Imam Siraj wishes to attend the janazah prayer of Michael Jackson

Gathered from various sources around the blogsphere with mostly quoting from  http://imamjohari.wordpress.com

Today, I spoke to with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, the Amir of the Muslim Alliance in North America and one of the most prominent imams in the United States.  Imam Siraj sends his condolences to the family of Michael Jackson and well wishes to his family.

Yesterday, the Imam Siraj completed his last radiation treatment for prostate cancer (cancer 3X higher in African-Americans), yet expressed his eagerness to attend the janazah Muslims funeral service for Michael Jackson whenever it is held he said, “Even if I stand in the back, I want to be there”.

Someone asked me,  “Why are we making a big deal about it!”.  I say we are not making a BIG deal about it.  It is the right of a Muslim to receive condolences and we are doing that by the Prophet’s (pbuh) instruction independent of the faith of the deceased.  The burial of the dead is an obligation upon the living; it is called in Islamic terminologyfard kifiyya (collective obligation).   No one can bury himself or herself; the living must bury the dead.