Tuesday morning, the Jackson family will pay tribute to Michael in a small, “private family function” at a cemetery in Hollywood Hills. When it’s over, the real show will begin. The location is set: Los Angeles’s Staples Center. The tickets have been counted: 20,000 to be packed in tight. Even the colour of the coffin has been confirmed (it’s made of gold). But when the final blessing is made, from what holy book will it come?

Last Thursday, Jermaine Jackson ended a news conference: “And Allah be with you Michael, always. I love you.” By Friday, news outlets around the world were a buzz with responses to a single question: why “Allah”? In recent years, Michael Jackson’s faith took a few sharp turns. Jackson was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness by his devout mother, but rumours began circulating in 2006 that the star was turning away from the family creed. In June 2005, Jackson was spotted wearing the red string bracelet favored by followers of Kabbalah. Sources reported that Michael had been turned on to the mystical offshoot of Judaism by close friend, Elizabeth Taylor. Continue…