Marlene Dietrich - Lili Marleen
by Pigasus_Power

Does she or doesn't she?

Glory by Nada Gordon

It is advised to find Lili in English because it is equally wunderbar to listen to. My father sang it in German usually. The following hadith apply (not Quran) but have numerous citations in Islamic history alongside Quranic ayat (proofs) from a Sunni website here:

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=1786&CATE=142

“If a singer gathers people around him only to entertain them with his voice, then he will not be considered a upright person (a’dil), even though if he does not consume alcohol, as he will be considered the leader of sinners. If however, he only sings to himself in order to eradicate loneliness, then there is nothing wrong in doing so."

“Those who witness no falsehood, and if they pass by futility, they pass by it with honourable avoidance” (The Glorious Quran, Surah al-Furqan, V. 72)....in other words, keeping such things as music in perspective and tasteful...sometimes even motivational.

Abd Allah ibn Mas’ud (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Song makes hypocrisy grow in the heart as water does herbage” (Sunan al-Bayhaqi).

Which is true and the reason some music is banned/censored/protested even in the United States where freedom rings to cop a phrase from a well known patriotic tune.

The Shariah has possibly been misconstrued and one thing that muslims ought to be told is that the same type of over-policing happened in the Christian culture leading to the monastacism of priests/celebacy and even to the crisis of the church who harbored criminal pedophilic priests in their midst and with their knowledge.

“Unlawful (haram) singing is when the theme of the song consists of unlawful things, such as the description of a particular living person’s beauty and features, the virtues of wine that provoke wine-drinking, the details and particulars of family affairs or those songs that mock and ridicule others."

Lili Marlene is a song about war-time sex and ergo-prostitution which, believe it or not, has some regulatory points in Islam i.e. allowances. Is it then haram? I certainly don't know but I listen to it when I feel lonely or remember the loneliness that war creates among a variety of people, cultures and ideologies. It is also a case of underestimating the genetics of fathering children with the daughters of one's enemies...powerful idea and not mine to go into here except to say that it is a common thread throughout history and particularly, Greek history which is foundational to so many things including Islam itself which had to respond to the status quo of Greek mythology as did Christianity have to...without er...absorbing it via innovation and integration of practice (as the Christians did).

Sunni muslims have created a conundrum for themselves however because a well known hadith from Sahih Buhkari indicates that the prophet listened to singers and watched some young girls dancing...the hadith was narrated by the infamous Aisha whom the Sunnis regard as one of the holiest of women and the Shia regard as a special enemy to Islam itself...perhaps even one whose sole purpose was to separate the wheat (Shia) from the chaff (Sunni). I doubt that the hadith is accurate and instead it is one of those created either deliberately by Aisha herself or by others who followed and noted a good opportunity to spread vicious gossip.

The Sunni justify this exception because if they don't it leads to the discrediting of Buhkari's collection of quotes en toto:

"Firstly, theses young girls were singing without any unlawful musical instruments and secondly, the content of the song was regarding war, thus perfectly lawful. Also, they were not professional singers as the words of the Hadith clearly indicate."

I've read that hadith and it absolutely does not mention war but actually alludes to something pernicious and evil toward the prophet as do many Sunni hadiths and this is the crux of contention between Shia and Sunni is that the Sunni exhibit no remorse in relating false hadith if it means their side of the story "sticks together" better.

I mention it after viewing Nada Gordon's very interesting multimedia poem on her site today and after having mentioned Lili (again) in one of my own poems. I find it significant that this generation probably has little memory for such things as Marlene and her turncoat ways, her ultimately successful 'late in life' ascent to stardom via pseudo-usurious means i.e. war song. Her music was generally metrical and the lyrics could be read as poems just as well as they took off with music.

Black Market is one of my favorite tunes.....incredibly profound especially if one has had the luxury of reading In Praise of Older Women (as Lanny called it, 'Fleeing Hungry' riddled with Feeling Hungary).

Illusions is also a beautiful war time poem....quite romantic.

See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have is great war buff stuff and she says, "tell them my crime" which for those who have any knowledge of Marlene's refusal to serve the purposes of Hitler's Germany is staunch evidence about which side she was on and she knew it, communicated it in a widely known song as a type of war taunt.

A few samples from Amazon here.