Subject:      Jacques Cousteau, Micheal Jackson & Neil Armstrong
From:         sunnah@aol.com (Sunnah)
Date:         1997/06/12
Message-Id:   <19970612185400.OAA26621@ladder02.news.aol.com>
Newsgroups:   alt.religion.islam

[... some text deleted ...]

Likewise, I find particularly embarrasing how some well intentioned
MUSLIMS, would repeat this hoax. Allah subhana wa ta'ala has blessed 
the Muslims with the truth of Islam, and Muslims have been distinguished 
by their tenaciousness in clinging to and conveying the truth. Unlike 
the non-Muslims, Islam does not suffer from the burden of myth and 
legend, whether in religious beliefs or cultural folklore, (Elvis 
sightings, Sasquatch, the Devil's Triangle, etc.) Sadly however, it 
seems that some Muslims have developed a tendency to become enthralled 
with the idea that certain "celebrities" have become Muslim.

Thus I find it particularly disturbing when some Muslims insist on
circulating the fabrication that Jacques Cousteau is "secretly concealing
his shahadah"; 20 years after it was officially disproven by the Cousteau
Society. ( If anyone has doubt, please contact ISNA as they published the
official letters in Islamic Horizons magazine, e-mail address -
isna@gateway.cool.mb.ca ) In fact, the average French Muslim would find 
it both hilarious and embarrasing that Muslims outside of France persist 
in believing the rumor. Indeed, it should be relegated to the dustbin of
history along with other sensationalistic rumors like the one of former
astronaut Neil Armstrong's alleged "hearing the adhan on the moon" which
supposedly drove him to (according to the story) "declare his shahadah 
in Cairo." And what about Michael Jackson supposedly taking his shahadah? 
I recall how the press had a field day in 1989 reporting how Muslims in 
the countryparts of Somalia discussed his "conversion".

Indeed, as Muslims we sometimes forget what Allah has said, "O you who
believe, if a sinner comes to you with news, VERIFY IT, lest you harm
people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful to what you 
have done." [Al-Hujuraat, 49:6]

wa salamu alikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu
A. Idris Palmer
Executive Director
The Society for Adherence to the Sunnah
http://www.islaam.com

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