Contributions

Explore and engage with other people's views
through words, pictures or video.

Back to CONTRIBUTIONS listing

The death of an icon

None of us can ever escape death or judgment and on that day we will only have our own deeds as our greatest shield...

Mikaeel (Michael) Jackson, an icon, a father, a son, a child, a tortured soul, a soul nonetheless...

The following was my contribution to a discussion I was involved in with a few Muslims regarding the death of Michael or Mikaeel Jackson.

“Does it really matter if he was a muslim or not, other than to satisfy our own egos in owning an icon?

The fact is a human being died. An iconic human being, who often lived a troubled life and had many trials and tribulations only exacerbated by the constant media attention.

When the Prophet's (SWAS) Jewish companion passed away and the body was being passed through the town, the Prophet stood up and paid his respects.

None of us can ever escape death or judgment and on that day we will only have our own deeds as our greatest shield. As with all deaths, this should cause us simply to reflect and honour the little time we have in making our lives the best we can be in terms of our own piety and taqwa.

I felt a loss today because an iconic figure who I had grown up hearing about passed away. May Allah enlighten all souls and bring them closer to him in this life so they can earn his greatest reward in the next.

ws."
 

Useful Tools
Social bookmarking

Comments

Login or Register to Comment

Thanks for the article... one of the things which come to afore in the Jackson story is the way people idolised this man: his influence is far reaching, and his death certainly came as a shock. However, at times we hold the creation, rather than the creator in the greatest of regards, without realising our own submission. Whether he died as a believer is really not the issue, who knows the subtlety in human thought and conscious? What we display outwardly, isnt always a reflection of our inward state. I guess what we can learn from this, is the fragility and weakness of our own created selves in front of our creator. If we learn lessons we can make waves.

I often think our outward behaviour is more influenced by the society around us, sometimes to respond to it believing errantly that it will be protecting our social position. This doesn't mean our heart is not affected by society because it is, but too often do we behave in such ways we don't necessarily truly believe in ourselves. There's a fear which we can't necessarily explain...what is certain, is our fragility...

Salaams Dear All, I am posting a comment regarding Michael Jackson’s tragic end, following the nice email we received from brother Mohammed. First, I agree with his opinions and am glad about his initiative of sharing them with us. I also grew up listening to his songs, which are far from being meaningless. If we listen carefully to the "The Man in the mirror" lyrics, we can only agree with MJ: “If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change…I am starting with the man in the mirror…” He was from far the best artist we ever had in 20th century. I sadly think his main problem was that he has not found peace in this life and was not surrounded by the right people. His extreme sensitivity led him to be the best artist - ever according to me -, but he could not build a proper shell to protect himself. As Mohammed said, his death is a reminder and should lead us to reflect on how we should live the few years left on this earth.