This is a very insightful article by Hamza Yusuf. “It is a world of
angels and demons, and questions in the grave, a world where fame is
based upon piety and charity. Given Michael’s reported conversion to
Islam last year, Muslims count him as one of our own, and we pray that
he can finally find the peace he never found in this world and that he
is in a place, God willing, of mercy, forgiveness, and solace.”

Michael Jackson: Peace at Last
By Hamza Yusuf

As a little boy, Michael Jackson had an extraordinary charisma — as
well as an absolute innocence — that was disarmingly charming. It
captivated millions of Americans and eventually people around the
world.

As the years went by, his career took strange turns and he slowly
turned white, transforming his face eerily into a pale and ghastly
masque, perhaps to conceal the pain of alienation from his own self
and family. He was also rumored to have unsavory predilections that
would never have been suggested if one used the rigorous criteria of
Islam before hurling an accusation. Despite the rumors, he appeared to
have had a genuine concern for children, wanting to provide them with
a world that was denied to him as a child due to the abuses he claimed
to have suffered.

I was very happy for him last year when he reportedly became a Muslim.
He had apparently followed the footsteps of his dignified and
intelligent brother, Jermaine, who converted to Islam 20 years ago and
found peace. It seemed befitting that Michael sought refuge from a
society that thrives on putting people on pedestals and then knocking
them down. He was accused of many terrible things, but was guilty of
perhaps being far too sensitive for an extremely cruel world. Such is
the fate of many artistic people in our culture of nihilistic art,
where the dominant outlet for their talents is in singing hollow pop
songs or dancing half-naked in front of ogling onlookers who often
leave them as quickly as they clung to them for the next latest
sensation.

In the manner of Elvis or the Beatles, Michael is unwittingly both a
cause and a symptom of America’s national obsession with celebrity,
currently on display in the American Idol mania. Celebrity trumps
catastrophe every time. Far too few of us make any attempt to
understand why jobs are drying up, why mortgages are collapsing, why
we spend half-a-trillion dollars to service the interest on the
national debt, why our government’s administration, despite being
elected on an anti-war platform, is still committed to two unnecessary
and unjust wars waged by the earlier administration, wars that
continue to involve civilians casualties on an almost daily basis.
Instead, we drown in trivia, especially trivia related to celebrity.
And the response to Michael’s death is part of the trivial pursuits of
American popular culture. The real news about death in America is that
twenty Iraq and Afghan war veterans are committing suicide every day.
But that does not make the front page nor is it discussed as seriously
as the King of Pop’s cardiac arrest.

Nevertheless, Michael’s very public death notice is a powerful
reminder that no matter how famous or talented or wealthy one is,
death comes knocking, sometimes sooner than later. Michael has now
entered a world of extraordinary perception, a world that makes his
“Thriller” video seem mundane. It is a world of angels and demons, and
questions in the grave, a world where fame is based upon piety and
charity. Given Michael’s reported conversion to Islam last year,
Muslims count him as one of our own, and we pray that he can finally
find the peace he never found in this world and that he is in a place,
God willing, of mercy, forgiveness, and solace.