Michael Jackson is dead…

…and I say inallilahi wa ina ilahi rajioon – unto God we belong and unto Him we return.

A friend came by and right before she did, I had just checked my email. The news blurb as I logged in said Michael Jackson suffers a heart attack. By the time I logged out, the news flash said Michael Jackson dies of cardiac arrest.

Of course there was sense of huh? which I had to chase away with the reminder that he was a human belonging to God and as such, was called back to Him. While I wasn’t originally (growing up) a fan of his music, I had come to realize his talent – perhaps even more so now against the current backdrop of a lack of iconic musical talents. It was also interesting to see how many young people now were beginning to rediscover MJ’s music. (At our school’s talent show, choreography set to MJ’s Thriller won the best overall prize – voted by the students).

After I told my friend the news and watched her face go through the same look mine did (“didn’t we grow up to his music?”), we discussed the Muslimness of MJ – or more specifically, my friend wondered the veracity of the claim that he had converted. I don’t doubt the veracity of it. People had wondered about Dave Chappelle’s conversion for a while (perhaps, and rightly, due to the nature of his previous shows) but I saw him on stage (at a Muslim event) where he admitted and spoke candidly about his struggles practicing Islam while in the shady world that is show business. God gives each of us our own struggles and Michael certainly had his. And God knows best.