This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011 [1].
In an unexpected result of Bahrain's ongoing Day of Wrath protests, the social media community came together and created Bahrain's first bona fide internet meme: TAKBEEER Guy
Drawing similar parallels to Egypt's “The Guy Behind Omar Suleiman [2]” TAKBEEER Guy (Real name Mansour Tariq) stood behind Prominent Bahraini Islamic scholar Shaikh Abdullatif Al-Mahmood during his speech at Al-Fateh Mosque [3] and shouted “TAKBEEER!” (A call for the audience to say ‘Allah Akbar’ [Allah is the greatest]). Calling “Takbeer” is also an Islamic alternative to clapping for more conservative audiences.
Video showing some of TAKBEEER Guy's moments during the speech (Uploaded by YouTube user youth4bahrain [4])
The frequency of his Takbeers added some comedy during what was an important and much anticipated speech by Shaikh Al-Mahmood. Hours after his exploits, Twitter exploded with jokes and hashtags for TAKBEEER Guy.
@HasanAlMaskati [5] Just viewed the video of the #Takbeer Guy and can't stop keeping LMAO and realised why ppl have created all the hassle !!
@tighten [6] @Fayo0osh in the pro-gov maseera (rally) on monday, there was a guy that kept saying #takbeer, he's very famous now! http://on.fb.me/h1yVE1
@YasserAlHawaj [7] Takbeer guy on BTV definitely has a soar throat! His voice is hoarse!
His image has been uploaded onto a meme generator where people can add their own funny captions..
[8]Global Voices is Awesome TAKBEEEEEEEEER
..and has even been given the Obama Hope Treatment..
@tsalrashoud [9] Yes we can #TakbeerGuy fans! U knew this was coming #Bahrain http://twitpic.com/42ylvx [10]
[10]
Takbeer Hope
No overnight sensation can be without a Facebook Fan Page [11] [ar] nor a parody Twitter account (@takbeerguy [12])
His image has also been used for good as #UniteBH campaigners have printed tshirts with his face on them and selling them for BD5 (USD$15) each with the proceeds going to charity and to the martyrs’ families.
@mshareeda [13] U've got my #TAKBEERguy t-shirt thanks to @ahmedzainal and who was involve in doing the t-shirt TAKBEEER #UniteBH http://yfrog.com/h43fhkaj [14]
[14]
TAKBEER T-shirt for charity
This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011 [1].