In 1997, sportswear giant Nike was forced to withdraw a design for its Nike Air basketball trainers after some customers claimed the stylised script resembled the Arabic rendering of Allah.

"The matter does not require denial, but rather laughing out loud," a senior Ansar Allah official told Newsweek.

According to the petition, the Air Max logo looks very similar to the Arabic script for "Allah." "It is outrageous and appalling of Nike to allow the name of God on a shoe," the petition reads.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, stated ...