The need for a Muslim hero

moderator@openmindsblogspot.com — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:53:00 GMT

Who is a real hero? It is often a person respected for possessing certain characteristics he/she is blessed with. Admiration for the hero could stem from an act of immense bravery. Followers of Islam around the world are yearning to proudly showcase a Muslim identity many feel is constantly under fire. What the majority of Muslims really want to do is share Islam's culture and identity with the world.

Psychologists often state that people grow up with a need for heroes, and the media repeatedly offers candidates to fill this void. But is the adoption of a hero more to do with ones own need than the standing of a particular hero?

"There is no universal hero," says sports psychologist Richard Lustberg, PhD. "Subjectively, the hero is created within you. Heroes are created as a great way to escape from whatever you need to escape from, and they can supply for you whatever you need."

It is exactly with this notion in mind that Dr Naif Al Mutawa, CEO of Teshkeel Media Group Kuwait, launched a comic book featuring superheroes with Islamic values. The 99 is the comic debut of a new legend of Muslim superheroes. Readers and adherents are now discovering the secrets of the Dar Al Hikma and the powers of the mysterious Noor stones. They meet the cunning Rughal and the powerhouse known as Jabbar and Dr Ramzi Razem the man who has devoted his life to finding The 99!

Al Mutawa grew up in a situation where Orwell’s Animal Farm was banned not because it was about totalitarianism but because there was a pig on the cover. He has described one inspiration for The 99 when he accompanied his children to a puppet show in New York City. Mutawa expecting a relaxing break spent the entire performance frenziedly taking notes of the acts, featuring Islamophobic characters and plotlines. The performance gave him a sharp lesson on the power of messages in entertainment for young adults and children.

The 99 is deeply rooted in proud Islamic history that every Middle Eastern schoolchild knows. In 1258, the invading Mongolian forces of Hulagu Khan destroyed the great libraries of Baghdad, including the Dar Al-Hikma. This attack was meant to destroy the true power of Islamic society – its knowledge and wisdom, and so to impede the culture’s progress. It is here the story of The 99 begins. Al- Mutawa is harking back to a time when Islam was at its cultural peak. During this Golden Age of Islam, Muslim cities were centres of learning and commerce. At that time there was widespread Islamic tolerance of other faiths. With this “better time” shown directly on the pages of the comics, it implies, and hopefully inspires, a time of greater peace and tolerance to come.

During his studies of psychology, Al-Mutawa found that the ideas of Joseph Campbell, ignited an interest in finding a deeper meaning for cultural products. “Tufts is where I found my echo – the voice I wanted to use,” Al-Mutawa said. Campbell’s ideas about hero archetypes show the many similarities between comic book heroes and religious leaders. Religious archetypes in entertainment, however, extend beyond comics. Movies like Waterworld that draw on religious stories but don’t use religious language or symbols are much more effective in communicating their message to audiences. “You draw on a basic idea that is already shared by millions of people within that tradition.

The creation of such a comic book with such graphic visuals will promote Islam and the Muslim world better, in terms of creating further understanding in the eyes of the non-Muslim world. Images are after all, a universal language, and as the saying goes, they are worth a thousand words. This I am sure was Al-Mutawa's intention, in that he intended to use pictorial and graphic images to educate, challenge and raise awareness of the countless positive aspects of Islam.

There are some that say that superheroes make children feel worthless unless they posses supernatural powers. This is nonsense as The 99 are normal people who do good to change the world. The characters are real people with real problems that get their power from a stone. The stone triggers the power in them but it could in someone else - so there is an element of "I could be one of these special people." The villain of the piece is not one of the Superheroes - he is an enemy of Ramzi who wants to use The 99 for his own greed and grandiose fantasies of world domination. Basically, The 99, just like religion can be used for good and for bad and will raise Muslim awareness around the world.

One other interesting point to consider is that within The 99, Islam is used as an archetype, but the comics are not religious in nature. There is no mention of Muslims, Islam, Allah or prayer and are very much in the vein that Marvel and DC’s heroes are based on a Judeo-Christian archetype yet we rarely see a church or a bible in these comics. Also many Western superheroes are orphans who work alone and can do anything, in the tradition of Western individualism. In contrast, the Japanese inspired Pokemon series, each character can only do one thing well and has to be trained and paired with others, reflecting the role of teamwork in Japanese culture.

As a huge Marvel comic fan what impressed me the most is Teshkeel's move away from the frilly ' my little pony' effects littered with waterfalls, meadows and green grass. Al-Mutawa has spared no expense in creating a modern day comic by using a team of artists who worked extensively on projects like Spiderman, Superman and X-Men.

Comics and cartoons from different cultures also reflect larger ideas about the role of hero and individual. Let us be clear here. For Muslims, there are no better examples of superheroes than Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him, the Prophet of Islam as well as his companions and those who came after. Every community and nation has its own heroes, be they real or mythical. These heroes are models of admiration, emulation and adoration by certain communities.

In the words of Mahmoud Esma'il Sieny, Ph.D., Professor of Applied Linguistics Muslims have no need to look for fictitious or mythical heroes, because their history is abundant with heroes of real flesh and blood, whose acts were heroic because of their faith, and a consequence of their attitude to life and the world. In the twenty first century though, a niche has been created for fictitious heroes. We live in a world where Spiderman, Batman and Superman are used as ambassadors for their respective cultures to the point of being on my children's various items of clothing and maybe it is also time that Muslims had their own fictional ambassadors and superheroes.

Al-Mutawa is a brilliant role model; a truly talented individual who has used his innovation to promote positive Islamic ideals in an effort to encourage Muslim virtues of tolerance, peace and non-violence. Governments, think-tanks and organisations can learn much from the thirty six year old who has used creativity and artistic expression to tackle issues facing Muslim communities all over the world.

Emdad Rahman

The need for a Muslim hero