First ‘Allah’ socks, now outrage over shoes as Malaysia’s Islamists drive outcry

Vern’s, a high-street shoe brand in Malaysian shopping centres, has been thrust into the dangerous cross hairs of the nation’s conservative-driven cancel culture, which critics say is over-the-top, divisive and used cynically by Islamist parties seeking political gain in the Muslim-majority country.

Police said several complaints were made about pairs of shoes with a stylised logo engraved on the soles that some say looks like Arabic calligraphy for the word God, widely seen as an insult to Islam.

The store has vehemently protested that it is a coincidence and the lines were in fact a random pattern rather than an Arabic word.

“I apologise, even though it is an issue of misunderstanding, it has hurt the feelings of Muslims,” ethnic Chinese founder Ng Chuan Hoo told reporters on Monday outside the headquarters of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).

Jakim will be the final arbiter on whether the logo design is indeed Arabic calligraphy, said Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain.

“No arrests have been made as we are still working with the Islamic development department [Jakim] to get more details,” Razarudin said.

More than 1,140 pairs of shoes have since been confiscated by the police in a nationwide sweep.

Facing calls for a boycott, Vern’s took to Facebook on Sunday to explain that the designs some had perceived as Arabic script were instead a stylised representation of a string on one of its high-heeled shoes, which spirals into a series of loops.

It said the design was open to misinterpretation and vowed to immediately stop selling the shoes, offering refunds to customers who bought them.

The flare-up is the latest in a series in Malaysia, driven by sharpened Islamist sensibilities gaining ground in