High School Student Refuses to Sing Islamic Song

High school student refuses to sing Islamic song [excerpts]

A Grand Junction High School student is dropping out of choir rather than sing an Islamic song he says goes against his strong Christian beliefs.

The song is “Zikr,” and was written by internationally acclaimed composer A.R. Rahman.

Rahman won an Oscar and a Grammy for his songs in Slum Dog Millionaire. Zikr was written for a 2005 movie about an Indian independence leader. The song contains the phrase “There is no other truth but Allah.”

It’s that phrase to which senior James Harper objects.

“This is worshipping another God” and prohibited by the Bible, Harper says.

But Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali, from the Northeast Denver Islamic Center says “Allah translated into English is only saying ‘the God, one God.” He says the student is misunderstanding the language.

“I think it’s a lack of knowledge,” he says. “There’s some ignorance on his part concerning the name Allah. It’s the same God that Jesus prayed to, Moses prayed to, Mohammed prayed to.”

http://kdvr.com/2012/02/15/high-school-student-refuses-to-sing-islamic-song/

[TBC: In truth, the ignorance is on the part of Imam Ali, or he is seeking to deceive. As a teacher in Islam, he surely is aware that the Qur’an explicitly teaches (for just one example), “They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them. Quran (5:73).]