The Story
You may have recently read a heartwarming story from Canada, where a video emerged of school children singing an ancient Arabic song to welcome 163 newly arrived Syrian refugees. The song is called 'Tala' al-Badru 'Alayna,' and the story of its origin traces back to the Prophet Mohammed, who was welcomed to the city of Medina by the Ansar (Helpers) when he sought refuge there.
Here are the lyrics:
Oh the white moon rose over us
From the valley of Wada'
And we owe it to show gratefulness
Where the call is to Allah
Oh you, who were raised among us
Coming with a word to be obeyed
You have brought to this city nobleness,
Welcome best caller to God's way
And here is the video, via YouTube:
This sparked an outcry of support on social media, with some commentators saying the warm gesture made them cry, reports the i100.
Several news sites reported on the happy story, a welcome reprise from the particularly bad bout of Islamophobia that's sweeping the world right now. The only problem was that this video and the event it featured actually has nothing to do with Syrian refugees.
The Blunder
Social media users and media outlets alike were quick to pick up the story, but the video was actually recorded by a woman named Dima Kilani, who shot it during a concert by the French School Board in Ottawa on Dec. 3—days before the first batch of refugees arrived to Canada last Thursday.
She also provided a link to a post on her Facebook page about the concert. Here's her post about the video.
Kilani delicately titled her post "The video that started it all," and went on to say that the Internet added a "small twist" linking the video to Syrian refugees. So she was more than forgiving of this little blunder. And while we were all relieved to see something that isn't terrible about Muslims, Islam or refugees in Western countries, this one was unfortunately not quite as it seemed.
