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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 November 1999 Issue No. 455 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 November 1999 Issue No. 455
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Books Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Blasphemy trial postponed
By Zeina KhodrThe highly-publicised trial of Lebanese singer and Arab icon, Marcel Khalife, accused of insulting Islam for putting Qur'anic verse to music, has highlighted one of the most controversial issues in Lebanon -- the role of religion in politics.
A Maronite with communist leanings, Khalife allegedly blasphemed by quoting the Qur'an in his song "I am Youssef, Oh Father," the relevant words from the Qur'an being "I saw 11 stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them kneeling in prayer before me."
The song's lyrics come from a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, and Khalife dedicated the song to the "oppressed people of southern Lebanon and the Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation." The lyrics compare the oppression of Palestinians in some Arab countries to Joseph's suffering from mistreatment by his brothers, as told in both the Qur'an and the Bible.
Khalife's trial, scheduled to have opened last week, has been postponed until 1 December, after defence lawyers requested more time to study the case. "We want the tension surrounding the case to subside," said Ibrahim Hariri, one of the lawyers. "We are also trying to make sure that the case is not regarded as a battle between religious and intellectual leaders, since there is no truth to that."
However that may be, Khalife's supporters regard the case as a struggle to safeguard individual liberties, freedom of expression and culture in Lebanon. "Politics and religion should be separated," said 24-year-old Ranya Ramadan, who was among the hundreds of protesters demonstrating in Khalife's support outside the courthouse recently.
Khalife first faced charges based on the same song three years ago. On that occasion, however, protests prompted the then Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri to mediate, and charges were dropped. The charges had been drawn up following a complaint from the highest Sunni Muslim religious authority in Lebanon, Dar Al-Fatwa.
This time round though charges have not been dropped, and a chief investigating magistrate in Beirut, Abdel-Rahman Chehab, a Sunni, indicted the singer last month and requested that he be sent to jail for up to three years on blasphemy charges. The head of the Sunni community here, Sheikh Mohamed Rashed Qabbani, said the indictment was necessary after Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni authority in Egypt, forbade musical renditions of a Qur'anic verse.
Khalife has denied the charges and said that "this poem included a part of a Qur'anic verse, but not the whole verse. I did not want to sing a Qur'anic verse, nor do I have any intentions of doing so. I did not insult Islam and all I wanted to do was sing a nationalist song."
Khalife's supporters say that the case and their defence of the singer is as much about defending culture, freedom and human values as it is about alleged blasphemy.
n response to the charges brought against the singer, they have signed a petition in a show of solidarity, saying that since all of them were responsible for helping him produce the song, all of them should be prosecuted on the same charges.
The international human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have both appealed to the Lebanese authorities to stop the prosecution. HRW said that Khalife's work was protected under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Lebanon is a party. "That Convention grants the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds," an HRW statement said.
The case has also raised tensions between the country's religious groups. Whereas Qabbani has accused Khalife of blasphemy, arguing that it is wrong to sing any part of the Qur'an in commercial songs, the Higher Shiite Council said that while including Qur'anic verses in popular songs was contrary to Islamic law, it disagreed with the Sunni religious authority's push to try the composer for blasphemy.
"We are not in favour of taking the case to court...Our job as religious leaders is to issue religious rulings and not to interfere with the judicial process," said Council head Sheikh Mohamed Mehdi Shamseddine.
The Lebanese constitution guarantees freedom of opinion, but a blasphemy law permits religious authorities and even the state to challenge individual expression when it appears to affect the religious beliefs of a community. Since the end of the country's recent civil war, successive governments have tried to weaken the grip religious institutions have had over politics, but they have so far been unsuccessful, and political sectarianism remains a part of life.
Sheikh Mohamed Hussein Fadallah, a spiritual mentor for Lebanon's Shiites, said that using Qur'anic verses in music was sanctioned as long as the music addressed serious issues. Fadallah and Shamseddine disagree over religious and political matters.
Civil rights lawyers in the country have been dismayed at the intervention of the religious groups that have pushed the case to trial. They believe that the religious communities should not have a say in political matters, especially since Lebanon has always regarded itself as a liberal country. Many believe that Khalife's communist leanings have contributed to the tension.
However, observers and judicial sources believe that Khalife will ultimately be acquitted, if only because Lebanon does not want to be seen by the world as a country that does not respect freedom and democracy. A compromise agreement may be reached, whereby Khalife would remove the song from his album or agree to delete the lyrics in question, and the charges against him would then be dropped.
he highly-publicised trial of Lebanese singer and Arab icon, Marcel Khalife, accused of insulting Islam for putting Qur'anic verse to music, has highlighted one of the most controversial issues in Lebanon -- the role of religion in politics.
A Maronite with communist leanings, Khalife allegedly blasphemed by quoting the Qur'an in his song "I am Youssef, Oh Father," the relevant words from the Qur'an being "I saw 11 stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them kneeling in prayer before me."
The song's lyrics come from a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, and Khalife dedicated the song to the "oppressed people of southern Lebanon and the Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation." The lyrics compare the oppression of Palestinians in some Arab countries to Joseph's suffering from mistreatment by his brothers, as told in both the Qur'an and the Bible.
Khalife's trial, scheduled to have opened last week, has been postponed until 1 December, after defence lawyers requested more time to study the case. "We want the tension surrounding the case to subside," said Ibrahim Hariri, one of the lawyers. "We are also trying to make sure that the case is not regarded as a battle between religious and intellectual leaders, since there is no truth to that."
However that may be, Khalife's supporters regard the case as a struggle to safeguard individual liberties, freedom of expression and culture in Lebanon. "Politics and religion should be separated," said 24-year-old Ranya Ramadan, who was among the hundreds of protesters demonstrating in Khalife's support outside the courthouse recently.
Khalife first faced charges based on the same song three years ago. On that occasion, however, protests prompted the then Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri to mediate, and charges were dropped. The charges had been drawn up following a complaint from the highest Sunni Muslim religious authority in Lebanon, Dar Al-Fatwa.
This time round though charges have not been dropped, and a chief investigating magistrate in Beirut, Abdel-Rahman Chehab, a Sunni, indicted the singer last month and requested that he be sent to jail for up to three years on blasphemy charges. The head of the Sunni community here, Sheikh Mohamed Rashed Qabbani, said the indictment was necessary after Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni authority in Egypt, forbade musical renditions of a Qur'anic verse.
Khalife has denied the charges and said that "this poem included a part of a Qur'anic verse, but not the whole verse. I did not want to sing a Qur'anic verse, nor do I have any intentions of doing so. I did not insult Islam and all I wanted to do was sing a nationalist song."
Khalife's supporters say that the case and their defence of the singer is as much about defending culture, freedom and human values as it is about alleged blasphemy.
In response to the charges brought against the singer, they have signed a petition in a show of solidarity, saying that since all of them were responsible for helping him produce the song, all of them should be prosecuted on the same charges.
The international human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have both appealed to the Lebanese authorities to stop the prosecution. HRW said that Khalife's work was protected under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Lebanon is a party. "That Convention grants the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds," an HRW statement said.
The case has also raised tensions between the country's religious groups. Whereas Qabbani has accused Khalife of blasphemy, arguing that it is wrong to sing any part of the Qur'an in commercial songs, the Higher Shiite Council said that while including Qur'anic verses in popular songs was contrary to Islamic law, it disagreed with the Sunni religious authority's push to try the composer for blasphemy.
"We are not in favour of taking the case to court...Our job as religious leaders is to issue religious rulings and not to interfere with the judicial process," said Council head Sheikh Mohamed Mehdi Shamseddine.
The Lebanese constitution guarantees freedom of opinion, but a blasphemy law permits religious authorities and even the state to challenge individual expression when it appears to affect the religious beliefs of a community. Since the end of the country's recent civil war, successive governments have tried to weaken the grip religious institutions have had over politics, but they have so far been unsuccessful, and political sectarianism remains a part of life.
Sheikh Mohamed Hussein Fadallah, a spiritual mentor for Lebanon's Shiites, said that using Qur'anic verses in music was sanctioned as long as the music addressed serious issues. Fadallah and Shamseddine disagree over religious and political matters.
Civil rights lawyers in the country have been dismayed at the intervention of the religious groups that have pushed the case to trial. They believe that the religious communities should not have a say in political matters, especially since Lebanon has always regarded itself as a liberal country. Many believe that Khalife's communist leanings have contributed to the tension.
However, observers and judicial sources believe that Khalife will ultimately be acquitted, if only because Lebanon does not want to be seen by the world as a country that does not respect freedom and democracy. A compromise agreement may be reached, whereby Khalife would remove the song from his album or agree to delete the lyrics in question, and the charges against him would then be dropped.
- Lyrical liberties? by Ranwa Yehia
