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As musicians, politicians and fans remember Sinead O’Connor, some Muslims are disappointed that the Irish singer and lifelong activist’s religious identity is not being highlighted in tributes.
UK police on Wednesday said the 56-year-old was found unresponsive in her London residence on Wednesday and that there her death was not being treated as suspicious.
Since the news of her death, Muslim fans of the 90s superstar have said her conversion to Islam, a cornerstone of her identity, was inspiring, but that some media reports have failed to note her religious beliefs in obituaries.
O’Connor, whose chart-topping hit “Nothing Compares 2 U” helped her reach global stardom, converted to Islam in 2018.
“This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian‘s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant,” the songstress tweeted on October 19, 2018.
At that time, O’Connor tweeted selfies donning the Muslim headscarf, the hijab, and uploaded a video of her reciting the Islamic call to prayer, the azan.
She took on the Muslim name Shuhada’ Davitt – later changing it to Shuhada Sadaqat – but continued to use the name Sinead O’Connor professionally.
One social media user said imagery of the singer without the hijab points to the glaring lack of Muslim reporters in newsrooms.
Meanwhile, some said that O’Connor was an inspiration for queer Muslims globally.
In 2000, she came out as a lesbian during an interview. But the singer, who was married to multiple men throughout her life, later said that her sexuality was fluid and that she did not believe in labels.
Some found joy in O’Connor’s conversion growing up, seeing themselves represented, while others, just learning about her Muslim identity at the news of her death, also took inspiration.
O’Connor was no stranger to controversy.
A lifelong nonconformist, she was outspoken about religion, feminism, and war, as well as her own addiction and mental health issues.
In 2014, she refused to play in Israel.
“Let’s just say that, on a human level, nobody with any sanity, including myself, would have anything but sympathy for the Palestinian plight. There’s not a sane person on earth who in any way sanctions what the f*** the Israeli authorities are doing,” she told Hot Press, an Irish music magazine.
Her iconic shaved head and shapeless wardrobe defied early 90s popular culture’s notions of femininity and sexuality.
In 1992, she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a television appearance on Saturday Night Live, vocal against the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse.
The late former star was also a firm supporter of a united Ireland, under which the United Kingdom would relinquish control of Northern Ireland.
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This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian‘s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant
What? Very interested to how she came to that conclusion, considering that the New Testament basically invalidates Islam as the Qur’an claims the New Testament agrees with it and holds it in judgement
Can someone please start a open source news outlet that publishes everything with correct source instead of bunch of dolled up bitches giving “expert” advice.
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Let’s help people remember her Muslim identity then, I’ll start:
She clarified why she did that in an interview. It’s quite funny.
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As a queer person, I COMPLETELY understand her sentiment here. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it.
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When you aren’t the majority it can be exhausting to deal with the consistent lack of empathy and awareness for the issues the non-majority populations face.
Are you telling me I shouldn’t move to an African country? That’s kind of racist.
Not saying that at all only expect to run into the occasional uncomfortable moment when you are treated as an outsider/other
occasional uncomfortable moment
Sounds absolutely exhausting
It depends being gay in high school in the 1990s sucked but not as bad now most of the time.
When I spend a lot of time around non-queer people (although even some cisgender gay people get in my nerves too) it gets to be really difficult for me. You’re constantly hiding parts of who you are, or getting sideways looks, or other things that tell you that they really don’t “get” you. You feel constantly judged and on the outside. It makes it difficult to not have at least a quick chat with someone who does understand.
Have you tried converting to Islam? I’m sure that’ll make it all better.
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Exactly how she wanted it to be perceived. She was protesting racism against the non-whites.
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“JOKES ON THEM, I’M ONLY PRETENDING TO BE RETARDED”
She was angry for getting a lot of Islamophobia. It’s racism yeah but only in a very literal sense that doesn’t hurt white people. It’s not that hard to understand.
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It’s always the most racist asshole who believe “reverse racism” is a thing, always desperate to be the victim, never willing to acknowledge how they actively victimise already marginalised people constantly.
It’s always the most racist asshole who believe “reverse racism” is a thing
Okay. I believe that.
never willing to acknowledge how they actively victimise already marginalised people constantly
Yes? What have I done? Can you give me specific examples of my problematic actions which actively victimize already marginalized people constantly?
If you can not, then we might have a bit of a problem. After all, you don’t know what I did or did not do. You don’t know if I did that, or how I did that. To me that seems like ignorant stereotyping. It is something racists regularly engage in, and a big common part of what makes lots of different bigoted and prejudiced groups of people (not limited to just racists) into such a big problem.
So I would appreciate if you could stop to ignorantly stereotype me without knowing me. If you still choose do that… Well, actually, I don’t mind it that much. You are just a random internet person after all. But if you behave like that, you are sharing that behavior with racists, and lots of other types of bigots. If you think that is a good idea, feel free to carry on. But I thought I should let you know.
Yeah lol who said anything about “good racism”? Lemmy really is like the old Reddit, can’t say I missed “reverse racism” concern trolls.
I think she was a complicated person who struggled in a lot of ways, but she did apologize for saying this…https://people.com/music/sinead-oconnor-apologizes-saying-white-people-disgusting/
I’ll never understand the switch to Islam though, but then again, I’ll probably never understand why anyone chooses any religion either – Especially someone who took the kinds of positions she had taken earlier in life. People are complicated. I won’t hold that against her.
Existence is very scary. The randomness of it all, the indifference of the universe, how little we matter, the finality of death… not everyone can cope with this stuff. Religion provides hope and comfort to them.
I mean I wish we’d move past religion, but I don’t think it’ll ever happen. Being alive is fucking terrifying.
You might feel like just a small grain of sand, but the beach is fucking beautiful.
On second thought, I have nothing useful to add to this topic.
This whole comment section is a cesspit that demonstrates exactly why she felt that way, yet even in death you fuckers just want to keep pilling on.
You are the problem here, not her.Especially given this context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibmsdJ5R0b0
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=ibmsdJ5R0b0
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Someone call the cops people are expressing opinions
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How does she still have white fans? You’d have to be so self-hating to be a fan of hers.
By separating the art from the artist.
There’s people in every industry who surely have insufferable personalities but they make great art. Enjoying her music doesn’t mean you enjoy her as a person ya know
I’ve probably only heard 1 of her songs the entire time I’ve been alive
I’m a white. A queer. An atheist. And a fan.
White people have a very long & deep history of saying some really nasty shit about non-white people, especially of the muslim faith.
Yeah that’s not just exclusive to white people
of course not, but Sinead… is white. As a white converted Muslim, she was probably hyper aware of the Islamophobia within her own communities, fan base, and just in general.
Her post, while the language was divisive, it was obviously written out of frustration and what she meant is pretty clear & obvious to anyone paying attention to Islamophobia, especially post 9/11 and then again especially during Trump’s administration.
I hate this “You need to understand and tolerate where their bigiotry is coming from” bullshit. How about no?
In the past she was Islamophobic. Now that she’s Muslim she’s projecting hate onto white people? Seems like she’s just a bigot.
What she said has no consequences at all comparable to what the Iraqis in 2001 had, Muslim immigrants in Europe face, or even the mass shooting in New Zealand.
How about just don’t be a fucking bigot?
She didn’t even convert to Islam until 2018, I doubt Trumps election has anything to do with it considering she’s not even American.
silly to ignore the ripple effects across the globe from the trump administration… We have seen a hard right turn in many countries, many people emboldened by what he said and did. Anti-immigrant, anti-muslim, anti-all kinds of crap. His hate spread far and wide, my friend.
As a global artist (and a divisive one to boot) who traveled the world many times over and had to deal with fans and haters from every culture, Sinead, more than most people, was acutely attuned to many white attitudes.
While influencing each other and using the same playbook the far right between the US and Europe is as separate as the left is. It didn’t really increase that much after Trump as it had increased exponentially and became more and more tolerated by centrists with the refugee “crisis”. That happened in the summer of 2015 with election wins and gains in multiple European countries for far-right during the second half of 2015. It was a more parallel instead of a directly causative process.
Why should that be an issue? As if Black people can’t be HP Lovecraft fans.
I understand the point here, but you realise this is stupid because it legitimises that other idiot’s sense of grievance against a supposed ‘reverse racism’. Structural reverse racism is impossible because of history.
I don’t think it legitimizes that. Fans can be blissfully unaware of an artist’s politics. Or better: loving their art in spite of their politics can be empowering. It removes the hate from the art and turns it into a positive force. This has been done over and over again with Lovecraft’s work. That took effort. Not so much with Sinead’s songs, cause her “racist” fit was so impotent to begin with.
I just found out she converted to islam after her departure. I’ve been thinking about this.
It is easy to believe a religion is “the good one” when it’s under represented because the members of the religion don’t really have the power over the society so they don’t, or can’t, hold other people down with their extremist ideals.
When I first left islam I went through something similar. Here majority is muslim and other religions are scarce. So christians seemed like peaceful modern people minding their own business, respecting women and stuff. Which they were. But as I learned about the church and bible and all that, I understood I failed to analyze the religion as a whole properly. I just looked into a very small window and thought that was the whole thing.
Christianity was the antithesis of islam for me for a while. It’s the same with the artists and rich white folks who convert to islam. They get new eccentic sounding names and their melodies change. But they never really live in a real muslim community nor they experience a VERY oppressive muslim culture. They get this image of a religion where you casually cover your head if you want to and nobody cares about anything other than inner peace. Which is cool but far, far from any kind of reality.
Almost as if organized religion backed by a majority potentially intertwined with the state is what is really repressive and backwards.
Yeah, that’s what it boils down to.
My train of thought was more directed towards trying to understand her mindset and why she converted.
Edited a word
That’s insightful, thanks for sharing your views on this
Because nobody in the west likes Islam.
There’s a fair amount of racism wrapped up in that sentiment that can’t be ignored, but Islam hasn’t exactly done itself many favours in the PR department.
Pre-2001 it was a kooky religion that popstars converted to and changed to a funny foreign sounding name and you’d hear little else about it. Maybe your local corner shop owner would get out his prayer mat to the bemusement of locals.
Post-2001 Muslims are scary bearded men with hooks for hands. They hate our way of life and we instantly feel less sympathy for them when we hear the word Muslim. If the Serbia/Kosovo situation had kicked off in 2002 instead of 1998, we’d have taken the Serb’s side on it.
PR? The story right above this one in my feed is about a woman getting Spanish citizenship because she’s afraid of going home after not wearing a hijab.
There is some racism. And there is some well deserved criticism as well.
slam hasn’t exactly done itself many favours in the PR department.
Why should people numbering billions have to think about what wealthier populations think about them? Seems bigoted in itself.
You’re saying it like there’s no wealthy Islam. Obviously you’ve never heard of the middle east.
On average those countries are either poor, propped up by wealthy populations to do our bidding, or heavily sanctioned into immiseration for the common people.
It was the Bush administration that used their cultural differences as a justification for their hatred of the west. Of course, Bush could have just mentioned what Al Qaeda actually said, which was that they were a reaction to the US military, money, and support meddling in the Middle East. But then that might draw negative attention from legitimate concerns the Middle East has, which means the terrorists win according to their tortured logic, so instead “they hate us for our freedom”.
Cope
Nobody mentioned the relligion of Tonny Bennet, Tina Turner, Jerry Springer, Michael Jackson, Meat Loaf, Taylor Hawkins, Whitney Huston or any other celebrity that has died in my lifetime. The only two dead celebrities that I remember being connected to religion was the Pope and Mother Teresa (I am sure that I am biased though)
The difference is also, for lack of a less charged term, dead naming her.
Shuhada’ Sadaqat changed her name as part of changing her beliefs and identity. news media LOVED to list all of Prince’s various names but we immediately go back to Sinéad O’Connor for Shuhada’.
Hmmm. I wonder why?
Because she continued to perform under the name Sinead O’Connor after changing her name?
People having a stage name isn’t unusual. Using a stage name to refer to someone with a stage name isn’t dead naming them.
we immediately go back to Sinéad O’Connor for Shuhada
Hmmm. I wonder why?
Probably because she continued to use Sinéad O’Connor as her professional name
Changed her name but kept Sinead as her stage/performing name. It’s not dead naming.
Hmmm. I wonder why?
because nobody would know who that was, but everyone remembers Sinéad O’Connor. They also only bring up one song, because that’s what she’s known for. There doesn’t have to be a plot.
Then they could refer to it as how she used it, as her stage name - it seems like he still used it as her act title because her brand was her former name.
It’s like talking to a performer - when they’re on stage or in the artiface of their character, you recognise that by using their stage name or their characters name; when the artiface is removed and they’re not performing anymore, you recognise that by using their name.
I’m this way, we’re implicitly saying we’re mourning her act rather than her. If that’s not the case, we should be using her name - not her stage name.
Maybe because she was a troubled soul and so much happened in her life that it’s hard to pick single things out. She had so many phases that it would be equally wrong to only focus on the last ones
How long did it take people to stop calling Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay?
There were still phobes calling him Clay the day he died.
I don’t remember prince having any other name than Ƭ̵̬̊, which was unpronounceable.
On a related note, Sinéad O’Connor, as a public figure, may have been ok with the media continuing to use her professional name. I’m only basing this off the article stating she also used her birth name publicly. It is interesting though, because Mos Def goes by Yasiin Bey both privately and publicly. But then we still call Yusuf Islam Cat Stevens, while Muhammad Ali’s birth name is more of a trivia nugget.
Are you implying that the media didn’t use her chosen name because she was Muslim or because she was a woman? I’m not trying to be condescending.
Could it be because she tore up the Pope on TV like a fucking boss?
It’s not normal to die at 56. What health problems did she hav?
Clinical depression is what I’ve been told. Not sure if true.
Woman voluntarily converts to a religion well known for how badly it treats women, then she’s mysteriously depressed all the time. What could possibly be wrong?
I think she suffered from clinical depression all her life, but that’s just what I’ve been told, so maybe it’s not true?
I don’t know. I’ve never been a big enough fan to look into it and am only reporting what I’ve been told by my wife, who is a big fan.
Also, say what you want about Islam, but it’s just a simple fact that for the vast majority of her life Catholicism would have had a much bigger impact.
And I say that advisedly, as an American of Irish descent, who grew up in the Catholic Church and had some close friends affected by very unpleasant aspects that I won’t go into here, but that were part of what drives my current aversion to organized religion.
That’s when you abandon organized religion. You don’t leave a shitty religion and join an even worse one.
Yeah, fair play.
Or someone who was depressed and looking for a different outlook or change chose Islam?
I guess it didn’t help.
Huh, Allah wouldnt save her either.
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I remember her rise to fame. She was always a twat and died a twat.
I hated that I agree with her philosophy on religion and the hypocrisy of it, but I did. The fact that she converted just proves what a whiny, hypocrisy filled attention seeker she was.
I said it then and I’m saying it again now. Nothing of value is lost in her passing
Tbh. I think religion should always be a private thing and should have no place in public.
While religion can be very problematic and causes much conflict and suffering, I don’t think you can expect people to be silent about something that for them is so important, personal and central to who they understand themselves to be and how they live. To demand silence on something so important to them is a little reminiscent of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to other aspects of people’s identities.
To demand silence on something so important to them is a little reminiscent of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to other aspects of people’s identities.
The big difference in the room is that DADT was regarding something intrinsic to a person, and religion is a choice. I see fewer problems when it comes to telling people to keep their personal choices to themselves. Not in “it should be illegal” but in “it should be socially shunned”. Like, treat religion like you would a hot new MLM that will definitely get you rich while working from home 4 hours a week. If that’s what you want, fine, but telling people about it in a public setting is uncomfortable and awkward and I really wish you just wouldn’t. If you get what I mean.
That’s why it should be private. No one wants to hear it. There’s tons of really important stuff in my life that I keep close to the chest. And as far as don’t ask don’t tell, yeah I mean, that shouldn’t mean repression, that should mean personal agency over your privacy.
Surely personal agency is to be able to tell people if you want to, not to be required to be silent until asked.
In this hypothetical scenario, no one will ask. That’s the other half of that platitude.
This comment here is a breath of fresh air on the internet and it will be lost on most. To call certain members of society fascists for trying to closest off certain identities and ideologies and then ask for the same of others.
The problem of today’s society is the lack of self-reflection. We “know” when others are “wrong” but can’t see ourselves when we are aggressive.
It’s just religion. Any fanatism should be ignored.
Unfortunately many religions are fanatic.
You’re welcome to downvote me into the depths of the underworld now.
Honestly I’ll never understand why she chose to go down that path. Becoming Muslim goes against everything she stood for. I just don’t get it.
It’s because people assume it’s just a phase for her, like being a lesbian or being Catholic. None of those lasted.
But theres a point here - what does it really matter if she does? People aren’t static, we all have constant varying degrees of change in our lives and our perceptions of the world around us - I think it’s worthwhile and even noble to try and find words to communicate those changes.
She said so herself, right? Like, we identify with the labels that’ll help people outside ourselves understand best where we’re at - sometimes we change, sometimes we find a more immediately accurate label that articulates something the last one we identified with couldn’t quite reach.
Sure it’s reflective work for the perceived and asks a bit more headspace to process things in that frame for the perceiver - but we’re people. When we commit to being honest (for lack of a better word), we’re never going to live as simple narratives for others.
Sure. But should Muslim fans be proud of her Muslim identity as the article says, when she was also at different times a Catholic and given enough time might have become a Buddhist?
Did she take religion seriously?
But her being a great singer will last forever. Which is what we are remembering. Kinda weird that people are shaming that. Celebrate peoples talents and the things that brought them joy, not what was controversial or brought pain.
One social media user said imagery of the singer without the hijab points to the glaring lack of Muslim reporters in newsrooms.
So we can’t use images of Sinead O’Conner pre-2018 when talking about her legacy and remembering her work?
One social media user said imagery of the singer without the hijab points to the glaring lack of Muslim reporters in newsrooms.
So we can’t use images of Sinead O’Conner pre-2018 when talking about her legacy and remembering her work?
My guess is that it’s probably more like a Muslim would point out that it would be more respectful of the dead to not use a headshot that the dead would consider immodest.
I’m not sure it’s that big a deal:
I wear it when I feel like it. There’s no rules as such.
