Germany: Muslims upset at football club song

Germany: Muslims upset at football club song


Update:


According to the German folk song archive, the anthem is based on a hunting tune from 1797 which says "Mohammed is my patron! He knew real beauty. He, for whom only green was holy from all the colours."


The Schalke version was created in 1924 and the wording edited in 1963. It is sung ahead of every home game.



A club spokesman said that the club has received "around 350 emails," adding: "We are taking the situation very seriously and are in contact with police and state protection institutions."



Burhan Kesici, general secretary of the Islamic Council in Germany, called for restraint in the articulation of the protests but also urged Schalke to take action.



"It is not right that the prophet is mentioned in a club anthem. I would wish that out of respect for the Muslims in this country the Mohammed-stanza is not sung," Kesici told the Turkish-language service of the German Press Agency dpa.



The general secretary of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, said: "We will not call for the song to be outlawed, but we want information about the its background. We owe that to the many Turkish fans and the players of Schalke."



(more)


Source: EarthTimes

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The Schalke 04 club song includes the following stanza:

Mohammed was a prophet who
Knew nothing of football, that much is true
But of all the colours shining bright
The ones he thought up were our royal blue and white


It was written in 1924, and sung before every Schalke game since 1963.


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Germany's Muslim community vented its anger over blasphemous song of German Bundesliga squad Schalke 04, news reports said here Monday.


Muslim fans of the traditional Bundesliga team have threatened to boycott their squad, if club officials don't change the part of the song, deemed insulting to the feelings of Muslims.
Numerous Muslim websites have reportedly prepared protest letters and petitions to be sent to the club.


An unnamed Schalke spokesman vowed to take the accusations seriously, saying there are plans to hire an Islam expert to investigate the blasphemous charge in the song.
The Central Council of Muslims criticized the fact that the official club song did not show sufficient respect towards Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).


It also pointed out that the latest anti-Islam scandal comes in the wake of the recent vicious Islamophobic courtroom killing of a pregnant Muslim woman by a neo-Nazi in the eastern city of Dresden.


Founded in 1904, Schalke is one of the most popular Bundesliga teams with a huge nationwide fan base, among them many Turks.


There are also several Muslim players on the team roster.


Source: IRNA (English)

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