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Saw this video being shared around in the social media, ostensibly a performance by Canadian children to welcome Syrian refugees' arrival to Canada. I recognized the song as the Islamic song Tala' al Badru 'Alayna. According to Wikipedia it was historically sung on Prophet Muhammad's arrival at Medina after a battle.

However the video only show a group of singers, without any meaningful context. For example, was the video really in Canada? Was it as part of welcoming the Syrian refugees, or just a generic Arabic culture performance?

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    Does that make it an Islamic song or an Arabic song?
    – RedSonja
    Dec 18, 2015 at 13:04

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Are these Canadian children? Yes. Was it part of welcoming Syrian refugees? Sort of.

According to Buzzfeed the performance took place at the École secondaire publique De La Salle in Ottawa as part of a holiday show earlier this month.

Canada is accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees, about 2,000 of whom will be settled in the Ottawa region. This year’s pageant included “Tala’ al Badru ‘Alayna” as a symbol of welcome to those who will be starting their new lives in Canada, the CEPEO school board told BuzzFeed Canada.

So while it was meant as a welcome to Syrian refugees there were no Syrian refugees present at the performance.

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  • Could you clarify the last sentence? I'm not sure I understand the difference between 'to Syrian refugees' and 'for Syrian refugees'
    – user69715
    Dec 17, 2015 at 17:53
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    I edited the last sentence for clarity. Hope that makes it more clear.
    – Legion600
    Dec 17, 2015 at 19:46

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