Nour Mehana Revisited
You remember him. He inspired my Annie Jacobsen parody.
Here's what Free Republic has to say:
Mr. Mehana has a nice little song on his recent CD, by the way. It's called "Um El Shaheed." In English, that's "Mother of a Martyr." I noticed "Um El Shaheed" on Nour Mehana's web site. "Shaheed," I knew, meant "martyr," but that was as far as my Arabic could go. Since martyrdom seemed an odd topic for a casino crooner, I called the Middle East Media Research Institute. I spoke with Aluma Dankowtiz, who is fluent in Arabic, to find out exactly what Mr. Mehana has to say. "Mother of a Martyr" glorifies the death of a young Palestinian. Mehana sings to a grieving mother that she should not be sad, because her son, who died as a martyr, is a hero. She should be happy that her son is gone, Mehana croons, because freeing Palestine and the Golan Heights are heroic goals. The song, which starts slow and solemn, ends with a triumphant chorus, celebrating the martyr's glorious death: "Allahu Akbar...Allahu Akbar...Allahu Akbar!"
Muslim WakeUp has a somewhat different point of view:
If you believe a whole bunch of right-wing bloggers, Nour Mehana was recently on a “dry run” preparing for the next terrorist attack a la 9/11.
If you believe reality, then Nour Mehana is a Syrian singer who, backed by a dozen or so band members, does shows around the country for the Arab American community.
And then there's Michelle Malkin's August 5 update:
Annie Jacobsen and Clint Taylor follow-up on Flight 327. Time magazine talks to a federal air marshal who was on the plane.
Nour Mehana was not on the flight, as Clint initially speculated, but he has much more info on other passengers and associates of Mehana's band, including one Atef Kamel. Excerpt:
I asked Mr. Kamel about the lyrics to a song called "Um al Shaheed" -- "Mother of a Martyr" -- that Mr. Mehana has recorded. It is not about suicide bombers, he insisted, but about soldiers who die in battle. Besides, if Mr. Mehana didn't do that old standard, "the people wouldn't like him." Mr. Kamel was raised Muslim but is now Catholic; he stated that suicide bombing bars you from heaven in both religions. "If you kill yourself, you're evil."...
Comments