Arab World Grieves for Michael Jackson

Nearly as quickly as TMZ reported the news of Michael Jackson's death, I noticed the story popping up to high prominence on Arab news sites -- and staying there as user comments added up. Especially in the past decade, the bulk of Jackson's popularity seemed to be outside of the United States, and the singer even took refuge in Bahrain after his acquittal on child molestation charges. The rumors that Jackson coverted to Islam recently also fueled interest in the story in the Arab world, as Al-Arabiya reports:

"...Jermaine Jackson explained that it was the experience of touring the Gulf that brought his late brother into contact with Islam and that the singer found Islam’s anti-racist universalism resolved some dilemmas about culture and race that Jackson had combated all his life.

Yet Jackson the Muslim remained shrouded in mystery and at best a rumor. Muslim folk singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, denied press reports that he had attended Jackson’s conversion ceremony.

...Nonetheless, Muslims were keeping an eye out for signs of his faith in death that may not have been visible in life. ..."