Designer apologises to Muslims for using portrait of historic Kenya’s mosque on celebrity’s T-shirt

A US-based designer has apologized to Muslims for using a portrait of a historic mosque in Kenya’s island of Lamu on a T-shirt worn by celebrity Jay-Z, an official in charge of the site has told the BBC.

Riyadha Mosque’s leaders had objected to the T-shirt as it could be worn to “sacrilegious joints” like bars.

Abubakar Badawy, the secretary general of Riyadha Mosque and Islamic said worshippers became angry when they saw WhatsApp group photos of US-based music mogul Jay-Z wearing a T-shirt with a print of the mosque

The mosque official said they had accepted the apology letter because it was done in good faith.

Designer Zeddie Loky reportedly produced the T-shirt to promote Lamu.

Lamu is a Unesco-listed World Heritage site and the 19th-Century mosque is a top tourist attraction.

It has manuscripts dating back to 1837, and is one of the oldest continuously functioning Islamic teaching institutions in East Africa.