Im Nin'alu

Im Nin'alu (אם ננעלו) is a Hebrew poem by the 17th century's Yemenite Rabbi Shalom Shabazi (Hebrew: שלום שבזי, Arabic: سالم الشبزي), which has later been put to music, and was sung by Yemenite singer Ofra Haza and others.

The poem starts with the words:

Im nin'alu daltei n'divim daltei marom lo nin'alu

Even if the gates of the rich will be closed, the gates of heaven will never be closed.

Ofra Haza became famous in Europe with this song in the year 1988, when a remixed version of the song reached the top ten of popular music in various countries. Even though her version of the song shows her own interpretation, and its presentation was modern and popular, it still fit in the Yemenite tradition that she represented. The song was part of the albums Shaday of 1988 and the album (Fifty Gates of Wisdom:) Yemenite Songs.

The song was sampled by rap duo Eric B. & Rakim in their single Paid In Full, Snoop Dogg used the same sample on his remake of Paid In Full titled "Paper'd Up" from his album Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$. Nas also used the same sample in his diss song to Jay Z entitled, H to the Homo.

The British recording act MARRS added a speeded-up sample of this song in their hit-single Pump Up the Volume (song) from the late 1980s.

Israeli singer Michal Cohen performs "Im Nin‘alu" on La Kahena (2005) by dj Cheb i Sabbah.