{"id":241,"date":"2009-02-13T09:41:20","date_gmt":"2009-02-13T09:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2009\/02\/will-george-clooney-convert-to.html"},"modified":"2009-02-13T09:41:20","modified_gmt":"2009-02-13T09:41:20","slug":"will-george-clooney-convert-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/02\/will-george-clooney-convert-to.html","title":{"rendered":"Will George Clooney convert to Islam?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Along with the entire nation of Pakistan, I’m fascinated by this story<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"fatima-clooney_130981t.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

He is Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor. She is an outspoken poet
\nand journalist born into Pakistan’s greatest political dynasty. What,
\nthen, could spark a bigger media circus than a “secret romance” between
\nGeorge Clooney and Benazir Bhutto’s 26-year-old niece, Fatima? <\/p>\n

Newspapers
\nacross the subcontinent were thrown into frenzied excitement yesterday
\nwhen America’s most influential supermarket tabloid claimed that
\nClooney had embarked on a long-distance relationship with Ms Bhutto
\nafter meeting her at an international conference last year. <\/p>\n

The
\nNational Enquirer alleged that the 47-year-old actor and political
\nactivist was privately smitten by the “brainy foreign beauty,” who
\nlives with her brother and step-mother in a prosperous suburb of
\nKarachi. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Assuming that it’s true (which given the origin of the story in the National Enquirer, does require at least some skepticism), it’s notable that Clooney’s interest is partly because of the “foreign” aspect. Also, we can assume that the “brainy” appeal is largely due to the contrast with his usual coterie. I’m surprised the phrase “exotic beauty” haven’t been used yet. But Fatima Bhutto’s cachet as scion of the most powerful political dynasty in Pakistan also surely is part of the appeal. <\/p>\n

As a distraction from other (ahem) world affairs of greater significance – such as finally admitting that the Mumbai attackers did have Pakistani links<\/a> – the Clooney-Bhutto romance certainly is useful<\/i>. But let’s suppose it is true and Clooney is serious. How serious is he? Would he be willing to convert to Islam to gain Bhutto’s favor? To be honest, after Mikael Jackson<\/a> I’m kind of dreading the media circus. But Clooney’s been fascinated with the Islamic world for a while now – Three Kings<\/i> and Syriana<\/i> come immediately to mind. As a muslim Clooney could film his next movie in Mecca proper… and not even have to give up his Starbucks or Burger King<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Along with the entire nation of Pakistan, I’m fascinated by this story: He is Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor. She is an outspoken poet and journalist born into Pakistan’s greatest political dynasty. What, then, could spark a bigger media circus than a “secret romance” between George Clooney and Benazir Bhutto’s 26-year-old niece, Fatima? Newspapers across the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[164,229,228,24,26],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stranger-than-fiction","tag-conversion","tag-fatima-bhutto","tag-george-clooney","tag-islam","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nWill George Clooney convert to Islam? - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will George Clooney convert to Islam? - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Along with the entire nation of Pakistan, I’m fascinated by this story: He is Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor. 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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}