# Did Michael Jackson really convert to Islam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069 "2009-06-26T14:20:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Valteron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f17d59/32.png) [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/1 "2009-06-26T14:20:46Z")
I have a question about the late King of Pop. Did he really convert to Islam in the past year or so? I have no objection, mind you. Everyone should be free to join or leave every religion and I respect his right to choose. The reason I ask this is that searches on the web seem mostly to turn up marginal Muslim web sites or sensationlist British tabloids that hedge their reports with “is reported to have embraced Islam”. I can’t seem to find anything confirming or denying it. Most people say they never hear of this conversion. There are also reports that he did so because he was being sued by a Muslim sheik. Does anyone have anything reliable? ---
**Author:** ![Valteron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f17d59/32.png) [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/2 "2009-06-26T14:41:13Z")
I have a question about the late King of Pop. Did he really convert to Islam in the past year or so? I have no objection, mind you. Everyone should be free to join or leave every religion and I respect his right to choose. The reason I ask this is that searches on the web seem mostly to turn up marginal Muslim web sites or sensationlist British tabloids that hedge their reports with “is reported to have embraced Islam”. I can’t seem to find anything confirming or denying it in the Wikipedia article about him. A search of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times turns up nothing about it. Most people say they never hear of this conversion. There are also reports that he did so because he was being sued by a Muslim sheik. Does anyone have anything reliable? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/3 "2009-06-26T15:04:35Z")
I have no inside information, but it’s at least possible. IIRC, he fled to Dubai or one of the Emirates after the whole scandal with the kids, someplace he could lay low for a while. It’s possible that he was converted while there. Or it could be a bs rumor, like at least half of the rumors that have swirled around him for the last 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/4 "2009-06-26T15:12:35Z")
His brother, Jermaine Jackson, converted to Islam in 1989. The Telegraph reported in November 2008 that Michael wen through the shahada (Muslim declaration of belief) to convert to Islam. He’d been hanging out with a songwriter and a producer who’d converted. Jackson was reportedly “feeling down”, they told him how happy they were and an imam was summoned to the friend’s house. So while he went through that declaration, I’ve read nothing that substantially corroborates the report or indicates he actually continued to live life as a Muslim. He was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/5 "2009-06-26T15:37:09Z")
I just answered this question over in the Cafe. The Telegraph reported in November 2008, that while hanigng out with a songwriter and a producer (both of whom had converted to Islam), they were chatting about their faith. They claimed Jackson was “feeling down” and had shown quite an interest in Islam when they were explaining how it had enriched their lives. An imam was called to the one guy’s house (I don’t know if it was the producer or songwriter) and Jackson went through the shahada (Muslim declaration of belief). I have seen nothing else to corroborate this report, which sounds kind of like a spur-of-the-moment thing (but who knows, Jermaine converted back in 1989, and was much more public about it, and may have been much more of an influence). So he may have made his declaration of faith and then that was it, or it may be an embellished tale. He was raised a Jehovah’s Witness nothing official ever announce any conversion, AFAIK. ETA: I suspect it was an embellished tale, or perhaps Jackson was more like back in college when my buddy decided to become a vegetarian, because he was profoundly adopting a new way of life, and was eating hotdogs again by the end of the week. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/6 "2009-06-26T17:12:20Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I have no inside information, but it’s at least possible. IIRC, he fled to Dubai or one of the Emirates after the whole scandal with the kids, someplace he could lay low for a while. Bahrain, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/7 "2009-06-26T17:40:14Z")
I have merged a duplicate thread from GQ into this Cafe Society thread. Please do not cross-post questions in different forums. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/8 "2009-06-26T19:06:43Z")
Ow, that merge hurt! ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/9 "2009-06-26T21:01:49Z")
I wondered about that when Jermaine read his prepared statement yesterday. At the end, he says something along the lines of: “and Allah be with you always” but I couldn’t quite make it out. So what we do in a situation like this is to rewind a bit using the DVR function and hit the mute button on the remote. This allows the closed caption to kick in and the words then came up as “our love be with you always” though it still sounds closer to “Allah”. I could poke around a bit to find the written transcript of what Jermaine said but if it’s just from ear witnesses on the scene, I suppose you could get both versions. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/10 "2009-06-26T21:07:15Z")
The press always uses non-committal words like “embraced” ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/11 "2009-06-26T21:20:28Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > I wondered about that when Jermaine read his prepared statement yesterday. > > At the end, he says something along the lines of: “and Allah be with you always” but I couldn’t quite make it out. Yes, but when my father died, people said all sorts of variations of: “He’s with God now.” “The Lord has called him home.” and so on, yet my father was pretty much an atheist. Those kind of sentiments tend to say more about the speaker’s beliefs than those of the deceased. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-michael-jackson-really-convert-to-islam/501069/12 "2009-06-26T22:04:36Z")
[Juan Cole](http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-islam-and-middle-east.html): > [@](#): > > Michael Jackson’s sad death at age 50 has provoked an outpouring of emotion around the whole world. Because of globalization, it is an event that affects fans in Asia and the Middle East, as well. In early 2007, his brother Jermaine, a Muslim, announced that Michael would embrace that religion. In November of 2008, just months before his death press reports said that Michael Jackson had formally converted to Islam… > > Jermaine Jackson explained that it was the experience of touring the Gulf that brought family members into contact with Islam. Interestingly, he found that Islam resolved some dilemmas he had about Jehovah’s Witness beliefs. Just as Malcolm X had been converted by his pilgrimage to Mecca from a narrow sectarian folk religion in America to Sunni anti-racist universalism, so Jermaine took a similar path. > > We can only speculate about the attractions for Michael Jackson of Islam, but likely his 2005 trial in which he was acquitted of all charges was implicated in his desire for a change. The court psychiatrist confirmed his psychological innocence, saying he had been arrested at the stage of a 10 year old. Michael Jackson was deeply hurt and humiliated by the experience, and his withdrawal to Bahrain and search for a different tradition of spirituality may well have come out of that abasement.