Songs of Fire and struggle: Dear Internet Sherine’s Kalam Eineh is not about Palestine, but those songs are

This is a quick post as I have a million things to do right now. Recently, I found out that many pro-Palestinian content creators on TikTok and Instagram use Egyptian pop star Sherine's hit song "Kalam Eineh" as background music for their videos about Gaza.

"If my voice is gone, your songs will remain"
said Naji Al-Ali in one of his poems and cartoons in 1980s

I don't know how or when this started, but the song, musically composed by Hassan El-Shafei, has become a global hit strangely.

People visit the original song on YouTube and comment that they came from TikTok and shout "Viva Palestine," which makes me happy.

Yet I have to say, this song “Kalam Eineh” has nothing to do with Palestine or Gaza at all. “Kalam Eineh” or “The Love Words of his eyes” is a romantic song.

Here is the translation of the lyrics in English.

That is the first part which is usually shared in the videos.

" The love words of his eyes are sweeter than songs
From a couple of words, from a greeting, I become someone else
When he sways, my heart sways with him
I may sacrifice my eyes and whole life for him, and it's too little
The love words of his eyes are sweeter than songs
From a couple of words, from a greeting, I become someone else
When he sways, my heart sways with him
I may sacrifice my eyes and whole life for him, and it's too little"

I know it may sound exotic, but it does not fit the hard times the Palestinians are living currently in Gaza.

Gaza War 2023: This is what the real humans of Gaza say/are saying/said "May Mother’s Day Edition"

I wanted to publish this post on the March Egyptian/Arab Mother’s Day, but I could not during then. Now it is the week of May Mother’s Day in the West and so it is time to hear what the real mothers of Gaza say/are saying and said.

I failed to post this on our Egyptian/Arab Mother’s Day because I was overwhelmed by the messages and videos I found for Palestinian mothers from Gaza, and I am still overwhelmed.

The Palestinian mothers in Gaza gave another reason why mothers are revered universally.

Mothers and babies in destroyed houses by Motaz Aaiza in Gaza

On the eve of May Mother’s Day, I saw this video of an old woman displaced along with her injured paralyzed son in North Gaza searching for safety.

Her son, suffering from injuries sustained during the Nabulsi roundabout massacre, required urgent blood transfusions at Kamal Adwan Hospital on Sunday.

However, they were forced to evacuate following leaflets dropped by occupation forces planes, urging everyone to leave Jabalia and surrounding areas. The mother, struggling with her son's partial paralysis and inadequate medical facilities in North Gaza, expresses a desperate wish for peace.

This great mother reminded me of the other mother who kept pulling her two toddler sons for nearly 14 kilometres in the first displacement from the North to Middle Gaza in November. 

Kodak Agfa presents : Cairo’s Al-Sayeda Zeinab Mosque and Shrine during Renovations

A very short break and escape from a war that will be our Karbala moment as a nation and on the eve of the re-inauguration of Al-Sayeda Zeinab Mosque and Shrine after a major renovation, I would like to share with you a couple of photos I took earlier this year to the Mosque while it was still being renovated.

On Sunday, it is expected that the Mosque will be re-inaugurated by the current Sultan of Bohras Mufaddal Saifuddin and Egyptian officials above them expectedly President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Al-Sayeda Zeinab Mosque's entrance from Al-Sadd Street in Cairo

The Indian spiritual leader of the Shia sect arrived in Cairo on Saturday and met with El-Sisi.

I think that he made a new record number of visits to Egypt in the past few years that no other Sultan of the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam had made in the past.

The Dawoodi Bohra Shiites are funding the whole renovation process of the mosques and shrines Ahl Al-Beit or Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) Family in Egypt especially in Cairo.

Al-Sayeda Zeinab or Lady Zeinab is Prophet Mohamed’s granddaughter. It is widely believed in Egypt that she came to Cairo in 61 Hijri (680 AD) and lived there till her death. Lady Zeinab was buried in a place that was once part of the Egyptian Gulf.

Lady Zeinab is a holy symbol for Shias as well as the Sunnis, especially Egyptians “We are the Shiaa of the Sunni”.

One of the oldest photos taken in the 19th century of El-Sayeda Zeinab
Mosque in Cairo

Again, I won’t enter the debate about whether Lady Zeinab Peace Upon Her was buried in Cairo or in Damascus but the oldest mention of the mosque as a shrine for the Prophet Mohamed’s Granddaughter or “Mashhad al-Sayyida Zainab” was found in the 4^th century Hijri (10^th century) chronicles of Andalusian traveller “Al-Fassi” to Egypt during then.

Happy Orthodox Easter 2024 from Gaza regardless of war

Happy Orthodox Easter from Gaza, from one of the world’s oldest active yet ignored Church of Saint Porphyries.

Despite all the odds the Church and the very few remaining Greek Orthodox Christians celebrated Orthodox Easter holding all the masses and rituals.

Easter Orthodox held at St.Church of Saint Porphyries in Gaza on Sunday
by Hamza Qraiqea for Anadolu/AFP

The Palestinian Orthodox Christians held all the masses and rituals in a sombre mood after all that they had been facing since October.

People ignore the fact that this is the third oldest active church in the world named after Saint Porphyries of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Originally born in Thessaloniki, Bishop Porphyries was sent to Gaza in the 5th century by the Patriarch of Jerusalem when it was a city of Pagans. Historically Gaza was a pagan city and was not even a part of the short-lived-Jewish Kingdoms in what was known then Jerusalem and Judea.

Bishop Porphyries helped in the conversion of many Palestinians to Christianity. Porphyries’ tomb is in the North Eastern corner of the Church.

Now I do not understand why a Church like the Church of Saint Porphyries is not on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Unfortunately, the world seemed to discover it only when it was bombed by Israeli Air Forces on 25 October causing the collapse of one of the two halls it targeted.