Rivers of Babylon

By the Rivers of Babylon

Sami Zaatari

There is a famous song called by the rivers of Babylon, which I'm sure many of you have come across at least once. The song is derived from the book of Psalms, specifically Psalm 137. Now indeed, this is a very interesting chapter, particularly due to its savagery and brutality! How amazing that a song could be made, and become so popular, yet its dark evil content could be left out and ignored. So here is the Psalm, in its entirety:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
       when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars
       we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs,
       our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
       they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How can we sing the songs of the LORD
       while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
       may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
       if I do not remember you,
       if I do not consider Jerusalem
       my highest joy. Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
       on the day Jerusalem fell.
       "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!" O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us- he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Ah yes, what a lovely Psalm! Notice the ending of this poem, it threatens to smash babies to death, smashing them against rocks! And this is the source of a very famous song! Christians often go on about how heavy metal music is filled with Satanism and messages of the devil, well my friends, what's the difference in this case?

Perhaps Christians should be less concerned about the messages of Satan within heavy metal music, and look at the vile evil brutality within their own ?holy' book. Who knows, maybe smashing babies to death isn't so bad, maybe I've missed out on something!

And Allah Knows Best!