Bahraini reformer: "I listen to music"

I use to like to listen to Arab music (Lebanese, Egyptian, also Persian (not Arab) -- Iranian music -- D. Chemirani)...that's until 2000 (then I stopped listening).

Back in the early 90s (?) I went searching for an album by Khaled (I liked that song "Didi", among others). Anyway, one of the songs is actually a drinking song (you can hear the pop and fizz of a beverage being opened and poured into a glass, if you listen carefully). Those were happier, more optimistic times back then. I also hear that Khaled was harassed by the fundies...I don't know what happened to him...(Also heard about horrid things with Algerian musicians during Algeria's civil war -- one woman brutally murdered on stage and so on).

Anyway, I caught a glimpse of the promo for the Little Mosque on the Prairie -- I find it amusing that they're playing Khaled's music in the background...Hope the Mad Mullahs and Insane Imams don't find out...

J.S. Last I heard,Khaled was living in France and could not go back to Algeria where he was from. I used to have all his music.

If only neo-Nazis and Jews could sit at the same table and get along...

This Bahraini is part of the problem: he doesn't recognize how deep and broad the disease is.

"As for the policy of non-violence, I'd like to give you the example of Gandhi, whom I consider a hero. If only we could obtain some of Gandhi's genes, and plant them in the brains of our youth in the Arab world..."

If only this were possible. But then we all know what would happen-the Muslim genes would declare a jihad and kill all the Gandhi genes in the neverending quest to conquer all, be it nations or bodies.

Essentially he is a Christian wannabe who cannot quite face the actual contents of Islam -- note that he mentions the "balance" in the Qur'an, an entirely factitious balance when it comes to the discussion of Infidels, by the way, but also fails to mention the Hadith, and the Sira. A good man, but a self-deluded one, as good Muslims have to be, pretending in their own Private Islam that has little foundation in the texts and none in the beliefs, attitudes, and atmospherics to be found all over the Muslim world.

This author calls himself a Muslim now for some reason or blend of reasons. It might be out of filial piety. It might be out of fear of doing what Robert Hossein did when he tried to convert, or did convert, to Christianity in Kuwait (supposedly "soft" and "tolerant" Kuwait)and lost his wife, his children, his business, and then was threatened with death, until he recanted, and what was described to me by a Kuwaiti tycoon, a charming host and otherwise seemingly sensible, as "his [Hossein's]temporary insanity ended."

But what a daring fellow he is. He listens to music. He puts up pictures of Jesus and Martin Luther King. He actually likes all this talk of "peace" and stuff like that. He's a menace. He's a danger. I'd arrest him, if I were the authorities, or if I were Hamid, the self-promoted "King" of Bahrain, and pronto.

dms,

I hope Kaled is happy in his exile in france.

I also recall big music festivals held every year in Fez, Morocco. I don't know if such events are still held...Israeli singers/groups (Noa, etc) would also attend.

Distant memories...

The Algerian singer was be-headed during her performance -- it took place on stage in front of the audience.

At what point must one no longer listen?

"Also heard about horrid things with Algerian musicians during Algeria's civil war -- one woman brutally murdered on stage and so on)."
-- from a posting above

Yes. The terrorists of F.I.S. have made it a point to kill singers of Rai, and if they happen to be Berber, and thus even more suspect, then they are all the more deserving of death at the hands of proud Arabs, fanatic in their faith. Cheb Hasni was gunned down in Oran. Cheb Khaled, the most famous of the rai singers (and mentioned by several posters above) left Algeria for France because he, and many others, received too many death threats. Music, Islam -- there's just this little problem, see. It's amusing that the Black Musoims in America apparently have no idea of the prohibition on music; they have it at every gathering. But then, how does one ask of people, as the price of admission to Islam, to give up not only gospel singing, but every form of music. It's too much, and the Honorable Elijah Mohammad knew that he'd have to make some compromises and couldn't go all the way with Islam as practiced in the Middle East. It wouldn't appeal. And that is one of the reasons that the Black Muslims were, and still are, not regarded by Arabs as real Muslims.

Hugh,

Have you ever heard classical Persian santur music? (It's unfortunate that Amazon.com has stopped supplying clips from albums..at one time you could hear various tracks from albums...)

" I put up a picture of Jesus, because whenever I look at his picture, worlds of peace and love open up before me. It was Jesus who said: "Love thy enemies, bless them who curse thee." We need this beautiful language in our society. I also have a picture of Gandhi, whom I consider to be a very fine person, and whose [image] we should plant in the minds of our youth. "

He better not have a picture of Muhammad on his wall...

Comme si j'n'existais pas
Elle est passee a cote de moi
Sans un regard, Reine de Sabbat
J'ai dit, Aicha, prends, tout est pour toi

Voici, les perles, les bijoux
Aussi, l'or autour de ton cou
Les fruits, bien murs au gout de miel
Ma vie, Aicha si tu m'aimes

J'irai a ton souffle nous mene
Dans les pays d'ivoire et d'ebene
J'effacerai tes larmes, tes peines
Rien n'est trop beau pour une si belle

Oooh ! Aicha, Aicha, ecoute-moi
Aicha, Aicha, t'en vas pas
Aicha, Aicha, regarde-moi
Aicha, Aicha, reponds-moi

Je dirai les mots des poemes
Je jouerai les musiques du ciel
Je prendrai les rayons du soleil
Pour eclairer tes yeux de reine

Oooh ! Aicha, Aicha, ecoute-moi
Aicha, Aicha, t'en vas pas

Elle a dit, garde tes tresors
Moi, je vaux mieux que tout ca
Des barreaux forts, des barreaux meme en or
Je veux les memes droits que toi
Et du respect pour chaque jour
Moi je ne veux que de l'amour

Aaaah !
Comme si j'n'existais pas
Elle est passee a cote de moi
Sans un regard, Reine de Sabbat
J'ai dit, Aicha, prends, tout est pour toi

Nbrik Aicha ou nmout allik [Je te veux Aicha et je meurs pour toi]
'Hhadi kisat hayaty oua habbi [Ceci est l'histoire de ma vie et de mon amour]
Inti omri oua inti hayati [Tu es ma respiration et ma vie]
Tmanit niich maake ghir inti [J'ai envie de vivre avec toi et rien qu'avec toi]

Aïcha by Cheb Khaled

Album: Sahra (1996)

Thank you Dhiyaa Al-Musawi. The voice of moderation and tolerance within Islamic societies is something we in the west rarely hear. I hope yours will be heard and respected in Bahrain and elsewhere. And to the cynics who have posted here: Would any of you have the guts to stand up and speak out against the religious orthodoxy, knowing the dangers you may face when the zealots start fulminating against your 'blasphemy' ?
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury has been beaten, arrested, tortured and facing a possible death sentence for speaking of tolerance in Bangledesh. Alaa Abd El-Fatah and others in Egypt are under arrest, facing uncertain consequences for speaking their minds about the silliness of Islamic rule.

The followers of islam, within the Nation of Islam are under a fatwa as aposates, I believe it was from a saudi group of clerics, or group of religious leaders.

Does al Musawi listen to Bahreins most famous musician - Michael Jackson?

"And to the cynics who have posted here: Would any of you have the guts to stand up and speak out against the religious orthodoxy, knowing the dangers you may face when the zealots start fulminating against your 'blasphemy' ?
--from a posting above attacking an unnamed group misleadingly described as "cynics"

There is nothing cynical, but everything analytical, about describing the Bahraini in question as someone who cannot leave Islam even though his entire spirit and thrust is against Islam, and whose gestures -- the talk of peace, the admission that he listens to music and has on his wall pictures of Jesus and Martin Luther King. It is not cynical to call him a "Christian wannabe" and it does not diminish him in any way to note this, to note how physically dangerous, and how dangerous in other ways (who wants complete social ostracism?) for him to declare himself an apostate. And he does not wish to, for now, because filial piety and other tugs prevent that.

Why is it "cynical" to point this out, even as he has been held up for praise here? The only response that would be "cynical" is that of someone who suggested he was doing it for such reasons as obtaiing fame, or money, and no one did. There was no "cynical" posting; there have been no "cynics" on this particular thread.

Some of us say: "May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians, the offspring of apes and pigs."
-- quoting Al-Musawi, the liberal-minded Bahraini, in his interview

"Some of us [Muslims] say" that curse, but all Muslims are supposed to say it or at least silently agree with it, because the sentiment is not something made up by "some Muslims" but can be found in the Qur'an and, more importantly, in the most respected collections of Hadith, marked as "authentic." It would be better for Infidel understanding, and for the possibilities of somehow reforming Islam (god knows how), if he had replied that "Islamic texts teach Muslims to wish 'May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians the offspring of apes and pigs.' But he didn't. It is understandable. He's already taking great risks with a totaliarian creed and its total believers. But one still has a duty to note the difference between the truth, and the quasi-truth even he, or especially he, must present.

I'm also a fan of Cheb Khaled's music and Aicha is one of my favorire songs. A few year's back, Khaled and Noa did a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" in Arabic, Hebrew, and English. Khaled recieved death threat's because of the line "imagine there's no religion". These Arabic and Berber singers deserve our support since the use of their talents for love songs and other "non-Quranic" music is contrary to Islamic totalitarianism.

They are the exact opposite of the snot-nosed Paki-British "Mooslim Rappers" who advocate jihad or that repititious Quran singer whose "music" is played at the beginning of every al-Qaida traing video..

The anti music references

I smell a fatwa coming.

"These Arabic and Berber singers deserve our support..." i agree 100 percent.

Even the survival of Persian music (generations were hounded and hunted down) to play a santur -- it was a mark of defiance -- a rise in the human spirit above that of repressive religion! Some are heroic resisters -- and I, frankly, don't know whether or not I would be strong enough to resist or act so courageously! (During some of the times of repression, the Persian santur players had to pass on their art through stealth -- coded ways to carry on the tradition -- getting caught meant a death sentence. Yet carry on it has -- this music existed long before Islam, and I hope and trust it continues -- as a triumph to the human spirit!

Wonder if the Bahrainians like michael jackson music??

Forget about playing loud rap music at GITMO. "Torture" them w/Mozart.

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Some music clips are still on Barnes and Noble's website:

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.asp?WRD=Cheb+Khaled&qsrch=A&FRM=0&z=y

Hope the link works.

A brave man. Was it Shakespeare who said "He that hath not music in his soul, Is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils'? Seems to be coming true on a global scale nowadays.

Postscript. I've just found the quotation, from The Merchant of Venice:

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved by concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
His affection dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

Let no such man be trusted, indeed.

"Some of us say: "May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians, the offspring of apes and pigs." Is this the language of progress? Is this the language of enlightenment and tolerance? If you had been born in Rome, you would have been Christian"
wrong nazi muslim

if you had been born in rome you'd be free to change any religion. If you had born in iran or mecca, NOT.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

Who is there?

Religious Police, Open Up!

Sorry, No One Home!

Anyone know off hand which sura or hadith bands music?

I need to add to my collection.

Thanks.

The point that is often obscured about this (and a 1,001 related issues of Islamic culture) is that the very fact that the question of whether human beings should be able freely to enjoy music at all is a question that, even when allowed to be asked at all with any ounce of seriousness, reveals the disease of Islam:

The question should not be asked at all: to ask it, to even allow that question on the table at all, is to already concede legitimacy to the pathological universe of Islamic culture.

Anyone who poses the question, Muslim or not, is already guilty of aiding and abetting that dangerous, ridiculous and evil pathology.

Thank you for the link, PapaBear. I was going to ask where this teaching regarding music is found. I cannot imagine a world, a life without music.

What a sad and miserable ideology Islam really is, taking from its followers every bit of joy and goodness and beauty there is in this world.

Whoa, I remember listening to Khaled whenever I went to Dubai for vacation. I remember 'Aisha' quite well. And who was the Algerian singer who sang on Sting's 'Desert Rose'?