German football fans cruising for a fatwa...
From Der Spiegel:
"German Bundesliga soccer club Schalke 04 has received more than 100 complaints from Muslims about its club song which contains the verse: "Muhammad was a Prophet who knows nothing about football. The song with the title "White and Blue, How I Love You" has been around for decades but only recently came to the attention of Turkish media which said it insults the Prophet. Muslims are now demanding that the offending line be struck from the song, which is chanted by Schalke's fans before every match".
And here's the German original (1):
Mohammed war ein Prophet
Der vom Fußballspielen nichts versteht
Doch aus all der schönen Farbenpracht
Hat er sich das Blau und Weiße ausgedacht
By my reckoning (C/O a 25 year old German O level and a dictionary), the third and fourth lines are something along the lines of 'And from all the beautiful colours it is the blue and white he would have picked', these being Schalke's colours.
First things first, that is the *sixth* verse in the Schalke anthem - with a chorus after each one - so clearly German fans have the patience to go a little bit further than 'ere we go'. One might think that the priests and pastors of Gelsenkirchen would want to have a word with their flocks about the basics too.
(1) - There's much entertainment to be had at that site, but it comes with my warning that there is the risk of losing one's day, plus there are rude songs therein ....
"German Bundesliga soccer club Schalke 04 has received more than 100 complaints from Muslims about its club song which contains the verse: "Muhammad was a Prophet who knows nothing about football. The song with the title "White and Blue, How I Love You" has been around for decades but only recently came to the attention of Turkish media which said it insults the Prophet. Muslims are now demanding that the offending line be struck from the song, which is chanted by Schalke's fans before every match".
And here's the German original (1):
Mohammed war ein Prophet
Der vom Fußballspielen nichts versteht
Doch aus all der schönen Farbenpracht
Hat er sich das Blau und Weiße ausgedacht
By my reckoning (C/O a 25 year old German O level and a dictionary), the third and fourth lines are something along the lines of 'And from all the beautiful colours it is the blue and white he would have picked', these being Schalke's colours.
First things first, that is the *sixth* verse in the Schalke anthem - with a chorus after each one - so clearly German fans have the patience to go a little bit further than 'ere we go'. One might think that the priests and pastors of Gelsenkirchen would want to have a word with their flocks about the basics too.
(1) - There's much entertainment to be had at that site, but it comes with my warning that there is the risk of losing one's day, plus there are rude songs therein ....
Labels: Germany, this sporting life
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on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 at 8:32 am.
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Actually, it really *is* the third verse.
The song goes (nearly) exactly like the text on
http://www.schalke04.de/vereinslied.html
Stefan, I stand corrected. Thank you.
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