Well, that's different!

Reba

Retired Terp
Premium Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
54,899
Reaction score
1,518
Students sing 'Allah Akbar' at holiday concert
By Todd Starnes

Published December 18, 2015
FoxNews.com

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a Ramadan song – at least in Blaine, Minnesota.

There was a big controversy after Thursday’s holiday concert at the local high school – when the teenagers belted out a praise song to Allah.

I’m sure a number of Lutherans along with other Protestant parents spewed their egg nog when they heard their offspring singing, “Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar.”

Television station WCCO first reported on the holiday dustup – quoting several moms and dads who were not all that happy their children were singing about the glories of Islam.

The school district said they have students from a number of different backgrounds and they try to promote equal opportunities for all students.

Check out some of the lyrics of “Eid un Sa’ Eid – Zain Bhika”:

“Ramadan has come and gone/Eid has dawned up us/Thank you Allah for this blessed day/This is a time of happiness, a time of joy/Thank you Allah for this blessed day.”

Throw in some banjos and a fiddle and I’m sure you’d have a real toe tapper.

Then then song breaks into some Arabic.

“It’s a time of brotherhood, a time of peace/Muslims are singing praises to Allah/Allahu Akbar/Allahu Akbar/”

Now it's true the youngsters also sang "Away in the Manger" and "Silent Night" and a few Jewish songs. But why are they singing a Ramadan song at Christmas time?

I know the lyrics say that Ramadan has come and gone. But in this case, Ramadan was last summer.

One parent told the television station considering recent events in Paris and San Bernardino - a song about Allah would be “insensitive.”

By the way – I don’t seem to recall any outrage from the ACLU or any of those perpetually offended atheist groups that break out in hives at the sound of a Christmas carol.

The Anoka – Hennepin School District is defending the Muslim melody.

They argued that the Islamic song that called on Muslims to “unite to worship Allah” is not really about worship.

“Songs are not performed in a worship setting or to promote religion,” the district said in a statement to WCCO. “But rather in (an) educational setting where students are learning and performing music.”

And besides, any student who did not feel comfortable singing it, was not required to do so.

The school district said they have students from a number of different backgrounds and they try to promote equal opportunities for all students.

Well in the spirit of equal opportunities -- I wonder which Christian songs they're going to croon during Ramadan? How about “Jesus Loves Me”?


http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/12/18/students-sing-allah-akbar-at-holiday-concert.html
 
Based on what I read in the article - I think - good! This is a school district, they have students from various backgrounds. It's a holiday concert, not a "Christmas" concert at a church. They had Chanukah songs, why not Muslim/Arabic songs. Just because Ramadan was in Summer as the article mentions, doesn't mean the song shouldn't be in the concert.
As a Jew, I know what it is to be a non-Christian in the U.S.
I think concert -goers should enloy and not be close-minded or surprised.

<as an aside, I remember taking Arabic when I was maybe in 8th grade...we were supposed to have a Spanish class but the assigned teacher wasn't there, don't know if we found out what happened. But substitute counted off on his fingers the languages he knew - there were several Romance and also Arabic. I had been taking Spanish for a while by then. Not interested in French, or German, or Latin. There were some other... We ended up with Arabic. It was cool to not only have the choice between all the options, but also to have the chance to try something entirely new>
 
The only issue i see with this.

Is

This tune, is a standard mulsem war song. Used in almost all isis chop chop vids, and burning vids, as well as a standard used in vids showing the deaths of american solders.

If their going to sing the song, they should at least be honest enough to play the music videos that the songs are made for.

But i doubt seeing innocents heads chopped.off or.dudes burned alive in cages just isnt the visual spirit the school is looking.for.

Thus the song alone is sung.

But i have to ask why?
Why cant people of faiths what ever that may be celeberate their faith without the need of other faiths molesting them.?

Interesting times.

After all their is a christmas tree in mecca so fair is fair..

Wait a minute....."-)
 
I guess I wonder - if the song is - mis-appropriately taken by extremists who happen to be Musliim, and corrupted for their purposes then we could back to the original purpose of the song....

we could consider overall, that the purpose of the season is generosity and peace and that no one religion has a monopoly over this time of year-
 
I guess I wonder - if the song is - mis-appropriately taken by extremists who happen to be Musliim, and corrupted for their purposes then we could back to the original purpose of the song....

we could consider overall, that the purpose of the season is generosity and peace and that no one religion has a monopoly over this time of year-


Well...
Christians have plenty of war songs to sing...my question is
Are war songs appropriete?

Also given the amount of dead americans in vids with this song as the main theme, is it really a nice idea to sing this song?

Some songs original purpose was and is war.christianity is full of them...

I reckon islam is too.

Why not create another song that is not used in the chopping of or burning alive of people?

Seems a better idea al round.

No faith has.a monopoly of the time of year.

But if we are going to get along as a species.
In my eyes its better to respect each others spaces rather then.christians during.ramadan sing onward christian solders. And muslems during.christmass sing allah akbar....
 
:hmm:
this is a good question about the idea of war songs overall


I like the idea of creating another song; at the UU <Unitarian Universalist list-not Christian> church I'm involved with sometimes the minister did write and sing a new holiday song

but a public school is everyone's space, not just one belief system/mythology
 
:hmm:
this is a good question about the idea of war songs overall


I like the idea of creating another song; at the UU <Unitarian Universalist list-not Christian> church I'm involved with sometimes the minister did write and sing a new holiday song

but a public school is everyone's space, not just one belief system/mythology

A wicked idea would of been for the kids to create their own songs with eachother to sing.

At least that negates any bad history.

And has an air of.freshness to it all..
 
Back
Top