Kenyan designer, Zedekiah Lukoye ( Zeddie Loky) of Blkburd Genes has apologized after printing a T-shirt with an image of Lamu's Riyadha Mosque.
This follows uproar from the mosque’s management and a section of muslims from Lamu county after American rapper and business mogul Jay Z was recently spotted wearing the T-shirt.
In a letter sent to Riyadh Mosque Secretary General Abubakar Badawy, the designer said he was sorry for using the image of the mosque confessing that he was unaware during research and design stage that portrayal of the mosque on the T-shirts would be perceived as sacrilegous.
"I must confess we were unaware during research and design period that theportrayal of the mosque on our tees will end up in sacrilegious joints and we appreciate you brought the matter to our attention. In this respect, we are willing to make this right with you. we will make sure to remove all the inappropriate portrayal Riyadha Mosque Lamu on our T-shirt." Mr Loky says in the letter.
Adding "We have alerted our friends and family whom received this design to that deserves the respect to respect the dignity of the Mosque, its Founder, to the congregation, and the general Muslim community within and outside Lamu by not wearing it in bars nor clubs if they happen to decide to wear it."
He further stated that the company will stop producing the T-shirts.
"Since we only produced 20 tees for some of our celebrity friends and family, we would not be reprinting this design anymore and have a different design. On top of that we would like to frame this entire collection and have it at the Museum for exhibition and storage for public to get to bring awareness of our work and continue to appreciate what we are doing." he states.
The famous Riyadha Mosque was constructed in 1892, in 2018 the government of Kenya through the ministry of tourism declared it a national monument under the national museums and heritage act.
