On August 25, 2006, an organization calling itself the Islamic Mobilization and Propagation, or UAMSHO, petitioned the Zanzibar government's culture ministry, demanding that a large-scale celebration of what would have been Freddie Mercury's sixtieth birthday be cancelled.
UAMSHO issued several complaints about the planned celebrations, including that Mercury was neither a Muslim nor a true Zanzibari and that he lived a homosexual lifestyle not in accordance with the laws of Islam. The organization claimed that "associating Mercury with Zanzibar degrades our island as a place of Islam."[33] The planned celebration was cancelled.
WHAT!??! Ok that maybe the Muslim world pushing on what I hold sacred a bit too much. I want to see a Muslim pro-Mercury advocacy org on this issue STAT! We'll just have to hold it on his 61st! |
