“We hope that this music video and song will inspire people to respond to the Muslim community with love and understanding not to support the republishing of the insulting caricatures [of Charlie Hebdo].”
“We hope that this music video and song will inspire people to respond to the Muslim community with love and understanding not to support the republishing of the insulting caricatures [of Charlie Hebdo].”
Danish singer and producer Ali Al Hadi has released a new track titled “I Heard” in response to the rise in Islamophobia and racism following President Macron’s recent remarks in France. The song is inspired by Prophet Muhammed, whose birthday was celebrated last week by over a billion Muslim worshippers around the globe.
The Prophet’s birthday, referred to as Mawlid Al-Nabi, came only a few weeks after French President Macron’s worrying remarks about “radical” Islamic, and the subsequent beheading of a French schoolteacher after he showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed in class. In the turmoil afterwards, there were numerous Islamophobic attacks within France as Muslims – especially in France – felt attacked with the growing accusation and blame being put on ordinary, peaceful Muslims.
In Ali’s song, he also paid tribute to George Floyd, a Black man who was brutally murdered by police officers in the United States which in turn helped amplify the Black Lives Matter movement that swept the globe. The connection between what Black Americans face and many Muslims face in the West has its parallels – and Ali paid homage to the strength and courage of many who continue to face systematic racism and Islamophobia.
Ali, who was born in Copenhagen and raised in Nørrebro with roots from Baalbeck in Lebanon, has been singing since the age of 12 – taking inspiration from his diverse cultures of both the Middle East and Western Europe to help bridge the often misunderstood gap. In terms of this new release, Ali stated:
We want to show the world the reality of our beloved Prophet, who was an honourable man and an example from whom humanity can learn lessons. We as Muslims denounce such killings [of the schoolteacher in France]; similarly, we denounce the continuous bigotry towards Muslims.”
He also stated: “This problem we see today is something that is rooted in evil, and it is not right to abuse the right of freedom of speech by slandering the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). How freedom of speech is abused, and the violent acts of these perpetrators are both wrong and indefensible. We hope that this music video and song will inspire people to respond to the Muslim community with love and understanding not to support the republishing of the insulting caricatures.”
To learn more about Ali and his work, click here.
