Madonna…and Islam?
Hot news this week is that “Like A Prayer” singer Madonna has revealed in an interview that she is studying The Quran.
The Singer recently got her fans all around the world talking after she posted a photo on Facebook from a shoot in which she was wearing what looked like a chainmail niqab with the caption that said: “The Revolution of Love is on…Insha’Allah.”
The 55-year-old pop star, who was raised in a strict Roman Catholic household, is known for practicing Kabbalah, a form of Judaism which denotes an esoteric method and school of thought. It is said that she began to take interest in Kabbalah in 1988 and began learning about the faith – which is considered a form of mysticism – at the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles.
Madonna has often faced criticism for practicing it and has also been accused of using religion to raise her celebrity status. The singer, however, remains baffled by the negative reactions created by her personal interest in religion.
According to her all forms of orthodoxy should be dispassionately viewed.
In an interview with Harper Bazaar magazine last Friday, she said: “I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Quran. I think it is important to study all the holy books.”
The important thing to focus on here is the fact that Madonna has not claimed to be studying Quran in order to revert to Islam, even though pro-Islamists have taken up the stance declaring Madonna is “considering Islam” because she has been (apparently) dating a Muslim.
However, it would be better if certain people realized that instead of acting like the religious/moral police, and passing judgments on the choices of other people (even if they are celebrities), we should take into consideration all the facts surrounding that particular individual’s life choices – and respect them.
Madonna, in her interview, also added: “You would think that studying the mystical interpretation of the Old Testament and trying to understand the secrets of the universe was a harmless thing to do. I wasn’t hurting anybody; just going to class, taking notes in my spiral notebook, contemplating my future. I was actually trying to become a better person.”
Islam has always been in the limelight for one reason or another – mostly negative, if the past few years are taken into account – and our cause is not helped when such pronouncements are made by so-called religious scholars.
One of the most feared – and also the fastest spreading religion in the world today – Islam is faced with misconceptions and people fighting on both sides, some truly understanding that Islam actually means peace while others using it simply for their own gains.
There are even professional Islamophobes present in the USA who believe that American Muslims are most likely to be terrorist sympathizers. They are also most likely to be angry with the FBI for discontinuing the training which suggested that any Islamic person is a violent extremist.
These claims can be satisfactorily denied by the numerous public surveys conducted in America, which show mainstream Islamic American’s as being the least likely religious group to accept violence against civilians as justifiable. Also, due to the ability to spread knowledge via social media, most Non-Muslims are not unduly troubled by a Muslim’s presence.
According to Madonna however, it is important to be familiar with the various religious texts due to her charitable works, which include making education more accessible to underprivileged children in developing countries around the globe. She has even begun to read the Quran.
Moreover, she whole-heartedly declares that to be a good Muslim is to be a good Jew; and that to be a good Jew is to be a good Christian, and so on.
And when you look at it – isn’t that what every religion teaches at the end? Peace and humanity?