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Muslim group criticizes tribute to Freddy Mercury
A Muslim leader has criticized plans to honor late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury with a huge beach party this weekend.Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, violated Islam with his flamboyant lifestyle, said Azan Khalid of Zanzibar's Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation. Khalid said anything linking Mercury with Zanzibar's Muslim population would be offensive and that a waterfront restaurant's plans for a party Saturday honoring Mercury's birthday must be stopped. Simai Mohammed, manager of the Mercury restaurant, which was named for the singer, said the party would go on as scheduled. Mercury would have been 60 on Sept. 5. Mercury, who acknowledged being gay, was born in Zanzibar when the country was still a British protectorate. He was educated in India and moved with his family to Britain in the early 1960s, after a bloody revolution that drove out many immigrants of Indian or Arab descent. "Our main idea is to promote tourism and Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar. It's part of our history," Mohammed said. "We are all Muslims and it's not our intention to offend any religion." Last year some 500,000 tourists traveled to Zanzibar, bringing vital foreign currency to the Indian Ocean island. This semiautonomous part of Tanzania is mostly Muslim. Zanzibar's government sent a letter asking state-owned media not to report on Mercury's birthday because of the tension between the religious group and the restaurant. Mercury gained fame as the bravura singer for Queen, whose elaborate and occasionally bombastic songs made the group one of the favorites of the 1970s. Queen's hits included "Bohemian Rhapsody," "We Are the Champions" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." Posted by: john 2006-09-06 |
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