Fatima is the story of a girl K’Naan loved when he was young. It is one of K'Naan's best works, in terms of storytelling, and emotion.

Fatima was a beautiful and smart girl from K’Naan’s neighborhood. She was his best friend, and he loved her. Being the smart girl she was, Fatima used to speak English and Arabic as well, much to K’Naan’s surprise, and they had plans to flee from the war-ridden Mogadishu and move to New York when they grow older.

Even though K’Naan and his family planned to move out of the country, for some reason we do not know, Fatima’s family couldn’t, and she had to stay in Somalia during the war. When she learned she cannot move with K’Naan, she gave him a letter she wrote in English, and told him that the letter would serve as an inspiration for him to learn English quicker. And just a few days after K’Naan left the country, she was killed in the war.

“Damn you shooter, Damn you the building, whose walls hid the blood she was spilling,
Damn you country so good at killing, Damn you feeling for persevering”

Years later, when K’Naan realized what she wrote in that letter, he wrote this song, and included in the Troubadour album. Though the song explains how much he loved Fatima, it also gives us a picture of the pain and suffering people feel for their loved ones during war. As far as I’m concerned, Fatima is not just a love song, but an anthem against war.

“Is it true when they say all you need is just love? What about those who I have loved?
Only to find that it's taken away!
And why do they say that the children have rights to be free?
What about those who I've known, whose memory still lives inside of me”