Global Hit – Yeh Hum Naheen

Music has long been used to draw attention to global issues. Countless, well-meaning artists have tried to change the world for the better… through song. Think… “We Are The World”… or big concert events, like “Live Earth.” In today’s Global Hit, The World’s Alex Gallafent tells us about the latest such venture. It involves a song that is a big hit right now in Pakistan.

The song is called Yeh Hum Naheen. In Urdu that means ‘this is not us’.

The message is simple:

We are Muslims. We are NOT extremists.

The man behind Yeh Hum Naheen is Waseem Mahmood. He’s a British media consultant. But he has a foundation based in Pakistan. Mahmood says the idea for the song came from his two sons.

So Mahmood put his professional skills to work and produced a song to capture those sentiments. Yeh Hum Naheen includes lyrics such as: ‘the stories that are being spread in our name are lies – this is not us.’

And Mahmood persuaded some of Pakistan’s biggest pop stars to take part. Here’s one – the guitarist, keyboard player and singer Haroon.

Since the song’s initial release late last year, a movement has grown up around Yeh Hum Naheen. Waseem Mahmood estimates that over 60 million people in Pakistan alone have signed his foundation’s anti-terrorism petition.

Mahmood’s sons were concerned about the radicalization of young Muslims in the UK – especially after the London bombings on July 7th 2005. But Waseem Mahmood says it’s right to focus his efforts on Pakistan.

Yeh Hum Naheen has already topped the charts in Pakistan and India. It’s now available to everyone online – for free.

For The World, I’m Alex Gallafent.