Canadian choir sings ancient Islamic song to welcome refugees

Dubai: A day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeted the first group of Syrian refugees resettled under an expedited programme, a video of a Canadian choir singing one of the oldest songs in Islamic culture, Tala’a Al Badru Alayna (The moon shone on us) surfaced on YouTube.

The symbolic song, having been sung when Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) emigrated to Madina from Makkah, was seen in the shaky video being sung by a choir comprising mostly children.

The video was posted on December 11 with the title “Welcome To Canada Syrian Refugees,” and has received more than 50,000 views, apart from being flooded with comments from emotional viewers. “I am an Arab, this video made me cry,” posted YouTube user DrSaraLove. “I haven’t cried like that in really long. Thank you Canada. Beautiful people.”

Trudeau personally greeted more than 160 refugees after they landed in Toronto late on Thursday night. They are some of the first arrivals as Canada plans to take in an estimated 25,000 refugees by the end of February.

Over the weekend, #WelcomeToCanada was the top trender on Twitter as Canadians across the country tweeted their approval and warm wishes to the new arrivals.