Muslim Leaders Enraged, Demand Apology as Jay-Z Wears T-Shirt with Image of Mosque on It

My latest at PJ Media:

If you’re sensitive to overt displays of “Islamophobia,” avert your eyes: the Turkish publication Daily Sabah reported Tuesday that “U.S. rapper and business mogul Jay Z was spotted exiting a restaurant in Santa Monica, California last week.” This would have been a trivial event of interest only to Jay-Z fans had it not been for one all-important detail: “What caught the paparazzi’s and fans’ attention, however, was the T-shirt he was wearing, which bore the image of a mosque.”

The Daily Sabah report explained that Jay-Z’s sartorial choice “featured the Riyadha Mosque in Lamu, Kenya, and was created by Kenyan born-and-bred fashion designer Zedekiah Lukoye, popularly known as Zeddy Loky. Both Jay Z and Lukoye quickly earned praise on social media for bringing more attention to black designers and cultural symbols.”

Not everyone was thrilled by this, however: “it seems that using such a holy symbol as a design on a T-shirt has frustrated the management of the mosque and the Muslim fraternity in Lamu. The Riyadha Mosque is recognized as one of the most prestigious centers for Islamic studies in East Africa.”

“Frustrated” is a mild way of putting it. “Enraged” would have been more accurate. “In a letter dated April 3, 2021, and addressed to Lukoye,” Daily Sabah reported, “the mosque said it was deeply concerned about the portrayal and misuse of the mosque’s image, asking the designer to issue a public apology.”

Abubakar Badawy, the secretary-general of Riyadha Mosque management, fumed in the latter: “We don’t consider this an honor, nor a privilege, for the historical mosque and its Founder Habib Swaleh for its imagery to be portrayed in such a way.”

This wasn’t the first time that Lukoye’s mosque t-shirt had enraged Badawy and his colleagues. “On Feb. 7,” Daily Sabah reported, “a man wearing the same T-shirt in a bar also drew ire from the mosque and Muslims in the county after a photo of him was posted on Facebook.”

There is more. Read the rest here.