Muslim Kids Reading Fantasy Novels – Yea Or Nay?

The fantasy genre has always called to me ever since I was a little girl. I loved the idea of magic and the supernatural, especially if the main character was a girl. These stories showed me how characters I could relate to could overcome difficulties with bravery, ingenuity, and support. Reading books was a brief escape from my challenging childhood home.

Some of my favourite fantasy authors were Tamora Pierce, Garth Nix, and Ursula Le Guin. After much resistance, I eventually got into Tolkien and loved his lush prose. The common themes I loved throughout all the fantasy books were relatable characters facing impossible odds  (extra points for strong female characters!). I overlooked the fact that most, if not all, of these characters were default white.

Another unfortunate unifying theme that tied them together was the absence of the Islamic worldview. In the fantasy stories that I grew up consuming, there was no Necessary Being. There was either a total absence of the Divine, or human beings with supernatural powers instead of an Omnipotent God. This is still deeply concerning because every type of media we consume can either bring us closer to Allah or further away.  

Children and the Realm of Fantasy

The massive popularity and ongoing appeal of fantasy franchises like Harry Potter surely tell us something. Why do children like this genre so much? It’s exciting, interesting, and reminds us that there is more to this world than what we can understand with our senses. We know this as truth – the unseen realm and supernatural beings such as angels and jinn do exist.

“Fantasy novels are a creative expression of this curiosity about what we cannot explain through the material world alone.” [PC: Gabriela (unsplash)]

Human cultures across time and space have been intrigued by the Unseen, especially during eras that were not so oversaturated in technology. Once upon a time, our ancestors were so much more embedded in the natural world. In South East Asia, where I was born, it was common for humans to interact with jinn before Islam arrived on our shores. Alhamdulilah for the guidance of the Shari’ah, which forbade further contracts to be made with jinn, and instead, taught us to place our complete trust in Allah .

Fantasy novels are a creative expression of this curiosity about what we cannot explain through the material world alone. When fantasy novels are written by Muslims who love Allah and the Prophet , imagine the possibilities of the kinds of fantasy novels we can write. 

Conversations with Children about the Fantasy Genre

Beyond books, cartoons like K-Pop Demon Hunter are an incredible hit. This is an animated film about a K-pop girl band, who are secretly demon hunters, that must save their fans from a group of demons who have taken the form of a K-pop boy band.

My daughter watched the show with her friends during a playdate, and I made sure that we discussed it afterwards. That cartoon was a good opportunity to bring up a few points:

• Music really can make us forget about many things, including worship and the truth of the afterlife

• The depiction of the Underworld in that cartoon was false, compared to the truth of the different stages of our lives as humans: 
  • our souls being created
  • the world of the womb
  •  our life as human beings on earth
  •  our lives in the grave
  • Judgement Day
  •  our final destination in Jannah, inshaAllah. 

I am a big believer in talking to our children and listening to what they’re going through in every aspect of their lives – schoolwork, friends, Islamic studies, and media consumption. It’s not a good idea for parents to just let their kids watch or read whatever they like, as children are still developing their moral compass, spiritual understanding, and frontal lobe (the part of the brain that influences decision-making, emotional regulation, and personality). Cartoons, just like audiobooks, can be a family bonding activity and a good way to discuss reality versus fantasy. It’s an invaluable life lesson worth repeating: everything we consume can either bring us closer to Allah or further away.

It’s also never a good idea for parents – as tired as we often are – to mentally check out while our kids zone out to their favourite TV shows. We are responsible for nurturing them with praiseworthy habits, and in this day and age, a huge part of that is being aware of what kind of media they’re consuming.

We must talk to our kids about what they’re watching and teach them how to critically analyze the kind of themes the movies/books are teaching them, from both an Islamic and a healthy mindset point of view. This is how we can instill that active sense of learning in our kids from a young age, instead of allowing them to be default passive consumers. Teaching them the value of analyzing the media they consume might even encourage them to become God-centered creatives as well, if they are artistically inclined.

Writing My Own Fantasy Book

When I drafted my first middle-grade fantasy novel, How to Free A Jinn, I didn’t know if it would land a literary agent, let alone a publishing deal. I specifically wanted to write a fantasy novel from the Islamic worldview; the vast majority of fantasy novels I read have a total absence of Islam, and I wanted to add something beneficial to the existing body of fantasy literature. I wanted to write a book from the Muslim worldview, about a girl who has inherited the consequences of the pre-Islamic practice of making a contract with an ancestral jinn. I wanted readers to immerse themselves from a viewpoint I hadn’t read yet: a neurodiverse young Muslim girl who loves her faith, family, and culture. There’s nothing quite like seeing the lived experience of relatable characters on page.

For so many decades, I  have consumed media from characters from different worldviews. I wanted my own children, as well as other children, to experience something from my own worldview, for a change. It took less than a year to land my US literary agent, and at least another three more years before my Australian and then my American publisher took a chance on my book.
 I wanted other Muslim kids to see the love and bickering that happens in our families, and I wanted them to read about being only twelve and already facing hard decisions. Most of all, I wanted to write a character who made mistakes, but ultimately chose a path pleasing to Allah .

Book Reception

In Malaysia and Singapore, my book was incredibly well-received. So many of my readers shared that their families also had very similar jinn stories. It was so heartwarming to see young Malay girls cosplaying as Insyirah, my book’s main character, by wearing noise-cancelling headphones on top of their hijabs! To my surprise, there was a spectrum of reaction in Australia. Many Muslim readers and their families were very enthusiastic, because it was high time for our stories to get traditionally published. On the other hand, there were WhatsApp messages circulating, warning Muslim families not to read my book because it encouraged black magic – clearly, whoever started that rumor hadn’t even read my book!

How To Free A Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil

As my book will reach the US, Canada, and the UK at the end of this year, I hope and pray that the Islamic schools there will be more open to welcoming my book and the ensuing discussions in their schools. My book can actually be a launching pad for healthy discussions around the unseen, e.g., recognizing the difference between good jinn and bad jinn, staying away from sorcery, understanding the difference between mental illness and jinn possession, and, above all, turning back to Allah , always.

On the topic of jinn, a concerned Muslim parent asked me why I had ‘jinn’ in my title. I explained that the jinn stories in my novels could be taken literally, or metaphorically (ancestral trauma and resilience) – and either way, I didn’t want to mislead my readers by suggesting that my book was something that it wasn’t. There’s nothing inherently wrong with talking about jinn, as long as the actual lesson of the story is Islamic! I was shocked to learn that there are Muslim kids who honestly believe that Iblis is a fallen angel. I corrected this Christian misconception and taught them that angels do not ‘fall’ or sin, unlike jinn and humans. Iblis is a jinn who was elevated to the ranks of angels until he disobeyed Allah’s Command to prostrate to Prophet Adam .


Harnessing the Fantasy Genre To Influence Islam-Consciousness

Muslim children are already exposed to the fantasy genre at school and at home, either in books or through cartoons and movies. I believe in having proactive conversations with our children from a truth-based worldview. I also believe in writing our own high-quality fiction so both Muslim children and even non-Muslim children can enjoy reading our books, and perhaps one day, come to Islam too.

Reading fantasy novels is not the same as engaging in forbidden black magic. Those are two completely separate topics. If anything, a well-written fantasy novel can be a warning against engaging with black magic! If parents don’t feel equipped to have these conversations, then it’s time to learn and consult with experts who do. I’m not encouraging the outsourcing of hard conversations – this is a skill that gets better with practice – but I strongly believe that the natural bond between parents and children can be used in our favor when it comes to their media consumption choices, for as long as our kids trust our judgment and want our approval. That window of influence will reduce as they get older, so while they’re still young and long for connection with us, let’s make the most of it.

 In a nutshell:

• Ground your children in the truth of Islam and the Islamic worldview:
  • Completing the www.whyislamistrue.com course helped me immensely with this.
• Compare the Islamic worldview with the two different worldviews presented in cartoons, movies, and novels:
  • secular worldview (no God, only the laws of science)
  • supernatural worldview (superpowers and supernaturally strong human-like beings, but no Necessary Being) 
  • Islamic worldview (Allah is a Necessary Being who creates and maintains our contingent universe)

We come from a rich oral storytelling tradition teeming with fantasy elements; when done mindfully and consciously with Allah in mind,  fantasy novels can be a subtle and effective da’wah tool, inshaAllah. Muslim parents should not irrationally fear the impact of fantasy novels on our children, but navigate the genre with thoughtfulness and awareness of Islamic morals and values.

Related:

– [Podcast] How To Free A Jinn & Other Questions | Ustadha Raidah Shah Idil

– The Muslim Book Awards 2025