Pop singer Rihanna was asked to leave the site of a mosque in Abu Dhabi after authorities discovered she did not have a permit for her photo shoot and her poses were perceived as out of place for such a holy site.
She did take several shots before she was asked to leave, and those posted on her Instagram account show her dressed head to toe in a hooded, black jumpsuit, wearing bright red lipstick and heavy gold jewelry.
Staffers with the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque said they asked her to leave the site because her poses ran counter to the “sanctity” of the holy site, The Daily Mail reported.
The mosque — the largest in the United Arab Emirates, with room for 40,000 worshippers — released a statement about a “recent incident, involving a singer,” without citing Rihanna’s name.
The statement, The Daily Mail reported: “In the event of behavior that violates the moral codes of access to the mosque, or other visit regulations — such as taking inappropriate pictures, posing in ways that are improper in the context of sacred place, talking loudly, or eating — the violators are directed in a polite manner that reflects the civilizational and tolerant attributes of Islam.”
The statement continues: “Here, the Centre refers to a recent incident, involving a singer who came for a private visit to the mosque, at a gate that is not reserved for visitors, without prior coordination with the Centre’s management and without identifying herself. … [She] left … after being asked to do so, due to the fact that she had taken some pictures that do not conform with the conditions and regulations.”
Fans mocked the singer for her mosque photo shoot.
One said, in a social media post reported by The Daily Mail: “Rihanna may look gorgeous and all but she’s covering her head out of fashion not out of respect for the mosque.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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