I don’t speak Urdu, and so am generally oblivious to the state of Pakistani pop. But this Guardian story caught my eye.

Yeh Hum Naheen, This Is Not Us, has become an anthem for Muslims wanting to distance themselves from extremism and violence and the artists want it to inspire a similar reaction in Britain, where the single has just been released.

One of the singers, Haroon Rasheed, says: "People are associating Islam with terrorism, we are all being tarred with the same brush, and it is time we stood up and said no, this is not who we are and this is not what we are about."

The lyrics can be found at the song website. I’m also reproducing some of them below.

This story that is being spread in our names is a lie
These stamps of death on our forehead are the signs of others
The name by which you know us – we are not that
The eyes with which you look at us – we are not that
This is not us – this is not us…
As with the coming of night one loses one’s way
We are scared of the dark so much that we are burning our own home
What is this rising all around us…
We have lost on the way the lesson of living together
we are now even scared of each other.
They are others whose faces are on your hands
Your hurts are a deep sea – our wounds are deep.

It’s an interesting effort. I just wish it had harder-hitting lyrics =)

Article continues

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