Musical Islamophobia

Our Flemish correspondent VH has compiled a report on the latest scandal in Germany: the club anthem of a league football team is suddenly — after 83 years! — haram.

He begins with a translation of a Dutch article on the topic:

Muslims outraged about club anthem for football team Schalke

The age-old (83 years) club song of the German football team Schalke since recent causes a lot of anger. Turkish media are confronting the Bundesliga-club [the highest level of Germany’s football league system] because the prophet Muhammad is being ridiculed by their fans.

Ever since 1926 the fans of Schalke have sung the Königblauen (Royal Blue), in which the prophet Mohammed is mentioned as having no clue about football. Angry German Muslims now feel aggrieved by the following verse (in bold):

[Translator’s note: to sing along, the song is on YouTube here, and the translation is slightly adjusted for that reason — The musical score can be downloaded here (pdf).

I have included the entire text of the lyrics below.]

Vereinslied [Club-anthem]

Blau und Weiß, wie lieb ich Dich
Blue and white how much I love you
(Text edited by Hans J. König / 1963)

Blau und Weiß, wie lieb ich Dich
    Blue and white how much I love you
Blau und Weiß, verlass mich nicht
    Blue and white, don’t leave me
Blau und Weiß ist ja der Himmel nur, der Himmel nur
    Blue and white is only the sky, only the sky
Blau und Weiß ist unsere Fußballgarnitur
    Blue and white is our football gear
Blau und Weiß ist ja der Himmel nur, der Himmel nur
    Blue and white is only the sky, only the sky
Blau und Weiß ist unsere Fußballgarnitur
    Blue and white is our football gear

Hätten wir ein Königreich
    If we had a kingdom
Machten wir es den Schalkern gleich
    We would make it Schalke right away
Alle Mädchen, die so jung und schön, so jung und schön
    All girls, who are so young and beautiful, so beautiful
Müssten alle Blau und Weiß spazieren gehn
    Should all go out and have fun in blue and white
Alle Mädchen, die so jung und schön, so jung und schön
    All girls, who are so young and beautiful, so beautiful
Müssten alle Blau und Weiß spazieren gehn
    Should all go out and have fun in blue and white

[video 1:34]
Mohammed war ein Prophet
    Mohammed was a prophet
Der vom Fußballspielen nichts versteht
    Who had no clue about the game of football

- - - - - - - - -

Doch aus all der schönen Farbenpracht, der Farbenpracht
    Though from all the wonderful colors, wonderful colors
Hat er sich das Blau und Weiße ausgedacht
    He came up with blue and white
Doch aus all der schönen Farbenpracht, der Farbenpracht
    Though from all the wonderful colors, wonderful colors
Hat er sich das Blau und Weiße ausgedacht
    He came up with blue and white

Tausend Feuer in der Nacht
    A thousand lights in the night
Haben uns das große Glück gebracht
    Have brought us the greatest luck
Dann wird der FC Schalke niemals untergehn.
    Then the Schalke club will never go down, never down
Tausend Freunde, die zusammenstehn, zusammenstehn
    A thousand friends who stand together, stand together
Dann wird der FC Schalke niemals untergehn
    Then Schalke will never go down in any way

The protests currently are pouring in at Schalke 04. And that on the eve of the start of the Bundesliga. Insulted Muslims demand that the offending lines be removed from the song; otherwise they threaten to boycott the match next weekend, which is in the highest rank of the German football league.

[Quote from Muslim Markt:

With all the commotion today that the text — somewhat belatedly — engendered in some who were confronted with it and kindly informed us about it, classifying any offense as harmless towards those who are insulted is a contradiction to all that is seen as “normal” in this country. For this does not mean that Muslims should have to put up with this, even if they have only paid attention to it after decades have passed. What if all the Schalke fans who consider themselves followers of Islam simply no longer go to Schalke? Towards this end you can send mail to Schalke, in all friendliness, and with all objectivity in style…]

The football club Schalke has already contacted the police, who so far believe that the current situation does not involve a real threat. The German club has deployed experts^[1] to examine the text of the club-anthem. “Only after that will we comment on the case,” a spokesman for the club said.

Note:

[1] The chairman of the Schalke Honorary board, pensioned Pastor Hans-Joachim Dohm, initially wants to have clarified “whether this (slagging of Muhammad) is an artistic expression or a sincere conviction,” and first intends to consult a renowned Islamic scholar to determine whether Muslim feelings indeed might be violated by this song. The Schalke Honorary board now has a real dilemma: If they scrap the incriminating third verse of the song out of respect for the feelings of foreign fellow citizens, they may rightly fear that the German Schalke fans in this case will not that easily be kept silent as they were with the exclusion of members of politically unwanted parties in 2005. Hans-Joachim Dohm therefore was quite correct when he said: “That would probably call for strong emotional counter reactions.” A right-wing news blog adds:

“Notwithstanding the walking-on-eggs of the Honorary board and its lack of backbone, the club, which feels committed to its fans and its region, did not tell its Turkish stänker-fans in its pedigree to look for another club when the traditional club anthem doesn’t please them, nor did it point out to them that Gelsenkirchen is not Istanbul, although the difference here, as with most West German cities, is becoming increasingly more blurred. Ultimately, however, to a club association like Schalke 04, money does matter.” [referring to the boycott threat by Muslim Markt, the well read Islamic news portal]

Concerning Muslim Markt: This well read website has a whole list of boycott calls. For instance, they write: “Products that are the symbol of an anti-Islamic culture can in themselves be “harmless”, but they bear the symbolic power of an aggressive culture, for which even non-Muslim countries such as Germany are put at risk.” They call for boycotts because, as they state: “Muslims are a decisive economic factor in the world with their purchasing power.”

Muslim Markt then calls for a boycott on anti-Islamic culture symbols such as:

• Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola — symbol of the American way of life
  
• McDonald’s — the symbol of fast food (eating without gratitude)
  
• All clothes with U.S. flags printed on them, sewn or otherwise applied. — Muslims are ad space for the USA!
  
• All clothes with names of U.S. sports teams printed on, such as Chicago Bulls. — Muslims are no ad space for athletes that present themselves as pigs! [“Bullen” means both Bulls as well as Pigs and Cops in German]

Muslim Markt further calls for a boycott of Israeli products, companies they consider opposed to Muslims. But they even boycott articles in newspapers.

In a final note, VH says:

Because Muslim Markt is handing out a sticker saying, “I boycott Israel, but not the Jews”, I have attached a logo saying, “I boycott Islam, but not the Muslims”, plus the German version in Schalke blue.