, it means the poor will have short-term benefit from the loan but long-term difficulty in paying it back because the rate of interest is not something they can keep up with. The Islamic system is based on a non-interest-based system of transaction.'

'Freddie was allowed to wear a top without the 888.com and that is a reasonable request to be made by the player. Assuming all four are on the pitch at the same time, if you have seven out of 11 (with advertising on their shirts) you have sufficient coverage. It is not asking too much, I believe.'

 Star men: (clockwise from top left) Papiss Cisse, Cheik Tiote, Demba Ba and Hatem Ben Arfa are Muslims

Wonga, whose four-year deal takes over from Virgin Money at the start of next season, has already drawn fierce criticism from other quarters for the huge interest charged on 30-day loans

Should a Newcastle fan accept a loan to buy a £50 club shirt, they would have to repay £71.92 after a month with a rate equivalent to 4,212 per cent per year.

FA general secretary Alex Horne said: 'The Football Supporters’ Federation of Britain told us in no uncertain terms it’s not appropriate, (Sunderland non-executive vice-president) David Miliband has told us he does not think it is appropriate.

'We are talking to the leagues on Friday about it. If you consider it as in the category of things that are inappropriate for children like gambling and alcohol, it feels like it is in that category to me.'

Newcastle and Wonga have attempted to take the sting out of criticism by announcing that the club's ground will revert to its former name St James' Park.

Back for good: The club have reverted to the ground's name St James' Park

But they still face a tough task convincing fans and football chiefs that the deal is appropriate for such a high-profile side.

Nick Forbes, the leader of Newcastle City Council, said: 'I’m appalled and sickened that they would sign a deal with a legal loan shark. It’s a sad indictment of the profit-at-any-price culture at Newcastle United.

'We are fighting hard to tackle legal and illegal loan sharking and having a company like this right across the city on every football shirt that’s sold undermines all our work.'

Debt is acute in the Newcastle area, with official figures from R3, the trade body for insolvency professionals, showing that the north-east has the highest personal insolvency rate in the country at 35.2 per 10,000 adults.

Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias said: 'As everyone knows, a strong commercial programme is vital to this goal and I am delighted to welcome Wonga into the fold as our lead commercial partner, alongside Puma and Sports Direct.

'Throughout our discussions, Wonga’s desire to help us invest in our young playing talent, the local community and new fan initiatives really impressed us and stood them apart from other candidates.'