Selena Gomez made a New Year headline after her Instagram photos wreaked social media havoc. The said photos of herself sparked an outrage after she bared some flesh during her visit at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The pop star has been heavily mocked online and her photos were considered as an insult to the Muslims.
Visiting a Mosque usually requires a strict compliance of its rules and regulations that include banning of all "intimate behavior" such as holding hands and kissing, The Daily Mail reported. The visit also demands that females should wear angle-length skirt, a violation that Selena Gomez made after posting an Instagram image while flashing her ankles inside the Mosque.
Selena Gomez's Instagram posts of her United Arab Emirates visit caused fury on social media because she, along with her friends, disrespected a religious place for worship. Us Weekly reported that Gomez, together with Kendall Jenner, Shay Mitchell, Cody Simpson and Gigi Hadid created New Year's scandal after raising some eyebrows of the Muslim community for sharing goofy pictures of their Grand Mosque visit on Dec. 29.
The 22-year-old pop star got a taste of a hateful 2015 after Selena Gomez posted the now-deleted Instagram photo that sparked widespread online controversy for showing off her leg and ankle, which in Muslim culture is a clear sign of indecency and offensiveness.
Some comments were saying that they were disappointed and Selena was disrespectful.
"Disrespectful! It's a religion place not a place to have fun in, so disappointed," a social media follower commented. While another user added, "If their intent was to learn about Islam they wouldn't be posing like they were standing outside and amusement park."
"It's a holly place she should've respect that by not showing off her ankle...,"another Instagram follower said. "And stop wearing hijab for fashion it's a religion only Muslim women wear it."
Meanwhile, it is not only Selena Gomez that stirred "disrespectful" comments on social media. In 2013, TMZ reported that singer Rihanna also visited the Mosque and took pictures of herself inside in different poses. But Muslim leaders ejected RiRi saying her actions "had not keeping with the sanctity of the holy site."
It seemed that 2015 did not have a good start for Selena Gomez, who is currently in the middle of a social media scandal after her visit in UAE. And though she was heavily lambasted, the young singer did not post any comment instead deleted the offensive Instagram photos that were considered too racy for the mosque's criterions.
