Ani: Music/Video

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

As a Muslim woman I occasionally receive emails telling me that my female voice is forbidden to sing. Like my hair, somehow its a turn-on. (That’s why if you go to any Muslim website you will never see a female artist's cd sold).

This song is borne out of the ridiculousness of honour killing (not inherent to just the Muslim community), raising our daughters to not just worship God but to 'please the men'.

In Pre-Islam, the tribes of Arabia used to bury their female babies, and as the Quran even mentions: "it made the fathers feel less of a man". So come Islam, Prophet Muhammad revealed a passage from the Quran stating this practice is to be abolished immediately.

My statement in this song is, although we may not bury our female babies literally, we still deprive them of education, of equal right to self-determination on how to live our lives. In China with the one-child policy to control their population growth, an ultra-sound will tell you if a child is a male or female. And guess what folks? For most people, female babies are aborted. (See related news article so you know I'm not making this up! http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/
004E4E92-4722-473E-9F7D-258DA23088F2.htm AND http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/
story/RTGAM.20060109.
wxabortion09/BNStory/International/)

AIDS in Muslim countries have exploded. Why? Unfaithful husbands come back to infect their wives, and the wives, being raised to 'please the husband' oblige even when they know their lives are at risk. With the death of parents, the children are left in deeper poverty. Whose fault is that? So, even though society may not bury female baby girls alive anymore....but you know...THEY MIGHT AS WELL!

BURY ME

I’M ALLAH’S CREATION
I DON’T DESERVE DISCRIMINATION

CONTROLLING
AND HONOUR KILLING
THERE’S NO ROOM FOR THAT THE KORAN SAYS

WHO SAID GRLS SHOULD STAY BEHIND
I’M NOT ONE TO FOLLOW BLIND
MY RIGHTS TO LIBERATE MY MIND
AND BREAK AWAY THE CHAINS THAT BIND

YOU MAY NOT BURY ME AT BIRTH IN EARTH
BUT THERE’S NO DIFFERENCE WHEN YOU DICTATE MY WORTH
YOU SHED NO TEAR AS YOU KEEP ME DEPRIVED
YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST BURY ME ALIVE

I’M ENTITLED
NOT YOUR SUB-TITLE
HOW YOU TREAT ME IS SO NOT OKAY

I’M NOT MADE TO COOK AND CLEANING
WITH NO SCHOOLING
ON YOUR INSTRUCTION

YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO TOUCH ME
INFECT ME WITH YOUR DISEASE
YOU DISGRACE GOD’S HUMANITY
IN THE NAME OF PIETY

REPEAT CHORUS