Egyptian folk singer Shabaan Abdul Rahim is currently recording a new song in which he makes direct attacks against the Pope. In the new song Shabaan reprimands the Pope for making false accusations against the religion Islam.

The song is written by Shabaan’s personal poet Islam Khalil. The singer had decided to answer the back after endlessly waiting for the Pope to apologize for his defaming comments, which he never did.

The singer wanted the Pope to know that Muslims will not allow for anyone to attack Islam and its Prophet.

Recently, the Israeli embassy in Cairo Egypt has submitted a complaint to the Egyptian Ministry of Interior opposing the new song by Shabaan titled “Asaker” (Soldiers) that strongly reprimands Israel for waging a ruthless war against the Lebanese people.

The song was aired on numerous Arab satellite channels. The embassy demanded the ministry remove the song from the airwaves and had threatened to take legal action against the singer and affiliated parties.

Shabaan said that he did not care what the embassy thought of the song and he would not allow it to interfere in his music.

The Israeli embassy sent an official letter to the ministry criticizing the ‘Egyptian Artists Censorship Committee’ for allowing the release, which according to the embassy is a negative impact on the strong bilateral relations between the two countries.

It has become customary for Shabaan to release songs during times of crisis in the region, and he created the song to express his outrage over the ongoing Israeli attacks that destroyed Lebanon.

© 2006 Al Bawaba