{"id":398,"date":"2009-06-26T10:41:41","date_gmt":"2009-06-26T10:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2009\/06\/michael-jackson-and-the-muslim.html"},"modified":"2009-06-26T10:41:41","modified_gmt":"2009-06-26T10:41:41","slug":"michael-jackson-and-the-muslim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/06\/michael-jackson-and-the-muslim.html","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson and the muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Jackson’s passing is almost as fittingly mysterious and dramatic as was his life. Everyone has their own MJ stories about how his music played a role in their lives, but tlooking back it seems like there were two of him, pre-Thriller and post-Thriller. Pre-Thriller, MJ was a musical icon, but afterwards with his descent into eccentricity, face bleaching, and retreat into a literal Neverland of his own making, MJ took on the status of living myth. The power of that myth persisted despite bankruptcy woes, accusations of child molestation, and other slings and arrows, so much so that last year when rumors of Jackson’s conversion to Islam began to float<\/a>, they sent a shockwave of fascination throughout the world.<\/p>\n

Though his conversion was never confirmed (and outright denied<\/a> by his publicists), the idea of Michael Jackson as Mikael Jackson proved too powerful to let go. It’s fascinating how muslims in particular are now responding to his death; this thread at Talk Islam<\/a> has attracted many readers who normally don’t comment to leave a message and express their sorrow and prayers. That MJ was a muslim is simply assumed as a given, and the thread is full of the muslim prayer for the dead, Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un<\/em>. His death has clearly touched muslims as one of their own, and the question of his belief only adds to the mythos he leaves behind.<\/p>\n

Rest in peace, Michael. Like Marilyn Monroe, you’ve become immortal in a way that almost no other celebrity has ever become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Jackson’s passing is almost as fittingly mysterious and dramatic as was his life. Everyone has their own MJ stories about how his music played a role in their lives, but tlooking back it seems like there were two of him, pre-Thriller and post-Thriller. 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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\/398","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=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}