Help with Arabic Chants in Arabic, Transliteration, and Translation.

September 19, 2021 4:00 PM

I have three short chants in Arabic from a protest. I'm wondering if anyone can help with the Arabic language, the phonetic transliteration to the English alphabet, and the translation in English. Chant 1, Chant 2, and Chant 3.
posted by andoatnp to Writing & Language (1 answer total)

Best answer: 1. min el-mayya lil-mayya, filasteen 3arabiyya
من المية للمية فلسطين عربية
"From the water to the water (i.e. from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea), Palestine is Arab."

2. bab el-aqsa min hadeed, mabyiftah-ha illa shaheed
باب الاقصى من حديد مابيفتحها الا شهيد
"Al-Aqsa's door is made of iron, and no one but a martyr can open it."

3. bir-rooh, bid-damm, nifdeek ya filasteen
بالروح بالدم نفديك يا فلسطين
"With (our) soul, with (our) blood, we sacrifice for you, Palestine." This literal translation sounds a little awkward in English; a more idiomatic translation would be something like "We would lay down our lives for you, Palestine."
This is one of the most common protest chants in the Arab world, and it gets used in many more contexts than just this one (you can read a little more about it here).
posted by LNM at 6:27 PM on September 19, 2021 [9 favorites]