World Bulletin/News Desk

A song composed by Greek composer Manos Hacidakis titled “Kemal” has been banned in Athens following allegations that it serves as Islamic propaganda.

A complaint was received after an elementary school teacher in Greece handed 5th grade students lyrics to a song, composed by Hacidakis for a young man named Kemal whom he met in New York in 1968, so that they could read it during the next lesson.

The school received a complaint that Islamic propaganda was being pursued through the “Kemal” song. The reasoning was that “Allah” was present in three times in the song.

In her statement on social media, the teacher who was accused of spreading Islamic propaganda explained that she was called into the principal’s office after a parent complained.

LYRICS

“Hark to the story of Kemal

a young prince of the East
descendant of Sinbad the Sailor
who thought he could change the world.
But bitter is the will of Allah
and dark the souls of men.”

In the lands of the East once upon a time
the purse was empty and the water stale.
In Mosul and Basra on the old coconut tree
the children of the desert now cry bitter tears.

And a young man of an old and royal line
hears the lament and grows near.
the Bedouins look at him sadly
and he gives them an oath in Allah’s name, that times will change.

When the lords heard of the lad’s fearlessness
they set out with wolf’s teeth and lion’s skin
from Tigris** to Euphrates**, from the earth to the heavens
they hunt for the deserter, to capture him alive.

The horde descends upon him like rabid dogs
and takes him to the Caliph to place the noose [on his neck]
black honey and black milk he drank that morning
before he breathed his last on the gallows.

The Prophet (Muhammed) awaits before the Gates of Heaven
with two elderly camels and a red horse.
They now go hand in hand and it’s cloudy
but the star of Damascus kept them company.

In a month and a year they see Allah before them
and from his high throne he says to the simple Sinbad:
“my beaten smart-aleck, times do not change,
the world always moves on by fire and blades”

Goodnight Kemal, this world will never change.
Goodnight…