Rolling Stone Makes The Absurd Claim That Women Are Not Allowed To Sing In Gaza | Defector

"Singing above ground was risky, particularly for women, as it's haram (forbidden by Islamic law) for a female to sing in public. Yanai was so driven by desperation for food or water, she threw caution to the wind and began to chant "Tamally Ma'ak" ["Always With You"], a popular Arabic song, to one of her captors. "He was shocked," she recalls, "but he came back and said, 'Sing it again.'""

"For a while now, there have been Muslim women who sing in public. They even make careers from it. Diana Haddad, Haifa Wehbe, Nemahsis, and SZA are just a few of the artists who can be found around the world. In fact, in 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Umm Kulthum as the 61st-greatest singer of all time. There are some schools of thought in Islam that might disapprove of women singing."

A passage characterized singing above ground as risky for women, calling it haram (forbidden by Islamic law), and recounted Moran Stella Yanai chanting "Tamally Ma'ak" to a captor who then demanded she sing again. Numerous Muslim women perform and build careers as public singers, including Diana Haddad, Haifa Wehbe, Nemahsis, SZA, and the historic Umm Kulthum ranked among greatest singers. Some Islamic schools may disapprove of female public singing, but that perspective is not universal. An unannotated edit later changed the original wording, highlighting editorial instability around claims about gender, religion, and culture.

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