Michael Jackson’s family reportedly is considering to have a traditional Muslim burial for the late music performer, Aceshowbiz reports
A source close to the Jacksons has exclusively revealed to X17 Online that family will likely have a traditional Muslim burial for late Michael Jackson. “The family is considering following the Muslim burial traditions because they believe Michael would have wanted to be laid to rest in keeping with his new-found religious beliefs,” says the source.

“Michael’s brother Jermaine is educating the family as to the special rites because he feels it’s important to bury his brother according to the Muslim way,” adds the source. Despite earlier reports that both public and private memorial services for the late music performer have been set to be held this week, there has been no official confirmation just yet from Michael’s family on the location where his body will be laid to rest.

Michael Jackson was reported converting to Islam in late 2008, years after expressing his interest to join the faith. He later on changed his name into “Mikaeel”, which was meant as a reference to the name of one of Allah’s angels.

New record: 70 Israeli citizens expected to convert to Islam this year – more than twice the number in previous years. Most are cases of Jewish, Christian women marrying Muslim men

Nurit Palter
According to statistics from the Population Administration, 2006 will be a record year for Israeli Jews joining the Muslim religion. In the past few years, the number of conversions to Islam was relatively stable at 35 per year, but over 70 conversions were expected this year. In 2003, 40 Jews converted to Islam; in 2004 the number dropped to 27; and last year it stood at 33.

“I did not want to ‘trade in’ my culture. I wanted access to new meanings.” – How an American writer born of a Jewish father and a Christian mother found spiritual fulfillment in Islam.

After twenty-five years a writer in America, I wanted something to soften my cynicism. I was searching for new terms by which to see. The way one is raised establishes certain needs in this department. From a pluralist background, I naturally placed great stress on the matters of racism and freedom. Then, in my early twenties, I had gone to live in Africa for three years. During this time, which was formative for me, I did rubbed shoulders with blacks of many different tribes, with Arabs, Berbers, and even Europeans, who were Muslims. By and large these people did not share the Western obsession with race as a social category. In our encounters being oddly colored rarely mattered. I was welcomed first and judged on merit later. By contrast, Europeans and Americans, including many who are free of racist notions, automatically class people racially. Muslims classified people by their faith and their actions. I found this transcendent and refreshing. Malcolm X saw his nation’s salvation in it. “America needs to understand Islam,” he wrote, “because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem”.

The Sunday Times January 15, 2006

ISLAM: Why hundreds of ordinary West Aussies change faith. With defined rules for life and a strong sense of community, Islam is attracting many Perth converts, as Paul Lampathakis reports

AXEL Cremer used to turn heads when he’d roar up to prayer time at the Rivervale mosque on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
Category: Prominent Converts

I became a Muslim when it seemed I had already accepted Islam in my bones, as if beyond choice, and I only had to make a leap to embrace it formally. Outwardly I was content; inwardly I was coasting. My three-year-old theatre company was disbanded after a hilariously chaotic production for a Tim Leary Benefit at the Family Dog in San Francisco, circa ‘68 — naturally the orange juice everyone had passed around was spiked, so that chorus members were doing the final scene in the first ten minutes — and for six months I had been methodically typing out poetry manuscripts in my attic in Berkeley preparatory to a big publishing peak.

Jermaine Jackson
Category: Prominent Converts

In a starling Interview, Jermaine Jackson, brother of world-famous star Michael Jackson, tells how he embraced Islam.

Islam is a religion, which transcends all petty prejudices of color, race and territorial boundaries. That is why the followers of other religions, with a nearsighted vision, have a sense of overflowing pride and relief when they embrace Islam. Deserting the religion of one?s forefathers is one of the most difficult decisions, but the golden principles and the virtues of broadmindedness of Islam have persuaded mankind to adopt it as a way of life.

THE GROWING RELIGION

“I have always held the religion of Mohammed in high esteem because of its wonderful vitality. To me it seems the only faith able to adapt to life under different conditions in a way which makes it attractive to every people and every age.”
- Bernard Shaw