Queer Lebanese Band Stands Up for Muslim Women

Mashrou’ Leila, a band with an openly gay frontman, just made a music video celebrating Muslim women as victors rather than victims.

As may be expected, Mashrou’ Leila have been banned from playing in the Middle East several times, and are a controvrsial act in Islam-dominated areas. That doesn’t stop queer frontman Hamed Sinno from tackling difficult subject matter in his lyrics, though.  In the past, he has penned songs about introducing his boyfriend to his parents and a gay club being shut down.

The group’s latest hit, “Roman,” challenges the stereotypes of Muslim women being seen as mysterious and opressed, unable to have agency in anything.

“While the lyrics discuss betrayal, struggle, and conflict, the video revolves around the lyrical pivot in the chorus, ‘Aleihum (charge!),” states the band in their YouTube description, “treating oppression, not as a source of victimhood, but as the fertile ground from which resistance can be weaponized.”