‘Media outlets are erasing Sinead O’Connor’s Muslim identity’

3 years ago by 🌱 🐄🌱 to c/world

O’Connor converted to Islam in 2018, a key moment of her life some say is not highlighted in tributes.

As musicians, politicians and fans remember Sinead O’Connor, some Muslims are disappointed that the Irish singer and lifelong activist’s religious identity is not being highlighted in tributes.

UK police on Wednesday said the 56-year-old was found unresponsive in her London residence on Wednesday and that there her death was not being treated as suspicious.

Since the news of her death, Muslim fans of the 90s superstar have said her conversion to Islam, a cornerstone of her identity, was inspiring, but that some media reports have failed to note her religious beliefs in obituaries.

O’Connor, whose chart-topping hit “Nothing Compares 2 U” helped her reach global stardom, converted to Islam in 2018.

“This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian‘s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant,” the songstress tweeted on October 19, 2018.

At that time, O’Connor tweeted selfies donning the Muslim headscarf, the hijab, and uploaded a video of her reciting the Islamic call to prayer, the azan.

She took on the Muslim name Shuhada’ Davitt – later changing it to Shuhada Sadaqat – but continued to use the name Sinead O’Connor professionally.

One social media user said imagery of the singer without the hijab points to the glaring lack of Muslim reporters in newsrooms.

Meanwhile, some said that O’Connor was an inspiration for queer Muslims globally.

In 2000, she came out as a lesbian during an interview. But the singer, who was married to multiple men throughout her life, later said that her sexuality was fluid and that she did not believe in labels.

Some found joy in O’Connor’s conversion growing up, seeing themselves represented, while others, just learning about her Muslim identity at the news of her death, also took inspiration.

O’Connor was no stranger to controversy.

A lifelong nonconformist, she was outspoken about religion, feminism, and war, as well as her own addiction and mental health issues.

In 2014, she refused to play in Israel.

“Let’s just say that, on a human level, nobody with any sanity, including myself, would have anything but sympathy for the Palestinian plight. There’s not a sane person on earth who in any way sanctions what the f*** the Israeli authorities are doing,” she told Hot Press, an Irish music magazine.

Her iconic shaved head and shapeless wardrobe defied early 90s popular culture’s notions of femininity and sexuality.

In 1992, she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a television appearance on Saturday Night Live, vocal against the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse.

The late former star was also a firm supporter of a united Ireland, under which the United Kingdom would relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

schwim 147 points 3 years ago

Let's help people remember her Muslim identity then, I'll start:

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EnderWi99in 90 points 3 years ago

I think she was a complicated person who struggled in a lot of ways, but she did apologize for saying this...https://people.com/...

I'll never understand the switch to Islam though, but then again, I'll probably never understand why anyone chooses any religion either -- Especially someone who took the kinds of positions she had taken earlier in life. People are complicated. I won't hold that against her.

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TheRealBob 7 points 3 years ago

Existence is very scary. The randomness of it all, the indifference of the universe, how little we matter, the finality of death… not everyone can cope with this stuff. Religion provides hope and comfort to them.

I mean I wish we’d move past religion, but I don’t think it’ll ever happen. Being alive is fucking terrifying.

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hansl 2 points 3 years ago

You might feel like just a small grain of sand, but the beach is fucking beautiful.

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Buddahriffic 3 points 3 years ago

On second thought, I have nothing useful to add to this topic.

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Flyswat 8 points 3 years ago path: 0 1779586 1787177, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 1
PipedLinkBot 8 points 3 years ago path: 0 1779586 1787177 1787184, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
Widowmaker_Best_Girl 2 points 3 years ago
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audiomodder -8 points 3 years ago

As a queer person, I COMPLETELY understand her sentiment here. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it.

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neuromancer 55 points 3 years ago
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EhList 12 points 3 years ago
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DaveFuckinMorgan -2 points 3 years ago

Are you telling me I shouldn't move to an African country? That's kind of racist.

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Flyswat 1 point 3 years ago path: 0 1779586 1780001 1780194 1787311, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 2
PipedLinkBot 4 points 3 years ago path: 0 1779586 1780001 1780194 1787311 1787321, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
DaveFuckinMorgan 3 points 3 years ago

"JOKES ON THEM, I'M ONLY PRETENDING TO BE RETARDED"

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audiomodder -3 points 3 years ago

When I spend a lot of time around non-queer people (although even some cisgender gay people get in my nerves too) it gets to be really difficult for me. You’re constantly hiding parts of who you are, or getting sideways looks, or other things that tell you that they really don’t “get” you. You feel constantly judged and on the outside. It makes it difficult to not have at least a quick chat with someone who does understand.

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neuromancer 10 points 3 years ago
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superkret 7 points 3 years ago
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TheBlackLounge -10 points 3 years ago

She was angry for getting a lot of Islamophobia. It's racism yeah but only in a very literal sense that doesn't hurt white people. It's not that hard to understand.

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neuromancer 42 points 3 years ago
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Blamemeta -19 points 3 years ago

How does she still have white fans? You'd have to be so self-hating to be a fan of hers.

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TheBlackLounge 21 points 3 years ago

Why should that be an issue? As if Black people can't be HP Lovecraft fans.

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Historical_General -3 points 3 years ago

I understand the point here, but you realise this is stupid because it legitimises that other idiot's sense of grievance against a supposed 'reverse racism'. Structural reverse racism is impossible because of history.

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TheBlackLounge 1 point 3 years ago

I don't think it legitimizes that. Fans can be blissfully unaware of an artist's politics. Or better: loving their art in spite of their politics can be empowering. It removes the hate from the art and turns it into a positive force. This has been done over and over again with Lovecraft's work. That took effort. Not so much with Sinead's songs, cause her "racist" fit was so impotent to begin with.

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ren 17 points 3 years ago

I'm a white. A queer. An atheist. And a fan.

White people have a very long & deep history of saying some really nasty shit about non-white people, especially of the muslim faith.

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coffeekomrade 15 points 3 years ago

Yeah that’s not just exclusive to white people

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ren 11 points 3 years ago

of course not, but Sinead... is white. As a white converted Muslim, she was probably hyper aware of the Islamophobia within her own communities, fan base, and just in general.

Her post, while the language was divisive, it was obviously written out of frustration and what she meant is pretty clear & obvious to anyone paying attention to Islamophobia, especially post 9/11 and then again especially during Trump's administration.

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glimse 8 points 3 years ago

By separating the art from the artist.

There's people in every industry who surely have insufferable personalities but they make great art. Enjoying her music doesn't mean you enjoy her as a person ya know

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coffeekomrade 4 points 3 years ago

I’ve probably only heard 1 of her songs the entire time I’ve been alive

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DessertStorms -28 points 3 years ago

This whole comment section is a cesspit that demonstrates exactly why she felt that way, yet even in death you fuckers just want to keep pilling on.
You are the problem here, not her.

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CorruptBuddha 10 points 3 years ago

Someone call the cops people are expressing opinions

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Nowyn 1 point 3 years ago path: 0 1779586 1783002 1792098, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1
PipedLinkBot 2 points 3 years ago path: 0 1779586 1783002 1792098 1792108, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
astral_avocado 135 points 3 years ago

Outspoken non-conformist feminist conforms and converts to Islam, declaring all other religions worldwide, wrong and invalid. Could almost be an Onion article title.

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scarabic 41 points 3 years ago

Sky daddy issues.

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PsyconicX -33 points 3 years ago

She's vocal against the Catholic Church's history of child abuse. Assuming you're just like all other anti-theists, I would say some amount of her personal beliefs align with yours. Almost hypocritical of you.

Also, I don't see any "issues" she's having. Only issues people having against her. Not saying she's the best person - she's still kinda shit.

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scarabic 39 points 3 years ago

A woman converting to Islam has issues. Saying it’s the inevitable confusion of theological inquiry is hard evidence of brain damage.

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CorruptBuddha 29 points 3 years ago

Didn't the Prophet Muhammad like... fuck a 12 year old?

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PsyconicX -32 points 3 years ago

Quote where it comes from. Not that hellish shit of a book that is Sahih Bukhari. I'm Shia, so I don't buy that. Aisha be writing softcover porn in that book and there are so many contradictions that I am almost calling it a fairytale book.

A Shia source please.

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Noughmad 25 points 3 years ago

She's vocal against the Catholic Church's history of child abuse.

Which is very good, but why did she then join another religion with pretty much the same history? Do people really think it's only the Catholic church?

Edit: I learned that she also joined a Catholic church (but not the Catholic church) for a while. Yes, definitely crazy.

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sickpusy 2 points 3 years ago

Pretty common trope. Check the Indian English poet Kamala Das for comparison.

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dangblingus 118 points 3 years ago

Listen, I love Sinead, but she had some serious mental health issues. She became a catholic priest after lambasting the catholic church over child sexual abuse, then left the catholic church, then converted to Islam in 2018? I think if we want to completely divulge every single issue she had in her life, it does a disservice to her memory. From my perspective, there's no reason other than mania that I can think of why someone like her would convert to a faith like Islam.

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AbidanYre 22 points 3 years ago

She became a catholic priest

That doesn't sound right.

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Hawk 20 points 3 years ago

It was a not officially recognized sect

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surewhynotlem 12 points 3 years ago

There are no unofficial Catholic sects. By definition, if you're not official, you're not Catholic. They're allowed to define that.

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zouden 9 points 3 years ago path: 0 1781826 1785935 1786925 1790909 1796367, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 3
Flax_vert 1 point 2 years ago

The word "Catholic" just means universal. Most Christians claim to be Catholic as well, such as Anglicans, as they see themselves as descended from the Church of the Apostles. You'd really have to get into restorationism or people simply misunderstanding the faith to find those who don't. Although whether or not they are Roman Catholic, as in, seeing the authority of the Bishop of Rome as Pope, is a different thing.

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Nowyn 13 points 3 years ago

Islam as religious text basis doesn't really differ in a bad way from the other two Abrahamic religions. It even gives some extra rights to women that Christianity and Judaism don't. Forcing hijab on women is also expressively banned in Islamic theological texts. Doesn't change how it works in practice as forced hijab is pretty common in fundamentalistic Islamic theocracies. But might explain why converting is a little bit less insane than at the surface level. If I had to choose one of the Abrahamic religions on a purely theological basis I might end up choosing Islam. Please note, I am not trying to give a pass to Islam, Islamic countries or especially fundamentalist Muslims. The issues are myriad. People outside Islamic countries just have a somewhat skewed image of the religion. Both in theory and practice.

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arquebus 22 points 3 years ago

It's a religion founded by a guy who consummated a marriage to a 9 year old girl - on that basis alone, converting as a woman is super fucked up.

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maynarkh 8 points 3 years ago

That's no better or worse than the morals of the founders of the other Abrahamic religions.

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arquebus -6 points 3 years ago

yeah, and it's dumb for women to convert to those, too. tbh it's dumb for women to convert to any religion that allows men, period.

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Nowyn 1 point 3 years ago
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CorruptBuddha 10 points 3 years ago

While consummating marriage with Aisha is indefensible, it is also on bar with religions and historical realities.

Why call it indefensible, and then go onto defend it?

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Blamemeta 5 points 3 years ago

No it isn't. Most rapists back then waited until after puberty. 9 is extremely young no matter the era.

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Flyswat -1 points 3 years ago path: 0 1781826 1790997 1793348 1794128, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 2
PipedLinkBot 4 points 3 years ago path: 0 1781826 1790997 1793348 1794128 1794133, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
CorruptBuddha 3 points 3 years ago

I don't think this really applies to a prophet of god. What kind of god forbids bacon, but leaves friggen pedophilia on the table?

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Lem0n -3 points 3 years ago

You have a time machine to prove that she was nine years old?

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Annoyed_Crabby 5 points 3 years ago
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Nowyn 1 point 3 years ago

I have lived in multiple as non-Muslims for long periods of time. My group of friends is pretty varied. I am not disagreeing with that in any way. A lot of Muslims are problematic at best. Why it is so is a lot more complex than just Islam. The skewed image comes not from the fact that a lot of the criticism of Islam, and especially Islamic countries, is not true. It comes from not knowing what religion says theologically, what the jurisprudence of Islam says and what Muslims actually do both in good and bad. Instead in the West we majorly hear about negative things without similar group understanding we have with Christians. When we hear that Iran is shooting people for protesting mandatory hijab majority of us do not have knowledge that mandatory hijab is pretty clearly against religious texts and that neighbour Bill while being Muslim is a good person. We do that with Christianity for example. For example, even Christian fundamentalists do similar you need to act like my religion says thing. A case-and-point example is the overturning of Roe vs Wade in the US. Nor did people start really deciding all Catholics are bad because the church had a huge CSA problem and might still have it.

Fundamentalist religion is a problem as it usually comes with extending religious values outside oneself. How Islam landed on that in many countries is a very complex issue but one thing is that it didn't happen in a vacuum. Radicalization has a huge component of different types of marginalization. One huge and studied cause is colonialism.

It doesn't sit well with me how the West is part of the cause for radicalized Islam while the widespread Islamophobia means that Muslims are treated badly no matter of their own actions which is likely to further radicalize Islam.

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dangblingus 1 point 3 years ago

Religion is control. It doesn't deliver freedom.

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Flax_vert 1 point 2 years ago path: 0 1781826 1790997 12281760, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
joe 98 points 3 years ago

I have to admit that I always thought she was agnostic, if not atheist, from that Pope stuff.

I idly wonder why a gay feminist would convert to Islam. Aren't those things incompatible? Is this my ignorance showing? Are there sects of Islam that are more open minded, like there are sects of Christianity?

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Bassman1805 50 points 3 years ago

In short, yes, Islam varies a lot based on the actual community you're a part of. Few places are as extreme as Afghanistan, even if you look at other conservative theocracies. When you're looking at Muslim communities in Western Europe, it's a very different situation.

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joe 18 points 3 years ago

Well, TIL a few things. Thanks.

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Fried_out_Kombi 15 points 3 years ago

Additionally, most of the world's Muslims don't live in the Middle East or North Africa. South and and Southeast Asia combined have by far the largest Muslim population in the world. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. And the way they practice Islam is quite different from the Middle East and North Africa. According to Wikipedia, there are about 241 million in Pakistan, 236 million in Indonesia, about 200 million in India, and 151 million in Bangladesh.

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livus 20 points 3 years ago

And the way they practice Islam is quite different from the Middle East

Worth noting that fundamentalist Islam is exported from KSA, similar to how evangelical Christianity is exported from USA.

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nikt 10 points 3 years ago

She herself seemed to lack this sort of nuance. She refused to play in Israel, for example, effectively accusing and dismissing an entire nation as oppressors.

I suspect she was, deep down, not a particularly reflective person. We all know people like these. Feel a feeling, act on it immediately, and maaaybe consider the implications and consequences later. Maybe. Or just double down, and never dare to truly look at yourself in the mirror.

It’s unfortunate because these types of people also sometimes turn out to be incredible artists. I assume it’s the combination of talent plus the ability (/curse?) to experience raw feelings much more strongly than the rest of us.

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dangblingus 44 points 3 years ago

Mental illness.

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atzanteol 25 points 3 years ago

Yeah - her anger was directed at the church not religion. Wearing a hijab, however, seems completely irrational for a feminist. But doing something people don't expect to get attention and make people mad is definitely on-brand.

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Syndic 1 point 3 years ago

Wearing a hijab, however, seems completely irrational for a feminist.

If it's her own free choice, I see absolutely no contradiction there.

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atzanteol 8 points 3 years ago

I see absolutely no contradiction there.

Then I doubt that I could explain to you why it is.

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agitatedpotato 5 points 3 years ago

If you think its feminisn to tell a woman what shes should and shouldn't wear, I don't know what to tell you.

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Syndic -2 points 3 years ago

Let me guess, "It's a symbol of oppression!"?

If so, then my reply is that she certainly didn't think of it as such. And when it comes to what she wants to wear, her view is much more valid than and outsider.

Many western men have forced wives and daughters to not wear revealing cloths. That doesn't make a loose pullover an instrument of oppression. The intent and reason of the person wanting to wear something is all that matters.

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DessertStorms -3 points 3 years ago

Wearing a hijab, however, seems completely irrational for a feminist

Not if you understand that feminism is first and foremost about the freedom for women to choose what's best for ourselves (rather than have, usually a man, often with no knowledge of your history or culture, tell you what you should or shouldn't wear), and that neither feminists nor Muslims are a monolith and that members of either or both come from all walks of life and have a variety of views and opinions.

Perhaps try gaining a better understanding before you make such bold (and Islamophobic and sexist as well as ableist) claims:

https://daily.jstor.org/...

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atzanteol 3 points 3 years ago

I think you missed a few "ists" to accuse me of.

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bioemerl -10 points 3 years ago
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joe 13 points 3 years ago
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bioemerl 0 points 3 years ago
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EnderWi99in 9 points 3 years ago
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bioemerl 0 points 3 years ago
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coffeekomrade 0 points 3 years ago
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ScrivenerX 4 points 3 years ago
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bioemerl 3 points 3 years ago

Even the scenario you lay out is “be tolerant and accept other religions” and create a society where rationality and decency are valued. That’s actually being friendly and inclusive, not pretending

And those values will in time annihilate religion. Islam and Christianity are nasty expansionist cultural viruses that rely on social force to keep their roots and spread their lies.

Integrating into Islam and spreading tolerance kills Islam.

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Flyswat -12 points 3 years ago

Muslim here, so I can reply to the question as opposed to someone who only knows about Islam from what the media or the predominant islamophobic content we find on the internet tells them about what to think about it. When you have a question about the Mercator projection, you normally don't go to a flatearther...

She was a theologian, so she studied religions and left Islam to the last, which she ended up accepting based on the scripture once she studied it.

As to the stance of Islam with regards to being gay, the sexual act is forbidden as in one should abstain from actually doing it. Thinking about it or having the desire without acting upon it is not considered a sin. There are punishments in the Islamic law for when a person has been seen by 4 eyewitnesses performing same-sex fornication. To my knowledge this has never been followed through by a judge in the Islamic state of the 4 caliphates as the prerequisites are, intentionally, hard to come by: spying invalidates the testimony, the act should take place out of the privacy of their home etc. So it's really if the person is doing it in the open... Now I don't speak about what western media uphold as THE Islamic states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia which are not following strictly the law (and its prerequisites). They have laws that are quite... theirs. Also being gay and being Muslim are not incompatible, since a Muslim is always striving to submit to the divine will and overcome one's own desires. As long as a person is sincere and keeps repenting for his/her eventual shortcomings and never disbelieves in God they remain a Muslim.

About why would a feminist accept Islam, if you study it you'll know that it is not misogynistic (ie. considers women as lower than men or is hateful against women). Rather it has a fundamentally different and more factual stance: women are psychologically and physically different from men. So it is about equity and not equality: women do some things better than men and men can so some things better that women; women desire different things than men. To each their role in a family and in society as a whole. Both are honoured in what they do, and you'd even find women are even more honoured, revered and protected.

"Openness" has less to do with sects and as another person commented is more about the society. Muslims, +90% of which are Sunni, have the same source of law but the differences do not come from the religion but are societal.

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joe 18 points 3 years ago

I don't have enough knowledge to discuss the ins and outs of your religion, but I can point out that your use of misogyny seems very narrowly defined, perhaps solely to fit your stance. Telling a woman "you aren't allowed to do that because you're better suited for this" is misogyny. I don't know for a fact that this is what you mean, so clarification wouldn't be remiss, but I suspect due to your wording that your religion does tell women what they can and can't do.

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Flyswat -10 points 3 years ago

The religion tells both males and females what they should and what they should not do. Most of it is the same, some of it is different depending on the gender.

I genuinely don't see how the above is misogynistic.

I encourage you to study it. Find reliable Muslim sources who know what they are talking about and increase your knowledge. I may recommend sine YouTube channels like Muslim Lantern or Dawahwise.

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joe 16 points 3 years ago

because unless that thing they're told to do involves having specific sex organs, it has nothing to do with their sex. Like, if it says women should stay at home and care for the kids, while men go work and earn the money-- that's bigoted; there's no real reason for that except that it results in compliant, financially dependent women. Abuse flourishes in this type of scenario.

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eggshappedegg 88 points 3 years ago

Nobody mentioned the relligion of Tonny Bennet, Tina Turner, Jerry Springer, Michael Jackson, Meat Loaf, Taylor Hawkins, Whitney Huston or any other celebrity that has died in my lifetime. The only two dead celebrities that I remember being connected to religion was the Pope and Mother Teresa (I am sure that I am biased though)

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Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever -12 points 3 years ago
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6daemonbag 23 points 3 years ago

I don't remember prince having any other name than Ƭ̵̬̊, which was unpronounceable.

On a related note, Sinéad O'Connor, as a public figure, may have been ok with the media continuing to use her professional name. I'm only basing this off the article stating she also used her birth name publicly. It is interesting though, because Mos Def goes by Yasiin Bey both privately and publicly. But then we still call Yusuf Islam Cat Stevens, while Muhammad Ali's birth name is more of a trivia nugget.

Are you implying that the media didn't use her chosen name because she was Muslim or because she was a woman? I'm not trying to be condescending.

Could it be because she tore up the Pope on TV like a fucking boss?

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karlhungus 19 points 3 years ago

Hmmm. I wonder why?

because nobody would know who that was, but everyone remembers Sinéad O’Connor. They also only bring up one song, because that's what she's known for. There doesn't have to be a plot.

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BNE -6 points 3 years ago

Then they could refer to it as how she used it, as her stage name - it seems like he still used it as her act title because her brand was her former name.

It's like talking to a performer - when they're on stage or in the artiface of their character, you recognise that by using their stage name or their characters name; when the artiface is removed and they're not performing anymore, you recognise that by using their name.

I'm this way, we're implicitly saying we're mourning her act rather than her. If that's not the case, we should be using her name - not her stage name.

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m0darn 16 points 3 years ago

we immediately go back to Sinéad O'Connor for Shuhada

Hmmm. I wonder why?

Probably because she continued to use Sinéad O'Connor as her professional name

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EssentialCoffee 9 points 3 years ago

Because she continued to perform under the name Sinead O'Connor after changing her name?

People having a stage name isn't unusual. Using a stage name to refer to someone with a stage name isn't dead naming them.

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eggshappedegg 6 points 3 years ago

Maybe because she was a troubled soul and so much happened in her life that it's hard to pick single things out. She had so many phases that it would be equally wrong to only focus on the last ones

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coffeekomrade 1 point 3 years ago

Changed her name but kept Sinead as her stage/performing name. It’s not dead naming.

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wildmanwizard -2 points 3 years ago

How long did it take people to stop calling Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay?

There were still phobes calling him Clay the day he died.

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Sukisuki 53 points 3 years ago

I just found out she converted to islam after her departure. I've been thinking about this.

It is easy to believe a religion is "the good one" when it's under represented because the members of the religion don't really have the power over the society so they don't, or can't, hold other people down with their extremist ideals.

When I first left islam I went through something similar. Here majority is muslim and other religions are scarce. So christians seemed like peaceful modern people minding their own business, respecting women and stuff. Which they were. But as I learned about the church and bible and all that, I understood I failed to analyze the religion as a whole properly. I just looked into a very small window and thought that was the whole thing.

Christianity was the antithesis of islam for me for a while. It's the same with the artists and rich white folks who convert to islam. They get new eccentic sounding names and their melodies change. But they never really live in a real muslim community nor they experience a VERY oppressive muslim culture. They get this image of a religion where you casually cover your head if you want to and nobody cares about anything other than inner peace. Which is cool but far, far from any kind of reality.

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maynarkh 26 points 3 years ago

Almost as if organized religion backed by a majority potentially intertwined with the state is what is really repressive and backwards.

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Sukisuki 7 points 3 years ago

Yeah, that's what it boils down to.

My train of thought was more directed towards trying to understand her mindset and why she converted.

Edited a word

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clutchmatic 6 points 3 years ago

That's insightful, thanks for sharing your views on this

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chaogomu 47 points 3 years ago

Almost every article I read yesterday mentioned that she converted to Islam. They didn't spend a lot of time on it, because it happened relatively recently and the articles mostly hit the highlights that most people would know, like the songs she released in the 90s and the infamous incident on SNL that resulted in an informal ban in the US.

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Mr_Blott 33 points 3 years ago

Yeah this is just a shitty ragebait sharticle. In most countries, someone's religion is a private matter and isn't mentioned more than in passing in an obituary

If people are getting wound up about it, they're probably stupid cunts looking for something to get wound up about

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vrighter 39 points 3 years ago

because her religion had nothing to do with what she was famous for. Who the hell cares which fantasy book she liked the best.

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m0darn 5 points 3 years ago

I do feel like her relationship with religion was very much woven into her legacy.

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zouden 35 points 3 years ago

It's because people assume it's just a phase for her, like being a lesbian or being Catholic. None of those lasted.

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BNE 5 points 3 years ago

But theres a point here - what does it really matter if she does? People aren't static, we all have constant varying degrees of change in our lives and our perceptions of the world around us - I think it's worthwhile and even noble to try and find words to communicate those changes.

She said so herself, right? Like, we identify with the labels that'll help people outside ourselves understand best where we're at - sometimes we change, sometimes we find a more immediately accurate label that articulates something the last one we identified with couldn't quite reach.

Sure it's reflective work for the perceived and asks a bit more headspace to process things in that frame for the perceiver - but we're people. When we commit to being honest (for lack of a better word), we're never going to live as simple narratives for others.

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zouden 3 points 3 years ago

Sure. But should Muslim fans be proud of her Muslim identity as the article says, when she was also at different times a Catholic and given enough time might have become a Buddhist?

Did she take religion seriously?

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azdood85 5 points 3 years ago

But her being a great singer will last forever. Which is what we are remembering. Kinda weird that people are shaming that. Celebrate peoples talents and the things that brought them joy, not what was controversial or brought pain.

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bleepbloopbleep 34 points 3 years ago

It's just religion. Any fanatism should be ignored.

Unfortunately many religions are fanatic.

You're welcome to downvote me into the depths of the underworld now.

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Psythik 4 points 3 years ago

Honestly I'll never understand why she chose to go down that path. Becoming Muslim goes against everything she stood for. I just don't get it.

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Blackmist 23 points 3 years ago

Because nobody in the west likes Islam.

There's a fair amount of racism wrapped up in that sentiment that can't be ignored, but Islam hasn't exactly done itself many favours in the PR department.

Pre-2001 it was a kooky religion that popstars converted to and changed to a funny foreign sounding name and you'd hear little else about it. Maybe your local corner shop owner would get out his prayer mat to the bemusement of locals.

Post-2001 Muslims are scary bearded men with hooks for hands. They hate our way of life and we instantly feel less sympathy for them when we hear the word Muslim. If the Serbia/Kosovo situation had kicked off in 2002 instead of 1998, we'd have taken the Serb's side on it.

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PopularUsername 6 points 3 years ago

It was the Bush administration that used their cultural differences as a justification for their hatred of the west. Of course, Bush could have just mentioned what Al Qaeda actually said, which was that they were a reaction to the US military, money, and support meddling in the Middle East. But then that might draw negative attention from legitimate concerns the Middle East has, which means the terrorists win according to their tortured logic, so instead "they hate us for our freedom".

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atzanteol 5 points 3 years ago

PR? The story right above this one in my feed is about a woman getting Spanish citizenship because she's afraid of going home after not wearing a hijab.

There is some racism. And there is some well deserved criticism as well.

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Historical_General -3 points 3 years ago

slam hasn’t exactly done itself many favours in the PR department.

Why should people numbering billions have to think about what wealthier populations think about them? Seems bigoted in itself.

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pastermil 1 point 3 years ago

You're saying it like there's no wealthy Islam. Obviously you've never heard of the middle east.

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Historical_General -3 points 3 years ago

On average those countries are either poor, propped up by wealthy populations to do our bidding, or heavily sanctioned into immiseration for the common people.

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Copernican 21 points 3 years ago

One social media user said imagery of the singer without the hijab points to the glaring lack of Muslim reporters in newsrooms.

So we can't use images of Sinead O'Conner pre-2018 when talking about her legacy and remembering her work?

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m0darn 10 points 3 years ago

One social media user said imagery of the singer without the hijab points to the glaring lack of Muslim reporters in newsrooms.

So we can't use images of Sinead O'Conner pre-2018 when talking about her legacy and remembering her work?

My guess is that it's probably more like a Muslim would point out that it would be more respectful of the dead to not use a headshot that the dead would consider immodest.

I'm not sure it's that big a deal:

Speaking about her decision to wear the hijab, Sinead said:

I wear it when I feel like it. There’s no rules as such.

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cogneato 15 points 3 years ago

Uhh, if anyone wants to highlight religion, especially a change of religion, to someone's early death please feel free.

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ChrisRo 14 points 3 years ago

Tbh. I think religion should always be a private thing and should have no place in public.

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floofloof 9 points 3 years ago

While religion can be very problematic and causes much conflict and suffering, I don't think you can expect people to be silent about something that for them is so important, personal and central to who they understand themselves to be and how they live. To demand silence on something so important to them is a little reminiscent of the "don't ask, don't tell" approach to other aspects of people's identities.

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joe 10 points 3 years ago

To demand silence on something so important to them is a little reminiscent of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to other aspects of people’s identities.

The big difference in the room is that DADT was regarding something intrinsic to a person, and religion is a choice. I see fewer problems when it comes to telling people to keep their personal choices to themselves. Not in "it should be illegal" but in "it should be socially shunned". Like, treat religion like you would a hot new MLM that will definitely get you rich while working from home 4 hours a week. If that's what you want, fine, but telling people about it in a public setting is uncomfortable and awkward and I really wish you just wouldn't. If you get what I mean.

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dangblingus 7 points 3 years ago

That's why it should be private. No one wants to hear it. There's tons of really important stuff in my life that I keep close to the chest. And as far as don't ask don't tell, yeah I mean, that shouldn't mean repression, that should mean personal agency over your privacy.

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floofloof 7 points 3 years ago

Surely personal agency is to be able to tell people if you want to, not to be required to be silent until asked.

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dangblingus 5 points 3 years ago

In this hypothetical scenario, no one will ask. That's the other half of that platitude.

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mightyfoolish 1 point 3 years ago

This comment here is a breath of fresh air on the internet and it will be lost on most. To call certain members of society fascists for trying to closest off certain identities and ideologies and then ask for the same of others.

The problem of today's society is the lack of self-reflection. We "know" when others are "wrong" but can't see ourselves when we are aggressive.

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ThisIsMyLemmyLogin 9 points 3 years ago

The media, especially the tabloids, have been like vultures, picking apart her life, her mental health, her marriages, her kids, etc, since her death. There's no dignity in death when you're famous.

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fritobugger2017 6 points 3 years ago

She had a lot of mental issues so making great choices was sometimes not her strength. Choosing to become a muslim might very highlight one of those bad choices.

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TopRamenBinLaden 4 points 3 years ago

Yea her whole reasoning for converting is flawed too. When she says every theologians' studies leads to Islam and that all other scriptures are just redundant, she fails to see how most of the Abrahamic texts stories originated from Hindu and the Sumerians. Those are the oldest known recordings of many of the stories in the Bible and the Quran.

I also find it weird that she condemned the Catholic church for sexual abuse, and then joined a religion with a prophet that married and slept with a 9 year old.

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answersplease77 4 points 3 years ago

It's not normal to die at 56. What health problems did she hav?

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BigNote 3 points 3 years ago

Clinical depression is what I've been told. Not sure if true.

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Techmaster 6 points 3 years ago

Woman voluntarily converts to a religion well known for how badly it treats women, then she's mysteriously depressed all the time. What could possibly be wrong?

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kmkz_ninja 4 points 3 years ago

Or someone who was depressed and looking for a different outlook or change chose Islam?

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Techmaster 2 points 3 years ago

I guess it didn't help.

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BigNote 1 point 3 years ago

I think she suffered from clinical depression all her life, but that's just what I've been told, so maybe it's not true?

I don't know. I've never been a big enough fan to look into it and am only reporting what I've been told by my wife, who is a big fan.

Also, say what you want about Islam, but it's just a simple fact that for the vast majority of her life Catholicism would have had a much bigger impact.

And I say that advisedly, as an American of Irish descent, who grew up in the Catholic Church and had some close friends affected by very unpleasant aspects that I won't go into here, but that were part of what drives my current aversion to organized religion.

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Techmaster 1 point 3 years ago

That's when you abandon organized religion. You don't leave a shitty religion and join an even worse one.

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yoz 3 points 3 years ago

Can someone please start a open source news outlet that publishes everything with correct source instead of bunch of dolled up bitches giving "expert" advice.

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condenser 2 points 3 years ago
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SpunkyBarnes 2 points 3 years ago

Wow, did not hear anything about this on the morning news, her Nothing Compares… was iconic. May she rest in peace.

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HamSwagwich 2 points 3 years ago

I remember her rise to fame. She was always a twat and died a twat.

I hated that I agree with her philosophy on religion and the hypocrisy of it, but I did. The fact that she converted just proves what a whiny, hypocrisy filled attention seeker she was.

I said it then and I'm saying it again now. Nothing of value is lost in her passing

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feedum_sneedson 2 points 3 years ago

Very funny.

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Flax_vert 1 point 2 years ago

This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian‘s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant

What? Very interested to how she came to that conclusion, considering that the New Testament basically invalidates Islam as the Qur'an claims the New Testament agrees with it and holds it in judgement

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Hodacoda -2 points 3 years ago
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pizzazz -3 points 3 years ago

Cope

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ansimation -4 points 3 years ago

That's what the media does... it twists things to fit it's narrative. newsflash.

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EssentialCoffee 6 points 3 years ago

She also said she never wanted to spend time with non-muslim/white people again and that non-muslim/white people were disgusting after converting, which this article doesn't mention at all either.

All media has their own narrative.

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Stanwich -5 points 3 years ago

Huh, Allah wouldnt save her either.

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