Denmark: Medina should change her name

Denmark: Medina should change her name

Stripping, bare legs and and erotic texts don't go with Muhammed's final resting place, the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia

And according to several sources in B.T. it was this combination which caused a small group of 2nd generation immigrants to throw eggs at the stage Saturday, when pop star Medina gave a concert to a partying audience in the Copenhagen suburb of Ishøj. (see clip here)

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog - islamineurope.blogspot.com

Medina, the queen of Danish pop, is not even Muslims, but of Chilean origin. Her name is a result of a visit to a numerologist, and has nothing to do with Islam or Saudi-Arabia. According to her manager, Medina is a very common name in Chile.

B.T. spoke to several sources in Ishøj, who confirmed that religion is the background to the much discussed egg-throwing at the singer.

"Men can go in t-shirts and shorts and show bare skin. Girls can't do such things in Islam. Medina is a holy city for Muslims, and therefore she should change her name," an anonymous 16 year old told B.T. and added, "when she has a name that is so significant in Islam and does a video where she shows her ass to the public, she makes the religion look like crap."

But according to Manu Sareen, integration consultant and member of the Copenhagen city council for the Social Liberal Party, it's a misunderstood image.

"It might well be that the youth themselves say it has to do with religion, but it's not," he told berlingske.dk.

"Many of the youth think they know a lot about Islam. They use Islam as a religious identity marker, but in reality they don't know very much about the religion," he says.

With his knowledge of the area, Manu Sareen says that the egg throwing is a symptom of the fact that some minority background youth are in the middle of cultural radicalization.

The youth have difficulties in school, have difficulties getting a job, and don't have luck with women. And so they look back for roots in another culture, he says.

"Many get a rigid approach to their own culture from birth. For example, in connection to their view of gender and appraoch to equality, says Manu Sareen.

He points out that the youth's role models are their parents and when their parents are offended by bare skin in music videos, it rubs off on the youth.

"They they suddenly hate Medina. It's an indication that they have no opportunities themselves. There's a girl who stands on the stage and is successful, and it exposes their own failure. Everybody wants to be big, also out of the so-called ghettos," says Manu Sareen.

Conservative MP Naser Khader doesn't believe Manu Sareen's explanation about social marginalization.

"Naturally it has something to do with religion. It's about the link between Medina's name, clothing and the holy city, where Muhammad is buried," says the politician, who himself has bodyguards due to threats from extremist groups.

Naser Khader also points out that the hip-hop group Outlandish played in the same place in Ishøj - without being attacked with eggs.

The prophet Muhammed died in 632 and was buried in Medina. It was here that Islam finally evolved into a separate religion.

There are 137 Danes named Medina.

Sources: B.T., Berlingske Tidende (Danish)