Qatar: Despite not serving as Qatar’s official anthem for football, “Shoomilah, Shoomilah” has grown in popularity in recent years, especially during the country’s 2017 diplomatic isolation from the rest of the world.
The song’s use of the metaphor of courting to symbolise the connection of support and adoration between a nation and its leader struck a chord with Qataris right away. Everywhere, including weddings, it was played.
The Arabic phrase “shoomilah,” which means “aspire to him,” has been used to advise young women approaching marriage to pick the best warrior as their suitor in more modern traditions.
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The song originally acquired recognition as Qatar observed its first national day on December 18, 2017, following an embargo imposed on it by its neighbours Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain.
The four nations cut off diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5 of that year and enforced a sea, land, and air blockade, alleging that Qatar supported “terrorist” and was too close to their adversary Iran. Qatar refuted the claims.
After Qatar won their maiden Asian Cup in 2019, Shoomilah gained popularity, especially in Kuwait and Oman, two countries who stayed impartial in the Gulf dispute.
Some listeners favoured Yemeni singer Maria Qahtan’s lively rendition, while others enjoyed Kuwaiti singer Ibrahim Dashti’s spirited rendition.
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About the anthem
In 2019, the song is said to have been sung by the Qatari national team in their locker room on January 29 following their victory over the UAE in the Asian Cup semifinals in Abu Dhabi, asking with the cup to select the right suitors.
After a few days, a video of the players singing during the championship game against Japan became popular on Twitter.
National Identity Performance in the Qatar National Squad, a chapter in the book Football in the Middle East, claims that “Shoomilah, Shoomilah” had been played for the team by one of the players: Thomas Ross Griffin, author of Homeland.
Qataris think that the song will live on as their winning football hymn and inspire them to victory.
Following Qatar’s 1-0 victory over Bahrain in the first game of the FIFA Arab Cup, some 60,000 spectators sang it at Al Bayt Stadium the previous year.
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