Dear Ali: How do you view Rihanna's photos at the Sheikh Zayed Mosque? I thought that she was covered fairly, so I'm not sure what the problem was? MV, Al Ain
Dear MV: If you ask me, yes, there was a problem. Even if she was covered, it wasn't suitable for a holy place such a mosque. She didn't choose the right way of acting when she was taking pictures: she was acting as if she was a supermodel taking to the catwalk at a fashion show. In some images, she was lying on the ground as if she was on a beach.
Rihanna is a famous singer, and I have no problem with that, nor am I in a position to judge her type of music, because I don't even listen to it.
But I do feel disappointed that she shared photos on Instagram that are inappropriate to the values of our religion and our Arab tradition, which values modesty, and respect the city's most important venue, the site of the grave of the father of the nation, Sheikh Zayed.
A mosque is not a “fun” place, nor is it a filming venue for fashion, just like how you won't see an artist go to a church wearing a bikini.
A mosque's borders start way before you enter the mosque, hence the place that Rihanna was standing took place inside the borders of this holy mosque, which is simply disrespectful and wrong to the religion of Islam and the followers of the faith all over the world.
We welcome 200 nationalities to the UAE, all welcome to practise their faiths and live their social lives freely with respect to our culture and faith. But what's surprising is that more and more of these irresponsible and careless moves by famous artists that visit our country keep happening.
Many artists have been paid to come over to perform in our nation, and some of these artists have done something that was against our religion or culture. Yes, not all of these actions are on purpose, but this is not an excuse to say that it's OK.
If I had to write a letter to send to Rihanna, it would be as follows:
“Dear Rihanna, having so many fans gives you an even greater responsibility to ensure that you are not offending them.
“What made you so excited to perform in the Emirates should also make you excited to not disappoint any of its people with such behaviour.”
I also have to wonder why no one from her team came out in public and apologised or at least shared her point of view.
Were there any Abu Dhabi officials joining Rihanna on her shoot? Did they ask her to wear something more appropriate? Did anyone explain to her and she said “I don't care, I'll still shoot even if it's against Islamic values”? I really doubt that.
Was it so difficult to plan a proper visit for Rihanna to the Grand Mosque and ask her kindly to upload the right images, alongside some Emirati men and women, all dressed nicely and showing their hospitable smiles, and to mention on the picture that it's taken at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque? Or even mention the website (
)?
The main point is, who really benefited from her visit to Abu Dhabi?
This is where I feel that we could use more professional people to handle these visits by famous artists, looking to find a win-win situation for all parties. Hopefully some day this will happen.
Ali Al Saloom is a cultural adviser and public speaker from the UAE. Follow
[ @AskAli ]
on Twitter, and visit
[ www.ask-ali.com ]
to ask him a question and to find his guidebooks to the UAE, priced at Dh50.
