Assalaamu ‘alaikum

lol, poor AnonyMouse. I for one think it’s pretty cool that we have a “devout” sister represented in X-Men. This is a feat that does deserve a “boo yah!”. Fiqhi issues aside, this is clearly a better alternative. Muslims will always be depicted in some way in the Western media and we find that until now these have generally been the options: 1.) pathetic apologetics who don’t really practise the Sunnah and find themselves always trying to “defend” Islam with what isn’t Islam (you, the ” ‘wide-eyed virgins’ means “grapes” type) 2.) or those who react harshly to every little thing they deem “anti-Islamic” (Danish cartoons come to mind) and 3.) The brainwashed victims of Islam upon whom the religion has been forced, and thus need to be saved by the West. All three suck (the last two much more than the first). So wouldn’t it be nice to actually have a revamped version of number three? You know, someone actually practicing the religion properly, and also appreciating the wisdom’s being the Islam, and even more, someone who practices Islam for herself and not for her parents…considering Sooraya’s conversation with her mom, I’d say Marvel is closer than any other western media outlet has been.

I think everyone is missing a major benefit here: this is the first form of da’wah aimed specifically at nerds, a heretofore severely overlooked group! Nerds need Islam too ;)

And as someone mentioned before, I’ve always felt somewhat of a kinship with the X-Men and their struggles. Strangers, outsiders in their own communities, misrepresented by the media when all they want to do is good! And lets not forget that they must struggle to fight against the harm done by a small group of their brethren.

hehe, all jokes I promise :)

That being said, I’m all for a positive representation of Muslims in pop culture, and whatever issues one may have can’t we agree that it’s nice to see a Muslim “good-guy”.

May Allah forgive us and guide us all. Ameen.

Would it be better if her superpower was invisibility…then nobody would even know she was there…which seems to be what Muslims secretly want…invisible Muslim women that have no impact on the world around them(such as visually, orally, by smell etc)….sheesh people…get down off those high horses before theres a stampede.

OK I changed my mind. Comic books and religion overlap many ways. The Zionist state has many comic book superheroes and this is linked to their morale. It’s a way for people to cope often. The closest thing we Muslims have is the story of Mullah Nasruddin.

X-Men was originally based of off the struggles of Black Americans. Although the 2 sides in X-men used violence what it really represented was the dichotomy between followers of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

MLK=Prof. Xavier and the X-men
Malcolm X=Magneto

THAT was the original inspiration for the X-men comic books and this is an example of how comic books reflect the climate of society–they are often a political commentary as well. If you read the comic book on 9/11 that came out you will see Captain America protecting Muslims against Americans committing Islamophobia. Other instances of this include the recent Civil War comic book series where the gov’t enforces a policy of tagging ALL superheroes. This is another commentary on US politics–representing the Patriot Act and the conflict there. In that series the superheroes turn on each other and battle each other. Ironman, Spiderman takes the side of the gov’t and works with supervillians to take down Captain America (who is OPPOSING the US gov’t) which is another social commentary. In the end, Captain America is assassinated and the metaphor becomes clear that the writers are hinting to the death of the American dream in today’s world.

Other instances of religious reference pop-up most notably in DC comics. Superman is the archetype of GOD or the son of God and this is even reflected in the Smallville series where you see there is a secret society dedicated to the worship of Superman. Interestingly, their is a CURSE associated with all the actors involved in the Superman series–namely that anyone who plays the role of Superman (i.e. the son of God role) is cursed. I blogged about this a while back: http://muslimology.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/religion-and-comics-books/

Forgive a Jew her irrelevancy — is it only bad to have drawn the image, or can digitized depictions (like photos) or naturalized phenomena (like snowmen) be allowed?

In the spirit of admitting my prejudices so that I may look out for them more — I feel more comfortable around “loudmouth” Islamic women wearing headscarves than quiet ones. I am perhaps concerned about how much repression and coersion of women exists in Islam (or, perhaps more correctly, in the Islamic World).

I know orthodox Jews who practice the “no graven images” thing, and I quite frankly think it is silly. Then again, I’ve never been a literalist, so I think I would make a very bad muslim! ;-)

P.S. Btw, we don’t need the shuyookh involved when so many of those commenting here are capable of passing fatwa :)

Oh wow, unfortunately, I do not recognize any scholars in these commentators; none from Azhar, none from Deoband school of thought, none from Darul Uloom, none from Zaytuna, none from Al Maghrib, none Al Maghriq, none from Ummul Qura, None from Medina, none from Imam Saud, none from Islamic University of Malaysia and so on and so forth.

Could you please clarify your scholarly opinion Amad (God sanctify your soul and increase you in heavenly ordained knowledge) and shed some light on these so called closeted scholars that we might benefit from? :)

…On another note, I found plenty of muftoon and qudaat from the contributing authors dressing up this post Qaradawi style.

toodles :)

I loved coolred’s comment on ivisibility.it was great…

:)

Oh yes, may I also add Amad, I very much appreciate the fact that you are very optimistic. However I would also suggest the positive spin in these things:

1. Disney’s Aladdin – “…and whoever has a hijrah to seek out a woman to marry her then his hijrah is for that.”
2. Ali Baba’s “jihad” in smoking out the nutter thieves and their finances from their caves and amount of patience he had in facing the thieves after the password was changed.
3. Any Hollywood portrayal of Islam – A. The Siege: At least we’re getting coverage of Islam on a major film. B. The Kingdom of Heaven – At least the Muslims picked up the cross from the ground showing respect to Christianity. C. Iron Man – The proper Islamic way in destroying Muslim Al-Qaeda style terrorists in their holes by commanding the good and forbidding the evil and how translating for them could also lead to ones destruction. D. Rambo 3 – Helping our brethren in Afghanistan. E. The Thirteenth Warrior – Antonio Banderas’ character, likely of Arab origin, is portrayed as an intelligent and courageous traveler who aids a group of Scandinavian adventurers in a battle with a tribe of cannibalistic raiders. F. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade Indiana Jones’ trusted friend Sallah, an Egyptian Arab, helps him with his quest and even saves his life on occasion. G. Morgan Freeman’s character Azeem in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves helps and fights with Robin throughout the movie eventually saving his life at the end, even saying that he was fighting the sheriff even though he was not an Englishman.

Alhamdulillah, I am glad that I think that I finally understand why it’s important to be optimistic!! :)

WOOPS mistake the ط should be ظ

woopsie daisey!!! :)

How pathetic has our ummah become when we just have to make some squeaky noises, “islamify” and put a twist in finding any possible way to look at these useless things in an “optimistic” manner.

Squeaky noises and islamify aside, I understand where you’re coming from in the examples you quoted above – can you please clarify how those examples relate to this specific case? I see what appears to be a distaste for rejoicing any sort of Muslim pop culture because of an inferiority complex (or maybe I’m just reading in my own thoughts), but I’m not seeing it with this particular character. Why should this one be the same as the rest you’ve cited?

Siraaj

Iblis works in the most clandestine way possible. So some mention a niqaabi woman in this comic book is a good PR effort on behalf of our muslim sisters. How positive it is, only time will tell or perhaps we conduct a focus group survey.

Now about the imagery created from this character. Muslims or anyone else for that matter have all the right to be critical or “whiners” as some self-righteous flamers put it, just as many in past exercised similar “whining” when WB tried to give classic Looney tune characters a malefic makeover. They introduced something that didn’t go too well with the parents, and even bunch of kids. Finally the makers of lunatics made concessions with a more friendlier design. Remember many parents hated it because for one, the characters simply had ” menacing eyes”.

The whole point of this comic book thing seems ridiculous to me, and I agree that we shouldn’t over-react but direct our concerns to the writer or the individual behind the comic book character. BUT YES DO MAKE AN EFFORT TO “WHINE”. It’s your bloody right, for your children sake. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. You may not be able to do much, but at least they should know WE CARE about how they intend to portray us now or even later.

There is a difference between finding solutions to problems…and just whining about them. Muslim women in the world are viewed as victims of Islam…they are beaten….forced to marry…forced to divorce…if divorced treated as a used product not worthy of remarriage or worthy of having her children remain with her…not allowed to study…drive….choose how many children they have…choose whether they are one wife or one of several…subjected to horrific cuttings to reduce sexual tendencies…blamed for all sexual conduct that happens to them as well as by them….are forced to cover from head to toe so Muslim men dont get sexual urges they have no desire to control…basically they are reduced to walking fitna…

While most of that is culture…many many Muslims believe its Islam…many others know its not but pretend it it…and pretty much the whole non Muslim world absolutely believe its God sanctioned…my question is…what do you do about THAT? Rather than WHINE about a cartoon character that migh come off as “gasp” sexy or showing some hair for Gods sake…go and whine about all that other stuff that actually means something to Muslim women…and then do more then whine…get up off your sanctimonious back sides and do something proactive about it…whiners are just so much noise …like a fly or mosquito….no purpose other than to annoy. Muslim women dont need Muslims whining on their behalf…they need Muslims actually doing something to change the practice Muslims pass off as Islamic that causes the rest of the world to believe Islam is a woman hating religion.

So yes…I hate whiners…whiners are useless to the ummah….if your a whiner then this refers to you…if your not…then dont worry about it.

How can you complain about muslim women being represented as oppressed and forced to stay indoors and than complain that in this case she is not indoors and basically unoppressed? Why don’t you just admit that you’d rather not have muslims represented in the media, books, movies, etc at all. Honestly, you all seem rather picky. Why should the media cater to your every whim and desire. If you want that than go start your own media company, go write your own children’s books. But that would actually require more than complaining wouldn’t it.

And ummafnaan, comic books tend to be geared towards children. I know of no child in his/her right mind who would want to sit and read about a muslim women tending her children and washing dishes. Let me guess what her superpower would be… The amazing ability to get grease off of any pot or pan with one flick of her gloved hand. Or how about the mystifying ability to get her crying baby to shutup with one blink of her eye (obviously, it would have to be the eye because everything else has been niqabified (properly might I add). Not like the mockery Anonymouse posted above.
Wow, talk about the excitement

@ ummafnaan
Thanks for keeping it real and very well said!

Anon, there isn’t such a thing as “every” whim and desire. Even if you are trying to make a point, it’s distasteful to claim Muslims have overwhelming demands. Quite honestly, it’s misleading. As a minority, these issues matter for Muslims. We are going to continue to increase in number, and as such will require a more accurate representation and a friendlier environment facilitated for our next generation.

Others,
I don’t worry too much what non-muslims think on what is right and what is wrong about Islam. Information is out there for self-study. And of course some are entrusted with a functioning brain to apply common sense. For the other statistically unreliable figure “many” that view muslim women as victims, then I think it’s fair to say that let’s rid of the injustices women in America face before we try to solve the world’s problems. Let’s clean our trash right here in our backyard before projecting moral/legal superiority over these other countries.

The whining about “women’s right” is a non-sequitur to this topic. I agree women are suffering, but that fact shouldn’t deter us from raising other concerns against issues that also pose potential problems.

A good place to start reading about how rights are protected look here——– http://www.nationmaster.com/

I’m surprised ExEx Blogger follows Brad Pitt around.

Please ban people like coolred and anon from this forum. Disagreement if welcome, but these two are just nauseating. Allowing them to continue will just degrade the quality of debate on this forum. Instead of intelligent comment to discuss new issues, the forum will just end up spending its time trying to counter the random garbage that they keep emitting.

Assalamu alaikum,

Something tells me I shouldn’t be surprised at all by this post. Funny how the author is persistent and consistent in being utterly incoherent in her arguments and thoughts in most of her posts. She mentions this as a viable alternative in the context of how Muslims are seen in the western public and intellectual conscious. But wow I think she doesn’t realize that she’s way too dumb to pass off as someone intellectual. Did most people simply miss the following:

Born in Afghanistan, Sooraya is kidnapped by a slave-trading ring after she is separated from her mother. While one of her slavers tries to remove her niqāb, she instinctively lashes out with her powers and flays them all alive with her dust form before passing out. She is subsequently discovered and rescued by Wolverine and Fantomex.

Ah another typical example of good ole eurocentrism. Poor Sooraya is saved from the ‘eastern’ ‘Muslim’ ‘slave trading’ ‘savages’, by the white European (American in this case) male who is selfless and out there to civilize the world. Add to that her image of a seductive buxom woman behind a “VEIL”, further affirms and establishes the repertoire of Muslims and Arabs as backward heathens who keep women in harems and oppress them. A very good alternative indeed. (Perhaps we should also have something similar to ummah and sex section of MWU on MM). Either the author is too dumb to realize how serious is promoting such neo-orientalist meta-narrative or she’s actually in agreement with it. Given her history I’d be inclined towards the second option. I’ve seen how MM has been coming up with such substandard intellectually inept material recently, I’ve lost a lot of respect.

I am just ‘too brazen’ because I speak for many people that feel disenchanted with posts like these.

Thank you. MM doesn’t really sound representative anymore.

(*keeping my fingers crossed and waiting for my comment to be edited*)

Ibn fellah, the author is still young. Even though your criticisms of the comic are valid, your way too rude in condemning her. Arn’t you happy that one of your sisters thinks positively of, and is excited about, a woman being in hijaab/niqaab.

No, I am not oblivious to the orientalism that exists in the comics or any other media. Nor am I in agreement with it. However, as I and others have been trying to point out throughout this thread, it’s nice to see that there is at least an improvement in the formula.

Trying to point out? Ahh yes by promoting it. Perhaps the era of salafi orientalism has dawned upon us.

Comment edited – watch your language please.

Can someone please outline the criteria for becoming an ‘Author’ on this site?!?! or atleast point me in the direction where I can read WHY some of these individuals were chosen as Authors.

ibn fellah i would have to agree with your current assessment of MM. I think the site deserves a name change to Modern American Muslim Affairs, MAMA.

Salaam alaykum Ibn Fellah,

Yes, I was acknowledging the Eurocentric remark above in my, “Or more generally, white people good,” remark.

My point is not that you are wrong and I am right. You very well could be right, in this instance, and I could be wrong, but the point is that your discussion of neo-orientalist narrative is flawed because you’ve attributed a characteristic to this discussion based on a synopsis of a story you have yet to read (or other stories, which you have not read). What sort of analysis is this?

Have a read again up above at the comic in which the character speaks with her mother – does that sound like a neo-orientalist perspective to you? It doesn’t to me, and this is why your discussion of this point, to me, is more a genetic fallacy rather than a concrete and well-constructed discussion of the matter.

As for the switching back and forth between names, the default settings on my browser (IE 6) are that I am not logged on and that the site pointed to is diversatility.wordpress.org (a mistaken address). If you change the .org to .com, you will find strangersoasis.com with nary a new post in quite a while. I logged in after posting my comment to you because I wanted to add something to my comment above.

Siraaj

assalamu alaikum again,

I think the possibilty can quite easily tip over to conclusion based on a subsidiary evidence so to say….and that isn’t directly related to the comic and I have alluded to it before. And that is the general tendency of the author to post certain type of material which makes one think the author has a certain type of thinking.

I think there are some people one cannot agree to disagree with as a matter of principle. Anyway this will probably will me last comment here lest I further insult MMs immaculate experts and their expertise.

Cheers.

“MMs immaculate experts and their expertise.”…sigh…no one here has ever even referred to themselves as “experts”.

I do find it interesting that while many find coolred’s comments annoying (and I share the annoyance for the most part too), the response from the “other side” is nothing to be proud of either. Instead of engaging in mockery, name-calling, dismissive behavior, I believe substantive arguments can be made with evidences and reasoning. Just screaming out that our kids don’t read comic books for instance, and then comparing it to drinking (wow!) just points to a failure of logical discussion, and a lack of a major reality check.

Also, why is that some people want to hang MM up a tree every time they don’t like a particular post?? Aren’t there ENOUGH posts on MM that we can agree with in order for us to overlook the posts that we DON’T agree with? I mean some of the commentary here reminds me of masjid politics… as soon as one thing doesn’t go some peoples’ way, they are ready to boycott everything! Can we calm our reactive selfs?

On a related note, I have to say that anyone who thinks that we represent some progressive thought, or some “White-House Muslim” thought, or RAND thought, needs to just go through our old posts and be honest to themselves, and then fear Allah for such slander (which has been made on MM forums before, so much for “censorship” accusations, and on other forums). In fact, we have written against the dangers of such thought many times. Just because our focus is on matters that we find important, or have the ability to discuss, doesn’t mean that we are the only experts on those matters or that we are always correct. That is how blogs work— you write something and people discuss it. But DISCUSS doesn’t mean bickering childishly. It is especially sad to see people who actually have Islamic knowledge show no semblance of good manners… do they feel that “loud’ bantering makes their message any stronger?

If you really feel that we are not worth your time, then by all means, please find an alternative means to keep yourself busy. But, please be careful of what you say in your anger. Your words are recorded for sure on these pages, but they are also recorded in you book of deeds. And surely, some of what you (and I) say may be something that we would like so much to take back in the future. It has happened to me a lot of times, why do you wish to make the same mistake??

So, THINK before TYPING. And then THINK AGAIN before SUBMITTING.

P.S. ExEx sahib… my comment about enough Shayookh/fatawa was meant to be in jest. I was surprised that it wasn’t taken as such so I wanted to make sure to clarify it.

“I do find it interesting that while many find coolred’s comments annoying (and I share the annoyance for the most part too),….”

From the 96 odd comments posted here…MINE are apparently the only annoying ones..what exactly did I say that was so much more annoying then the 90+ other comments? I find it very difficult to have any sort of discussion with my fellow Muslims…as you said…either you agree with us or masjid politics take over…or in this case blogging politics. Its a good thing I have patience to bear such petty and non productive comments…otherwise Muslims who claim to have all the perfect answers and no others are accepted might actually be taken serious some day…and thats when Islam will officially be a religion made by men…and not God…so I’ll keep doing my small part to make sure that doesnt happen…and God knows best….

and if a comic book can cause such mayhem among us…what have we got to worry about…hmmmm?

“What I find annoying coolred is your ability to conflate everything so conveniently…” my ability to conflate everything…you have got to be kidding. Maybe you should go back and re read…then figure out whose doing the conflating. But…to each his own…opinion.

Your are right though…we do have Tawheed..but .its not a question of whether we have it or not…its whether we observe it properly.

Assalamu Alaykum

May Allah guide all of us.

In there comments, many have remarked concerning how far the ummah of rassulullah saws have gone. I think that is made obvious by how a light-hearted post has been turned into a battling ring. Though I may agree with the fiqhi opinions stated, (such as the impermissibility of pictures),, and can understand the brothers and sisters who wish to command the good and forbid the evil. However, this is neither the way, nor the place to do it. The criticisms that were mentioned, were probably known by every one who read the article, and who (unlike my self) were able to see the picture. Let’S try to be a bit more polite with our next comments toards the sister and towards each other, before this post is closed for comments like the one on Yak Abed al-Haramain was closed recently, and before I could ask were to find it, to!

Sister AnonyMouse, Thank you for a light hearted poast. I never thought that I would hear of a Muslim Super Hero in any type of comic, especially not a practicing Muslim. The thought alone makes me smile.

Ali

P.S. In agreement with at least one earlier poast, if the comments on this poast are going to continue, it may be advisable to get the people of knowledge in.

P.P.S. Is the e added to Anonymous, ment to immitate french, were e is ended to the end of an adjective to make it feminin. I have little knowledge concerning the the demography or geography of Canada.

A good comic book is the ridiculous quran-only website, and its sort. It’s full of nutters. I bet coolred would feel right at home there.

as salamu alaikum,

what about the sister who wrestles for TNA wearing a niqaab, Raisha Saeed? Is that also a good thing like this comic book character??!

http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=tna%20Raisha%20Saeed%20&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#

Gohar

While Im not an advocate of “Quran-only” as you say…I do believe the Quran should always and will always take precedent over hadith…I do find it interesting how you can make those two words sound like a slur of some kind…similar to calling someone a homo or pedophile….hmmmm?

i never understood what was wrong with coolred’s comments in the first place….if you don’t agree then you don’t period why go personally attacking?
geezzz
i

and Allahu ‘Alam really.I just thought I’d share that since I saw it used above and I recently came across it.

Salam alikum.

Ok I have read down about 10 peoples comments and they are geting more and more angry-ish. Ok so it may not be your cup of tea but who cairs! Most of the people that will be reading the comics will be non-muslims, and as it stands most do not look that nicely on muslims. So any good that can be done through this is good. I like to read comics, even Harry Potter! there just storys people not real life. And what is the “observe correct hijaab” that was written. You dont need to put on a niqab to be in correct hijaab. A head scarf and lose fiting close that cover evrything but hands and face is what I have always been told. Try to look at the haff glass full and not empty people. Anger will not help enything. Well have a nice day. Bye

ummafnaan said:
Look anon or whatever the hell you call yourself. it seems you do not understand the point of the converstaion going on between MUSLIMS. So pls do like a mutant and disappear I am definately not interested in conversing with the likes of you. Muslim children do not read comics. I don’t give a hoot what u let your children read. I repeat this is about MUSLIM children.

-June 27th, 2008 at 10:47 am

I was going through some of the comments on this thread and I saw this from UmmAfnan. Her language is totally unacceptable and I thought I would point it out so you can edit it insha Allah. It amazes me that someone who is so staunchly against TV, comic books and filth, would use this type of language with their fellow Muslims.

Al Hasan al Basri said, “He who has no MANNERS, has no KNOWLEDGE; he who has no patience has no Religion (Deen); and he who has no God consciousness has no closeness to Allah.”

And please my fellow Muslims, treat each other kindly on these forums. What kind of an impression are we giving to all the Non Muslims who might happen to roam around here and read these kinds of attacks??? The same thing happens on YouTube ALL the time! Muslims get mad, use profanity with the Non Muslims and then you have the Non Muslims responding with “Is this what your Islam and Quran teaches you? Is this the love and peace of your religion that you go around preaching?”

We should ALL be ashamed of ourselves. And know that whatever you leave behind on forums, blogs, cyber-space MIGHT just be considered a form of Sadaqa Jariyyah since you’re leaving it behind even after you long pass away.

We’re in need of a little more Adaab than a whole lot of knowledge. :(

This post raises a number of questions – It would be good for the author to answer these questions with daleel if she knows the answers or if the author does not know the answers then it may have been much better and preferabble not putting up this post until she was aware of the answers.

Secondly, I am surprised none of the resident Shuyookhs who appear to be provide MM with legitimacy/patronage and fan-base etc have not commented or given advice on the issue here.

The questions are (it would be masha’Allah great have the answers to these from the MM Shuyooks with dalee and/or the author and those that support this posting):

1) Permissibility of reading comics. Is it permissible/halal?

a) If answer is no - then the whole basis of the post is not supported by Islam and should never have been posted/promoted in its present form on this site (author proclaiming to be a fan/follower on the look out for good graphic novels with awesome pictures etc and promoting the arrival of character that occasionally appears in tight fitting abaya and niqab). – The author should remove it and apologise and make tawbah for it and write a retraction and publicise that so that other Muslim and non-Muslim who have visited and less knowledgadble do not go away believing this to be a halal action. [Just because Muslims do things that are sinful and they are done generally e.g. watch movies etc – doesn’t i make it OK to publicise individually ones sins

b) If the answer is yes - then there are a number of follow up questions:

2) Is it permissible to read and promote comics that have characters that dress inappropriately, drawn to extentuate their masculinity/feminity, who engage in non-halal relations and interactions (even if it is as ‘innocent’ as free-mixing or bf/gf relations), characters that have ‘magical’ powers, characters that can do things and who know the unseen etc?

a) If the answer is no – then this article should not have been posted or promoted – the author should remove it and apologise and make tawbah for it and write a retraction and publicise that so that other Muslim and non-Muslim who have visited and less knowledgadble do not go away believing this to be a halal action. [Just because Muslims do things that are sinful and they are done generally e.g. watch movies etc – doesn’t i make it OK to publicise individually ones sins

b) If the answer is yes - then there are a number of follow up questions (these question are perhaps more trivial)

3) Is it permissible or a lets just say a ‘good thing’ to support and condone a muslimah comic book character that free-mixes, travels around without a mahram (though be it she claims to be a victim of slave-trading (most of whom are sold for sexual service), has magical powers, wears scanty abaya and niqab (some of the time) etc etc….. this is perhaps where there is room for difference of opinions – assuming answers to previous 2 questions were positive.

a) if the answer is no - then perhaps this post needs to be re-written as critique rather than as one that promotes (though to be fair, the author is aware of the dangers of the character being further sexualised in the story and questions this).

b) if the answer to 2 or 3 is yes - then I don’t know where or whom you take your Islamic knowledge from and what you base what is halal and what is haram upon. I would be truly shocked and really learn something if the MM shuyooks were to respond positively to 1,2 or 3.

Or do they, like many others here, consider this as a whining comment and I should instead focus on bigger issues and let the question of halal or haram etc to not feature when it comes to matters of light entertainment like reading comics or MM for that matter?

Also I wonder whether MM editorial policy is to allow any and all to post what they like as authors or is there a an editorial check on whether articles posted here are Islamically sound? (If so who does the Islamic checking? I don’t think the Islamic check has been done for this particular article)

And Allah Knows best.

Asalaam-Alaikum all,

It seems that the Ummah is yet again divided between two groups: those who take every hadith in a literal sense without studying the context or purpose (e.g, should dress be above ankles for men, or not!) and those who try to understand Ahadith by studying the life of the prophet (SAW) and why he approved or disapproved of things (that is, which interpetation is closer to the spirit of Islam, and the reason why the Quran came to mankind in the first place?) We have many respected shiekhs (old and new) who have passed on their own interpretations of authentic Ahadith, but they are also human and prone to bias and errors. Some might claim that those who look for context are trying to find an “easy” way out or trying to satisfy their “nafs.” I strongly disagree. Islam is for mankind, not just Muslims. It has a universal message, not customized for a specific group (wahabi, salafi, whatever!) The above posts are glaring examples of why the Ummah has declined over the ages. Stopping evil and encouraging good? yes that is what Allah SWT asks from us Muslims, but who’s defining what’s haram and halal? Everyone is familiar with the Ahadith, but I am sorry to say that there are differences in opinion on the issue of ART/TV etc, so it boils down feeling comfortable with a certain school of thought. Islam made everyting Halaal for us, apart from some exceptions which are very clear, but the realm of art/media is anything but Black and White, as some on this thread seem to claim. It has been said that the tongue can lead to hell or heaven, depending on how it will be used, that does not make the medium (tongue) Haram. What is haram in the Quran is “laghw”, that is, indecent talk, nonsense, anything that misleads…it does not mean poetry, TV, Microwave, helicopters, nightly news or whatever! The point is, it is how the message is delivered, and what it is… Every action will be judged based on niyah and method. In the prophet’s time, poetry was the like today’s internet. News and propaganda was done via poetry. The prophet SAW encouraged his companions to write poetry to counter the propaganda of the enemy. There is no disagreement as far as making 3 dimensional figures (sculptures) is concerned, but sketching and painting is not a black and white issue. Books and comics are popular mediums among the youth. Instead of complaining, why not provide our youth with a real alternative, use technology and creativity. Not every kid would want to read text only books. We need to invigorate our imaginations (like our brothers in Islam’s Golden and scientific age). Very few people can draw, and it is a gift from Allah SWT. Jihad is also to use your skills to spread the message in beautiful and creative ways….not just text books or speeches…..

Once Lady Aisha (May Allah SWT be pleased with her) was playing with a toy horse with wings, and the prophet of Allah smiled, he did not say “Astagfurilah! This is HARAM!”, similarly, there was a wedding in one of the nearby tribes, and the Prophet had inquired why the people of Medina hadn’t sent a singer to the ceremony, as they were fond of songs.

When Islam came, Arabia was engulfed in the worship of idols and images, and it was necessary to prohibit image making (especially scultping) to end this practice. But today, idol worshipping has been replaced by self- worshipping (one’s nafs), obsession with money and luxury. Atheists are pushing their agenda (Darwinism, Feminism, Capitalism) in every corner of the world, thanks to mass media, comics and so on….the solution is not to hide in a cave and turn everything off! No sir, the way of the prophet was to counter these attacks! In the battle of Khandaq, a trench was dug to repel the enemy, a persian strategy (some people today would have said, Astagfirullah! What? copy the Kufar?). The Muslim world should focus on media and the ARTS and take our youth back. Remember, we have to spread the message to any beautiful way possible…This is technology,available to who ever wants to use it. If we won’t they certainly will….

I refrained from cutting and pasting any fatwas or ahadith, because we are all very familiar with them. No matter which school of thought you agree with, we should respect each other’s opinion and not label anyone “kufar” or anything “Haram”, for that in itself is a major sin before Allah SWT. The companions were instructed to respect differing opinions.

Once the prophet SAW had instructed his army to wait for him at a destination and not to pray Asr until his arrival. When the prophet could not reach in time, and ASR time was running out, a group decided to pray, and the other decided to wait. At the end the prophet said that both groups were correct.

Please think about this, the companions had the Prophet SAW himself to clarify matters and end differences.
What about us?? Yes, we have the sunnah and Ahadith, but who’s interpretation do we say is the absolute truth?? Each group boldely claims “We are following the Sunnah!”
In the end it’s between you and Allah SWT. As an Ummah, we should stay focused on the main goal and not quibble over such differences, and refrain from labeling people and things, even if you “think” you know Ahadith and Shiekhs….May Allah SWT forgive me if I have said anything wrong. We should always ask guidance from Allah SWT and not depend on any sheikh or one interpretation….

well “DUST” has been around, since 2002 thats when marvel put her out. plus i just found out about her a few days ago.