Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was fined $11,492 for putting an unauthorized message in his eye black during the Texans’ loss to the Bills on Sunday.
The radical Al-Shaair wrote the words “Hind Rajab” across his eye black to honor a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed during a military engagement in Gaza in 2024.
Al-Shaair was not fined for the message’s content. However, he did not get permission from the league before including the girl’s name in his eye black, and the fine was for an unauthorized message, as the league tightly controls the messages players can display during games.
As Yahoo Sports noted, Al-Shaair was not the only player to be fined for appearance-related issues. For instance, David Montgomery was fined for an unauthorized logo on his cleats, and Trent Brown got a hit because his socks didn’t cover his lower leg.
The girl Al-Shaair memorialized died in 2024 after Israeli Defense Forces fired on a car her family was driving in Gaza.
The radical Muslim player has been fined for unauthorized eye black messaging before. In January, he wore a message reading “stop the genocide.”
Azeez Al-Shaair, a practicing Muslim with a long history of dirty play, wore the eye black both during the game and in post-game interviews.
Al-Shaair remains a controversial player due to his radical political proclamations. Last year, for instance, Al-Shaair wore cleats with the message “Free Palestine.”
The cleats feature the unverified number of Palestinians supposedly killed by the Israeli military. But, naturally, don’t mention the Palestinian terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Al-Shaair wore the cleats during a practice at minicamp in July 2025 and again at the press conference after the day’s activities.
Al-Shaair was also the player responsible for the dirty hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence in December 2024. It was an act he initially defended and even claimed that anyone criticizing him was “racist.”
Al-Shaair ultimately apologized for the hit on Lawrence, but even as he apologized, he dismissed his dirty hit as “just competition.”
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