Sung by the Lebanese artist, Fairuz, one of the most influential singers in the Arab Song, this song was written in 1968, following Israel's conquest of the eastern side of Jerusalem in the Six Day War. The Arabic lyrics, provided in English on screen and below, describe the desire and prayer of Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians to return to the holy city of Jerusalem, the third holiest city in Islam.
Flower of Cities
It is for you O city of the prayer that I pray
It is for you O splendid home, O flower of the cities
O Jerusalem O Jerusalem O Jerusalem O city of the prayer
Our eyes are set out to you everyday
They walk through the porticos of the temples
Embrace of the old churches
And take the sadness away from the mosques
O night of Al asra O path of those who left for the sky
Our eyes are set out to you everyday and I pray
The child is in the cave and his mother is Myriam two faces crying
For those who roamed
For the children without a house
For those who resisted and were martyred at the gates
And the peace was martyred in the homeland of the peace
And the law tumbled at the gates of the city
When Jerusalem city fell
Love left and in the heart of the world the war was settled
The child is in the cave and his mother is Myriam two faces crying
and I pray
The glaring anger is arriving and I am sure of it
The bright anger is arriving, I will command the grief
From everywhere, it will arrive riding the steeds of fear,
As if the overwhelming face of God it will arrive
The gates of our city will not be locked anymore so I am going to pray
I will knock the gates and I will liberate them
My face will be cleaned by the holy water of the Jordan river
And the effects of the barbarism of the past will be erased O Jordan River
The glaring anger is arriving riding the steeds of the fear
And will defeat whom is in power
This is our home and Jerusalem belongs to us
And in our hands we will celebrate the splendor of Jerusalem
by our hands the peace will return to Jerusalem