Here is a preview of some of the artworks that we will be featuring in the inaugural issue of our Sci-Fi magazine. It is reimagine of Star Wars as a Punjabi folk tale with R2D2 and C3PO dressed in traditional Punjabi attire. This work is a collaboration between our editor and Babar Ali.

The Egyptian science fiction novel The Great Space Saga: The Half-Humans, penned and published originally in 2001, is being dusted off for a contemporary and international audience with an English translation. The author, Dr. Hosam Abd Al-Hamid El-Zembely, is an avowed fan of Star Wars. He fell in love with science fiction after watching the series, during his school days in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. This novel is his testament to his commitment to exploring the universe and carrying the torch of humanity to all those races that might be out there; a message with a distinctive Islamic flavor.

This affords us a tremendous opportunity to introduce Egyptian science fiction. Dr. Hosam El-Zembely, you see, belongs to the third generation of Arab SF writers, the generation that set the scene for the final fruition of the genre in Egypt, prefacing the current explosion in the literature. His generation, moreover, has helped shepherd, introduce and sponsor the contemporary generation of writers through the founding of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction in 2011, hot on the heels of the Arab Spring revolutions, first with pan-Arab and now with global literary ambitions.

This article begins with a summary of the origins and dilemmas facing SF in Egypt, followed by a review and analysis of The Half-Humans – situating it in the history of the genre – then concluding with an account of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction and future prospects (and pitfalls) for the genre.

Journeys of the Unknown

Ask any Egyptian or Arab science fiction writer and he will automatically tell you that SF in the Arab world faces a completely different challenge to the genre in its European and Western birthplace. Whereas in the West SF was a normal literary response to the industrial revolution, in the Arab-Muslim world SF faces an uphill battle to become recognized because no such revolution occurred. What is more, many an Egyptian and Arab SF author hopes that an industrial and scientific revolution will take place if and when SF becomes recognized in the Arab-Muslim world (Abu Al-Hasab, 2012: 82).[1]

A cursory glance at the history of Egyptian SF confirms this. The retinue of Egyptian authors who have written SF at first looks impressive at first, including such literary giants as playwright and author Tawfik Al-Hakim (1898-1987), the romantic novelist Yousef Al-Sibai (1917-1978), author, travel-writer and literary critic Anis Mansour (1925-2011), and Islamic thinker Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud (1921-2009). This list, however, conceals more than it reveals, since most of these authors only dabbled in the field, penning the odd SF story or novel or radio play in their past time. This represents the first phase of the sci-fi genre in Egyptian history, stretching from 1940s to the 1960s.

The first Egyptian author to specialize himself in the SF genre was the dearly departed Nihad Sharif (1932-2011), ushering in the second phase of Egyptian SF which stretches from his first novel The Lord of Time (1972) to the late 1990s. (The hero of the novel has himself frozen to wake up in the future, when they have found a cure for his illness). No sooner had Sharif published this that he wrote his Martian epic Number 4 Commands You (1974) and his classic Utopian novel The People of the Second World (1977). These two works bear special mention because they both focused on the perennial issue of the day – the threat of nuclear annihilation. In Number 4 the residents of the fourth planet, Mars, warn mankind that nuclear weapons destroyed the fifth planet in the solar system, creating the asteroid belt. When their calls fall on deaf ears, they wipe mankind’s memories clean of all knowledge of atomic science and make the nuclear stockpiles disappear.

The Second World is more complicated, with an underwater community set up by rebel scientists who also want to rid the world of nuclear weapons. They coerce the world powers into disarming, using their scientific discoveries to control these weapons, whilst building a near perfect community on the bottom of the ocean floor.

If you track back to Tawfik Al-Hakim you will see how sensitive Egyptian SF was to the prevailing atmosphere of the times. Al-Hakim authored short stories and radio plays as far back as the 1950s, in response to the Space Race between the superpowers (Sharouni, 2002: 102). SF died down after that, sadly, till Nihad Sharif. He represented a further deepening of the genre, ushering in authors who were willing to write predominantly in the field such as Hassan Qadri, Rauf Wasfi, Salah Maati, Sabri Musa and Dr. Mohammad Naguib Mattar. (As a boy, Dr. El-Zembely was actually introduced to Nihad Sharif, and Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud). Woman authors also entered the fray, with Dr. Umayma Al-Khafagi.

With Dr. El-Zembely’s novel The Half-Humans, you get a third phase of Egyptian sci-fi kicking in. (The Half-Humans was published in tandem with two other novels, The Planet of the Viruses and America 2030). The Cold War had come to an end, the Soviet Union itself coming to an end, with the threat of nuclear war receding somewhat into the past. The tableau for Egyptian SF expanded as a consequence. Instead of riding on the coattails of either the West or the Soviet Bloc, Muslims and Arabs began to chart their own course into the future.

Heroes of the Republic

First things first, it is imperative to point out that The Half-Humans came out in 2001 since the erstwhile hero of the novel, Captain Seif Al-Din, is an astronaut with the space program of the Union of Islamic States. (It’s the year 2100AD and he’s leading the first manned mission to Titan). This has absolutely nothing to do with the Islamic State ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria. But it is also, at the same time, a counter-point to that monstrosity.

The Islamic Union (formed in 2040) is modelled on the European Union – it says so in the novel – and it is a benign entity whose primary concern is the betterment of mankind. The Union’s space program has already worked marvels on Mars and Venus, helping terraform those worlds for all mankind in cooperation with other world powers, and even explored the very stormy eye of Jupiter. Titan, a key moon of Saturn, is the next step. The only catch is while there, Seif’s best friend and fellow astronaut, Hazem, gets captured by an alien intelligence that desperately needs mankind’s help. A race of half-humans – the mixed descendants of a superior race that mated with mankind at one point in the distant past – is now on the verge of extinction. The conflict in their genes is killing them and they need Seif to retrieve a formula for them that will end the gene conflict.

He goes along, to save Hazem at first; but once Hazem himself is released by the half-humans, he sees it as his duty to help them out. Muslims are commanded to fight for those who cannot fend for themselves, even quoting the verses in the Quran that say so. Also along for the ride is a third and unusual passenger, a woman ‘beamed’ to Seif on his new journey by his scientific superiors back home. Her name is Shaymaa and she’s battery-powered, made of reconstituted human tissues attached to a metallic frame. (I suspect this is all inspired by the invention of mobile phones). Nonetheless, Seif falls in love with her and she saves him (and the hapless Hazem) on more than one occasion.

Much like the heroes of legends and fairytale epics, Seif Al-Din has to solve riddles along the way to get the tools he needs to carry out his mission. (The introduction to the novel, by Dr. Abd Al-Hamid Ibrahim, draws clear parallels between the storyline and Sindibad’s adventures). The half-humans lead him to Pluto to take a vessel that can get him through a black hole (human technology still isn’t that advanced) and that demands solving a puzzle. Then they have to challenge the tyrannical king of the race of shape-shifters, and that demands outsmarting him, taking another vessel through several black holes to the World of the Seven Hills. There the heroes meet the King of this ancient, bloated world (the progenitors of the half-humans) and they learn that this far-off world is governed by the same democratic principles as the Islamic Union – the principles of ‘shura’ (usually translated as consultation in Arabic).

A majority vote of the Council of Elders is what holds sway in all matters. Sadly, most of the Elders are corrupt and hostile to all ‘inferior’ lifeforms. Not that this tarnishes the principles of shura. Seif Al-Din always calls for a vote with his colleagues, as do his superiors back on Earth. The author has made his mind up that shura is democracy, majority votes, and not mere ‘consultation’ and refuses to castigate the democratic process. In most popular literature in the Arab world, the negatives of Western democracy and society – crime, amorality, vest interests, corruption, foreign policy double standards – are always pointed out to discredit democracy. Not so here.

As a Muslim the reviewer can add something too since the word consultation has a double meaning in English itself. Your lawyer is a ‘councilor’, someone who gives you legal advice, but a committee or ‘council’ of ministers actually votes on matters, after its members consult with each other and make their cases and trade viewpoints.

So I’m all for this reading of shura. Anyone dare disagree?!

The Inward Gaze of Civilization

Note that in The Lord of Time, the frozen individuals who wake up in the future reside in a castle hidden in the mountains. They begin to fight amongst themselves and the castle is destroyed, robbing the world of the discoveries they’ve made. In the Second World, the scientific colony fails to share its advances with the world – betrayed by the superpowers – and have to go into hiding again. Even Number 4 is only half optimistic because an extra-terrestrial intelligence had to interfere to save man from his own technological arrogance, and the solution came in the form of (again) being robbed of much of your hard-won knowledge.

The Half-Humans, by contrast, is brimming with confidence. Muslims have nothing to be ashamed of and they are strong enough as a nation to share their knowledge with the rest of the world. All this, moreover, stems from an internal house cleaning. There is no talk of foreign conspiracy or Western powers getting in the way of Muslim unity or advance.

The scientific state of the Muslim world is also a chief concern in the novel, reflective of Dr. Hosam’s deep understanding of what ails scientific research, especially in a country as gifted as Egypt. Witness this scene: “Seif… recollected the ambitious project that the Islamic Union had enacted following the Unity Wars, to bolster the livelihoods of scientists – insuring education and healthcare for their children, good housing and attire for the scientists themselves, removing all those social handicaps that could hinder their creativity. The project even allowed for any scientist to meet with the president of the Islamic Union on a monthly basis, to present any problems facing him. Whenever any discovery or invention was made, the scientist in question was automatically rewarded and rewarded handsomely… And so the Muslim States were able to overturn centuries of backwardness and become once again a leader of civilization through the achievements of their scientists.”

Every nation brings its own special set of concerns to the realm of science fiction, no matter how far out in the cosmos the heroes of a tale go. (If you read The Far Rainbow by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, written in the 1960s, you find yourself on a bureaucratic nightmare of a planet, a clear allusion to the Soviet Union). And they go pretty far out in this novel, to the edge of the universe, and back.

The novel is not a pale imitation of Western literary norms. Far from it. Characters are prone to crying much of the time, something that is almost a taboo in the ‘cold’ world of Western science fiction. Hazem and Seif are also closer than the average superhero, sidekick due in Western literature. They were both only children so felt a deep need from early in their lives for a brother; such a familial pairing would not concern Western writers with their sense of individualism. (They also share a telepathic bond that doesn’t always come in handy because Hazem is too busy deliberating on matters instead of reacting; he’s the intellectual type).

Note also that Shaymaa, a popular name in Egypt, is very eager to prove herself. She clearly speaks to the ambitions of Arabic women. (You really come to like her. She’s such a cheery person and always says the right thing at the right time. It’s in her programing!)

Something that The Half-Humans does have in common with the corpus of Egyptian sci-fi from before, however, is the ‘internal’ focus. This isn’t just the moral or spiritual, but the biological focus. Most SF, Western SF, is ‘outward’. Its physics and astronomy, set invariably in outer space or dealing with new mechanical technologies that promise to break the light barrier or turn matter into energy or colonize a new solar system or whatever. With Muslim authors the inner workings of the human body and medical sciences are more of a hefty concern.

Nihad Sharif often had medical operations taking place in his novels, in the middle of all the action and adventure, while themes of immortality emerged early on in Egyptian SF. Tawfik Al-Hakims play “If Only the Young Knew” involves the moral and emotional consequences of a discovery made by a medical doctor, regenerating organic matter in living tissues (Sharouni, 2002: 102). Anis Mansour and Mustafa Mahmoud also dealt with the elixir of life and reincarnation in their works.

Likewise, in Dr. El-Zembely’s novel you have the Individual Cell Analyser, another proud invention of the Islamic Union, a “device that could study each and every cell in the human body, and repair any damage in it while the cell functioned in the live body.” (The Analyzer is a forerunner, it seems, of the four-dimensional microscope devised by Egypt’s dearly departed scientist Dr. Ahmed Zewail). With its help the average lifespan of mankind is extended, diseases and even aches and pains become a thing of the past. And yet, the device fails to conquer death, the: “… complete systems failure of all the cells in the human body… That was the one thing they could not explain, as if the body had received an order from the Almighty Himself to end its mission in the world and succumb to that one illness that was incurable… death.”

The bodily focus is further fused with the moral, since sports are a kind of moral education in Islamic thinking. Witness this scene in the novel: “Seif Al-Din grew up a 21^st century knight, from his earliest days. He was an expert with modern weaponry, from laser pistols to spacefighters. He was a pro at every sport, from swimming to archery and horse-riding. He was an expert runner, becoming a decathlon champion, not to mention his expertise with computers of all kinds, with all their advanced programming languages.”

The Arab reader can recognize this emphasis on the positive moral and spiritual role played by riyada (sports or exercises in Arabic). Naguib Mahfouz once wrote a satirical short story about a man who joins an underground political movement. The head of the revolutionary cell who recruits him is built like a wrestler and calls the cell a family, and behaves like a nosey and self-righteous father-figure. He tells the recruit off for having an affair with a morally improper woman, and frequently punishes him as if he were a tempestuous child.

Mathematics in Arabic is riyadiyat, derived from the original Greek work ‘exercises’, mental exercises done to perfect the mind like a muscle that needs moral honing. In Muslim history, the Mamluks and Ottoman Janissaries were brought up on mathematics as much as on fighting skills. And so with the heroes here. Well, except for Hazem – the sidekick can never be as tough or handsome as the superhero, after all.

Thank heavens Shaymaa is there to balance things out. Shame what happens to her in the end though. But you have to have a little tragedy to spice things up.

Preparing the Path for Future Transitions

That in itself is another indicator of how Egyptian science fiction evolved in its third phase. Dr. El-Zembely belongs to the same generation as Dr. Nabil Farouk and Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik. Dr. Farouk in particular is the author of the two pocketbook series, the Future File (science fiction) and The Impossible Man (spy novels) adventure stories, targeted at the young adult audience. Tawfik, author of the internationally acclaimed Utopia (Byrnes, 2011), has also authored a wide range of pocketbook adventure stories.

Much the same holds true of The Half-Humans. Dr. El-Zembely makes sure to never allow the story to become too cerebral. You can see this in the first chapter. You are introduced to the successes of the Islamic Union space program and the characters of Seif Al-Din and Hazem, only to have the alarm go off as their spaceship enters the asteroid belt. And even while they’re conversing about the space program they talk about unsolved mysteries that whet your appetite for what comes next. Philosophical reminiscences are always interspersed with action sequences.

This third generation understood that without a proper fan base, particularly with young readers, SF would be unsustainable and have no impact on literature at large. The current generation of SF authors all grew up reading Dr. Nabil Farouk as children and then branched off into hardcore SF, whether Egyptian or translated. This new generation, the fourth phase in Egyptian SF (see below), are even more commercially attuned to the marketplace than their forebears.

Then the political and social milieu Egyptian sci-fi operates changed, yet again, with the coming of the January revolution. Not soon after Dr. Hosam El-Zembely, with the help of fellow enthusiast, set up the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction in 2011, with the society’s first anthology coming out in 2012. (In a tragic twist of fate, Nihad Sharif died on 5^th January 2011, just 20 days away from the revolution). To quote an essay in the anthology itself, by Yassir Abu Al-Hasab, SF writers in Egypt and the Arab world increasingly became aware that what was lacking throughout all the past years of Egyptian SF was an infrastructure to sustain the genre. There were no specialized SF magazines, no SF societies on the model of the SFWA or British Science Fiction Association, and no prizes like the Nebula and Hugo awards dished out by these associations (Abu Al-Hasab, 2012: 80-81).

Fortunately, there is now a science fiction section for the Egyptian Writer’s Union, a new Egyptian internet magazine called Science and Fiction[2] popularizing the genre, and the Nihad Sharif Cultural Salon for Science Fiction. The set mission of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction, as outlined manifesto-style in their first anthology, is to engage in dialogue with fantasy and SF associations around the world and to plan for integrating the SF efforts of Arab authors to (eventually) set up an Arab Society for Science Fiction. Presenting the works of Egyptian members and setting up a publishing house are lower down the list, along with projects to translate Arabic SF, organize conferences and get the movie and TV producers interested in the genre.

Speaking to publishers and owners of bookshops, you find that novels are selling like hotcakes and that printing books is one of the most successful business avenues in these trying economic times. A whole new generation of young authors is taking over the world of SF and fantasy: Wael and Mahmoud Abdel Raheem, Ammar Al-Masry, Ahmed Al-Mahdi, Moataz Hassanien, Ahmed Sameer Saad, Ahmed Badran, Mustafa Seif Al-Din, Yassin Ahmed Said, Yasser Abu-Elhassab (editor in chief of Science and Fiction), Omar Ahmed Hussien, Mustafa Ammar, Dalia Mustafa, Mustafa Seif, Amal Ziada, Muhammad Farouk, Waleed Al Ashwah, Muhammad Al-Nagi, Muhammad Ahmed Farid, Fatima Madi, etc. (Many are in their twenties, and some are still at university). Quite a few of these names are also illustrators and have authored graphic novels, some work in publishing themselves, and several don’t operate exclusively in Egypt, targeting the thriving Gulf Arab market as well.

Not that can write off the old-timers. Dr. El-Zembely still writes short fiction, and Dr. Mohammad Naguib Mattar is still going strong, as are Nabil Farouk and Ahmed Khalid Tawfik. Sayed Al-Qamahi is writing children’s SF, and Mohammad Ali Abd Al-Hadi has even written sci-fi poetry. We’re still not completely out of the woods, however. Horror is at the top of reading lists, pushing science fiction out of the way for the moment, while Egyptian critics and movie and TV producers still go great lengths to continue to ignore the genre.[3] The political and economic situation in Egypt isn’t helping much either.

Reprints of classics and third generation Egyptian SF is what’s called for here, if you ask me. Let alone a whole swathe of translations that will introduce what is going on in Egypt to the rest of the world. And The Half-Humans is as good a place to start as any. Its combination of adventure movie antics and hard core ‘Islamic’ science fiction is what makes it so palatable and a necessary literary contribution to the evolution of the Muslim world towards a more democratic and scientifically bright future.

So please read the English-version, if you want to help the world become a better place!

Acknowledgements

A Chinese version of this article was published with the Future Affairs Administration: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/XsZh4PiH9zrnhehZxw4cXg

Dr. Hosam El-Zembley is the Director and the original founder of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction: https://www.facebook.com/elzembely/

Emad El-Din Aysha is an active member of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction.

References

Al-Mahdi, Ahmed. 2017. ‘Islam and Sci-Fi interview of Ahmed Al Mahdi’. Islam and Science Fiction: On Science Fiction, Islam and Muslims. http://www.islamscifi.com/islam-and-sci-fi-interview-of-ahmed-al-mahdi/

Al-Sharouni, Yousef. 2002. Science Fiction in Contemporary Arabic Literature: Till the End of the 20th Century. Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization.

Abu Al-Hasab, Yassir. 2012. ‘Science Fiction… History, Organization and the Scoffing Arab’, essay in The Arrivals: Shams Al-Ghad Volume One. Cairo: Dar Al-Hilm for Publishing and Distribution.

Byrnes, Sholto. 2011. ‘Utopia, By Ahmed Khaled Towfik’. 17 September. The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/utopia-by-ahmed-khaled-towfik-6132395.html.

Tidhar, Lavie. 2015. ‘Science Fiction, Globalization, and the People’s Republic of China’. The Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation. http://www.concatenation.org/articles/sf~china.html.

[1]  The same could be said across the board in the non-Western world. Please see Tidhar (2015).

[2]  Please see https://sciandfimag.wordpress.com/.

[3] For a list of these problems please see an interview of Ahmed Al-Mahdi, www.islamscifi.com/islam-and-sci-fi-interview-of-ahmed-al-mahdi/.

Guest post by Jahanzeb from Hearts of Khyber on the new Star Wars movie and Islam.

Parh parh ilm hazaar kitaaban
qaddi apnay aap nou parhiya naee...

Yes, you have read thousands of books
But you have never tried to read your own self...

~ Bulleh Shah

There is a moment in The Last Jedi that touches upon the theme of this beautiful poem by Punjabi poet Bulleh Shah. Before I continue, I have to warn that MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead! Don’t read further if you haven’t seen The Last Jedi yet!

SPOILERS start now:

One of my major disappointments with The Last Jedi was the way Rian Johnson handled the Star Wars lore. Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking, “Man, Rian really went all Order 66 on the Star Wars mythos.”

But I actually think he did some things that were more thoughtful than I initially suspected. In fact, I remember watching the scene with Yoda and thinking, “Hmm, this reminds me of a Sufi poem I once read.” I couldn’t remember which poem or story exactly, but I figured it must have involved Jalaluddin Rumi. I didn’t think about this scene later because I was too caught in processing the rest of the film.

When Yoda burns the sacred Jedi texts, he’s basically teaching Luke that the Force cannot be found in books, but rather within one’s self. The larger message is one that challenges religious dogma and rigid orthodoxy. By the way, it’s interesting to see Yoda’s own arc when we compare his anti-dogmatic stance with his rigid principles in the prequels.

But even more interesting to me is how this scene seems to carry similar themes with spiritual traditions in our own galaxy. Whether Rian Johnson is familiar with Islamic or Sufi literature, I don’t know, but it is interesting how similar the Yoda scene is with a particular story about Rumi. The following tale is about the first time Rumi met his teacher Shams-e Tabrizi:

“Rumi was sitting in his library with some books and his pupils gathered around him. Shams came along, greeted them, sat down and gesturing toward the books, asked: ‘What are these?’

Rumi replied, ‘You wouldn’t know.’

Before Rumi finished speaking, the books and the library caught on fire.

‘What’s this?’ cried Rumi.

Shams retorted, ‘You wouldn’t know either,’ and got up and left.

There is actually another version of this story, as mentioned below:

“Jami, Amin Ahmad Razi and Azar all tell a version of this mythical encounter, but substitute water for fire.

Rumi was sitting near a garden pool with a few books when Shams arrived and asked, ‘What’s this?’

Rumi replied, ‘These are called debates, but you needn’t bother with them.’

Shams touched them and threw them in the water. Rumi got upset at the ruin of these rare and precious books. Shams reached in the water and retrieved them one by one. Rumi saw that there was no trace of water damage on them.

‘What secret is this?’ he asked.

Shams replied, ‘This is spiritual inclination and entrancement, what would you know of it?’

The excerpts cited above were quoted from the book, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West – The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi (p. 166).

Yoda setting fire to the Jedi texts also reminded me of this poem by Bulleh Shah:

Masjid dha de, mandir dha de,
dha de jo kucch dainda,
Par kisi da dil na dhain,
Rab dilan vich rehnda

You could tear down the Mosque and the Temple,
break all that can be broken,
but never break anyone’s heart,
because that is where God lives.

Emphasizing one’s inward relationship with self and God, and challenging the outward, dogmatic aspects of religion is a common theme in Bulleh Shah’s work. We’ve seen this throughout the Star Wars films as well. As Luke laments the fact that Kylo destroyed his Jedi Temple, Yoda reminds him that the Force lives within us all.

Here’s another poem by Bulleh Shah that carries a similar message:

Parh parh ilm hazaar kitaaban
qaddi apnay aap nou parhiya naee,
jaan jaan warhday mandir maseedi
qaddi mann apnay wich warhiya naee,
aa-vain larda aye shaitan de naal bandeaa
qaddi nafss apnay naal lariya naee

Yes, you have read thousands of books
But you have never tried to read your own self,
You rush in, into your Temples, into your Mosques
But you have never tried to enter your own heart,
Futile are all your battles with Satan
For you have never tried to fight your own desires

This is perhaps Bulleh Shah’s most quoted poem and it serves as a reminder to not only confront our own egos, but also establish a deeper and honest connection with ourselves. When Yoda tells Luke, “The greater teacher, failure is,” it makes him realize that he never really processed his failure. He avoidedit rather than confront it.

As disappointed as I am that Luke was not physically on the planet to fight Kylo Ren, I can appreciate the deeper, spiritual theme Rian Johnson seemed to be going for. Luke had entered his own heart and became at peace with himself.

He became One with the Force.

As always we start off with Irfan Rhydhan’s article, Star Wars: An Islamic Perspective. Moustafi Chamli has another take on the subject with Luke Skywalker: Jihadi Knight. Third up is the most popular post of the series – Princess Leia Hijab.

Just in case you wondering how you can replicate this hijab then you can use the following tutorial.

My favorite one is the following rendition of Star Wars in the style of Ottoman miniature paintings.

Just in case you missed it, Yoda is a secret Muslim – creeping shariah in Star Wars.

Remember the time when Darth Vader faked his own death to get married in Pakistan?

A poster for the original Star Wars movie in Arabic.

This is a Calligram in the style of a storm trooper and it repeatedly says Star Wars in Arabic.

Lastly an ad for Star Wars in an Iranian newspaper.

With Star Wars back in the news, there are bound to be comparison with who the good guys and the bad guys in the Star Wars universe and how they map to the real world. Mustafa Chamli has an excellent take and rebuttal on Star Wars and comparisons being made with Muslims in certain quarters especially certain dubious claims are being made with Islam and Terrorism, and the dark side.

While I had managed to avoid most of them (because, let’s be honest: they rarely ever matter), there was one that popped in my feed that I couldn’t help but read. In “The Radicalisation of Luke Skywalker: A Jedi’s Path to Jihad”, anonymous author ComfortablySmug echoes the multiple articles which argue that the Empire are the good guys, and that the Rebel Alliance are the baddies. Except this time, the argument is that the Jedi aren’t just terrorists: They’re Islamic Terrorists!

Here is how Mustafa dismantles the false comparisons with Islamic theology and terrorism.

Jedis are Jihadis by definition, because they have to fight that temptation to give in to their baser capabilities. Their falling to the dark side is the definition of “losing” the Jihad. But, since the struggle is constant, a Jedi can make their way back to the light. Just like Anakin Skywalker did at the end of Return of the Jedi.

And, yes, there is a physical element to the Jihad. Because we are told multiple times to fight those who oppress (see the earlier passage shared). We have a duty to defend not only Muslims, but also non-Muslims who are under attack. That’s what Kurds have been doing in Rojava since DAESH made their appearance in the middle east. And they have been doing this while also fighting invading forces from all sides.

The full article is available on the Medium at this link.

Image source: Flickr

Turkish Science Fiction has come a long way and it will not be long before Turkey produces world class sci-fi. Long before Sadik Yemni, GORA, Book of Madness etc there was Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam or The Man Who Saved the World. It was one of those movies which are so bad that they are good. The movie is famous for its over the top premise and using unauthorized footage from Star Wars as well as the US and the Soviet space program. The premise is that Murat and Ali are friends who crash land on a planet. While trekking across a desert on the planet they speculate that the planet is inhabited only by women! It is not clear how they came up with that premise but lets grant them this premise for now. One of them uses his special whistle to attract women (yes there is such a thing in this movie) but instead of women they get skeletons on horses. Later on we run into 1,000 year wizards from Earth, Zombies, golden ninjas, space swords, golden human brains etc. The film was universally panned by critics in Turkey but understandably this movie has gained a cult following.

Irfan Rydhan

As most “Star Wars” fans know, director George Lucas took spiritual elements, which are common in most major world religions to create his epic saga of good vs. evil.  As a Muslim, I always thought of the “Jedi” as what a true follower of Islam should be like.  Never mind the fact Jedi masters with their North African style cloaks and scruffy beards look like Sufi Sheikhs, but they way they are taught to respect a greater power, fight for the defense of the innocent and honor a code of morals and ethics in order to bring about peace and justice to their society, is basically what Islam teaches all Muslims to strive for.  So what really is the connection between these similar Islamic principles and the fictional “Jedi Order” of the Star Wars saga?

I decided to look into this question more deeply.  What I came across from my research off the internet and talking to other Muslim “Star Wars” fans was not only surprising, but also a bit scary.  For example it was reported in a National Australian magazine that more than 70,000 Australians identified their religion as Jedi, Jedi-Knight, or Jedi-related in the country’s 2001 national census!  Don’t these people realize that the “Jedi” are make-believe?  There may be some truth in fiction, but instead of looking for the truth, people get caught up with the fiction.  In this paper I hope to reveal where some of the truth of the “Jedi” and “Star Wars” comes from: Islam.

Back when “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” first came out, “The Muslim Magazine”  had some interesting pieces on the connections between Islam and the content of the Star Wars films. One was an interview with Dhul-Nun Owen who talks about how George Lucas had contacted members of the “Habibiyyah Sufi Order” in Berkeley, CA in order to do research for “Star Wars.” There was also a piece by Mahmoud Shelton about how Sufi ideas of spiritual chivalry (“futuwwat”) have parallels in the Jedi teachings.

Surfing the internet, I came across an interesting article entitled “Eternal Jihad: The Way of the Mystic-Warrior” from a Sufi website:

“We are at the core a Movement of Jedi; masters of Futuwwat (“the Way of the mystic-warrior”). We encourage adherents to train both physically AND spiritually, for their own personal edification and to enhance their knowledge and abilities in the STRUGGLE. The Real does not lie alone in contemplation, prayer and meditation; nor does it lie alone in action and revolution. Both of these are notions of “one or the other” and Allah is not “one or the other.” “Allah” literally means “the One[ness] which manifests from Nothing.” As we have stressed before, this “Nothing” is not the “lack” of all, but rather, it is Nothing in the sense of Totality of Being, which is symbolized by the numeral zero – this number itself originated with Sufis. Allah is neither the positive alone, nor the negative. Allah is the perfect balance between the two. The direct center of two polarities is always zero, Pure Nothing, from which the Totality, the Tawhid (Unity), the Oneness of ALL becomes manifest. For it is out of zero that all subsequent positive and negative numbers reel. That is Allah.”

Notice the Arabic term “al-Jeddi” (master of the mystic-warrior way) along with another Islamic term not mentioned, “Palawan” (similar to Lucas’ “Padwan” for Jedi apprentice) which were actual titles used by Muslim Knights!

The Force

“The Force” is the common thread between all six movies and is defined as an energy field, which binds all living things together  (i.e. Allah, God, a Supreme Being or Power that most religion’s adherents worship, follow and/or yearn to become a part of).  According to Star Wars mythology, the Jedi “are a noble order of protectors unified by their belief and observance of the Force.”

George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars films, has attributed the origins of “The Force” to the film 21-87 (dir. Arthur Lipsett) which used samples from many sources.”One of the audio sources Lipsett sampled for 21-87 [a film that had a great influence on Lucas] was a conversation between artificial intelligence pioneer Warren S. McCulloch and Roman Kroitor , a cinematographer who went on to develop IMAX. In the face of McCulloch’s arguments that living beings are nothing but highly complex machines, Kroitor insists that there is something more: ‘Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something, behind this apparent mask which we see in front of us, and they call it God.”

In Islam, Allah has no image, body or form that humans can imagine or even comprehend.  Allah is a supreme being of positive energy and goodness which was there before time (in the understanding of human beings), and will be there at the end of time.  According to the teachings of Islam, Allah blows his spirit into all living things and thus, we humans are inherently good in nature.  Because human beings have free will to do good or bad, we have the potential to be a medium of positive energy and goodness, or we can succumb to our animal desires (“Nafs” in Arabic) and suppress this inherent goodness we all have inside of us, to do evil instead. This is similar to the description of the Force given by Yoda in “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”, where he says: “It’s [The Force] energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we…(Yoda pinches Luke’s shoulder)…not this crude matter [Flesh]. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you…me…the tree…the rock…everywhere!”

Apprenticeship

The “Jedi” study and train under the apprentice-master relationship similar to how many religious students study under a priest or religious scholar until they have learned enough to teach and train the next generation of students. From a Muslim perspective, the similarities between the Jedi and the Islamic traditions of instruction are strikingly similar.  For example a Muslim scholar usually trains under a Sheikh for a number of years before they are given the right or permission (“Ijazah” in Arabic) to professionally teach others about Islam.  “In Islamic Sufism Sheikhs will have “silsilas” that list the chain of teachers going back to the Prophet Muhammad (S). A “silisia” indicates a Sheikh’s lineage of mystical learning from which he draws his spiritual authority.”

Similarly in the “Jedi” tradition of Star Wars, each “Padwan” (apprentice) is taught the same tradition and skills their Jedi masters were taught by their previous masters.  “Star Wars” fans know the lineage of Jedi instruction starting from “Yoda” to “Count Dooku” to “Qui-Gon Jinn” to “Obi Wan Kenobi” to “Anakin Skywalker.”
In the first Star Wars movie, “Episode IV: A New Hope,” Luke Skywalker, like his father, Anakin, live in the desert (The desert planet of “Tatooine” was actually filmed near the real desert town of “Tataouine” in Tunisia).  From among this remote desert area with no roots of a civilized urban society, a “Chosen One” (i.e. a Prophet) arises who brings a hope of peace and justice to their society.  Anakin is the “chosen one” in the latest Star Wars films, and Luke can be considered the “chosen one” from the original Star Wars trilogy.

Similarly, the Prophet of Islam, lived in the desert where there was no true rule of law or justice and people followed the tribal system of blood vengeance.  Prophet Muhammad (S) brought Islam to the Arabs, which completely changed their way of thinking and the way they lived their lives.  Instead of living for the present and for themselves, as Muslims they live for the hereafter and are taught to take care of the poor, orphans, those less fortunate than themselves and to fight for social justice and well being for the whole community.

Thus the Jedi too is taught to be selfless and not selfish like the “Sith” (An ancient order of Force-practitioners devoted to the dark side and determined to destroy the Jedi).  Just as “Yoda” taught young “padwans” not to give into fear and be tempted by the “Dark Side” (i.e. temptations of the devil or “Shaytaan” in Arabic), Muslims are taught not to be attached to the “Dunya” (life in this world) nor to fall prey to the diseases of the heart (jealousy, envy, fear, hatred, etc.) as they lead to evil and sin.

As well known American Muslim scholar Shaykh Hamza Yusuf states: “Every criminal, miser, abuser, scoffer, embezzler, and hateful person does what he or she does because of a diseased heart. If hearts were sound, these actions would no longer be a reality. So if you want to change our world, do not begin by rectifying the outward. Instead, change the condition of the inward. Everything we see happening outside of us is in reality coming from the unseen world within. It is from the unseen world that the phenomenal world emerges, and it is from the -unseen realm of our hearts that all actions spring.”

The Green One

There is an interesting connection between the Jedi master “Yoda” (a short, green skinned creature first seen in “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”) and Islamic traditions.  “Al-Khidr” means “the Green One” in Arabic. Qur’ânic commentators say that al-Khidr is one of the prophets; others refer to him simply as an angel who functions as a guide to those who seek God. And there are yet others who argue for his being a perfect wali meaning the one whom God has taken as a friend.

So in other words “Yoda” (which means “Wise One” in Hebrew) is like an angel or spiritual mentor who guides the young Jedi in the ways of the force and to be strong enough to resist the temptations and evil inclinations of the Sith and other Dark Forces.

In “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”, the Emperor tries to influence Luke Skywalker to give into his feelings of Anger and Hatred (As we all know Luke’s father Anakin, did fall prey to the Emperor’s whispers and joined the Dark Side). Because the Jedi (as Muslim warriors) are taught that one’s intentions in battle must be pure and that it’s wrong to kill out of anger, even when is outwardly justified.

‘Ali (RA) the nephew of the Prophet Muhammad (S), was faced with this situation at the Battle of the Ditch, the noble Imam ‘Ali had knocked an enemy soldier to the ground and was raising his sword to kill him, when the unbeliever spat in his face. Imam ‘Ali at once stood still and refrained from killing his enemy. Hardly able to believe his own eyes, the unbeliever asked: “Why have you spared me, O gracious one?”

To this, the noble ‘Ali replied: “Your property and your life have become sacrosanct to me. I am not authorized to slay you. I can receive permission to kill only in holy combat, in fighting commanded by Allah. Just a few moments ago, I had overcome you in battle, knocked you to the ground and was on the point of slaying you. But when you spat in my face, my selfish anger was aroused against you. If I had killed you, I would have slain you not for Allah’s sake but for my own selfish reason; they would then have called me not a champion warrior, but a murderer. When you spat in my face, my selfish passion threatened to overwhelm me, so instead of striking you with the sword for my own sake I struck my passion for the sake of Allah, Exalted is He. There you have the reason for your escape.” The unbeliever was of course in awe by Ali’s noble character, and immediately accepted Islam and became Muslim.

Muh-Jedi-Deen

The Jedi could be considered “Holy Warriors” (or “Mujahideen” in Arabic) as they fight for truth, justice and peace.  They meditate (i.e. “Dhikr” – remembrance of Allah) as much as they can, to become “one with the force”, even in the midst of battle.  Just as in “Episode I: The Phantom Menace”, the Jedi master, Qui-Gon Jinn (The term “Jinn” in Islam is one of the forces of the “unseen”) begins to meditate in the middle of his battle with “Darth Maul”, while he waits for a force field to go down.

Islamic History is filled with stories of Muslim Warriors who also stop in the heat of the moment of battle to give their prayers to Allah.  Hussein (RA) the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (S) stopped to do his Asr (mid-day prayers) at Karbala.  There is even an account of ‘Ali (RA), known as the “Sword of Light” (light-saber?),  who completed his “Salat” (Arabic for prayers) while he had an arrow stuck in his leg or foot!

“The lack of fear for death exhibited by Jedi Knights Obi Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, Luke Skywalker (particularly in Episode VI: “Return of the Jedi”) resembles the Muslim warrior’s creed that states that the Muslim loves death more than the un-believer loves life.”

Just as Jedi’s who fight and die in battle are still alive in spirit form, as evidenced with Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: A New Hope and the Phantom Menace, respectively, Muslim warriors who become Shaheed (Martyrs) are not considered dead.  As stated in the Holy Quran:

“And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah: ‘They are dead.’  Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it) not.  (The Noble Quran, 2:154)”

There are even accounts in Islamic history where noble and pious Muslims, speak to the living from the grave, similar to how Obi Wan Kenobi guides Luke Skywalker from the spirit world after his death.

Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:

“Zaid ibn Kharjah was one of the pious that talked after his death. When he died and was placed in his coffin, he started to talk and said: ‘I bear witness that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah and his name Ahmad was mentioned in the previous scriptures (Old Testament and New Testament); and Abu Bakr and ‘Umar were two caliphs and now it is Usman’s Government. Four years have passed and there are two years to go and conflicts will come and Muslims will become weak.’ A lot of scholars verify this narration including Imam Bukhari and Imam al-Bayhaqi.3
There is another saying in Islam, which is “Life in this world is Paradise for the Un-believer and a Prison for the Believer.”  Some reasoning behind this saying is that if one puts all their faith in this world (the “Dunya”), then it is very easy to fall off the straight path and be tempted by Satan (i.e. fall prey to the “Dark Side”).
This is shown very clearly in “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” which is all about the Chosen One’s (Anakin) fall into the dark side.  Lucas, himself stated in an interview that the he chose the final battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan to be on a planet with flowing molten lava and fire, which represents the fires of Hell.  The ultimate showdown between good and evil.

Anakin falls victim to the dark side because he loves power and the Dunya (as he wanted to have the power to live forever and save his loved ones from death – i.e. his wife from dying during childbirth).  He has excessive anger and arrogance (as he felt he was the most powerful Jedi and no other Jedi was better or stronger than him) and distrust for those who are his righteous guides (as he felt Obi-Wan was jealous of him and thought the Jedi Council was against him, which lead him to follow other sinister forces for guidance).  Lastly he had hatred in his heart (he admitted to hating the “sand people”)!9 Everything that Islam teaches the Muslim to avoid!

The Sand People

The “sand people” or the “Tusken Raiders” could be considered a metaphor of the Arabs and other people of the Middle East, since they live similarly to nomadic Arabs in the desert.  In “Episode II: Attack of the Clones”, the Tusken Raiders kidnap and torture Anakin’s mother, Shimi, which eventually leads to her death.  Anakin then proceeds to kill all the “sand people” in vengeance, and as he told “Padme,” that he “killed all of them [sand people], including the women and children.”  But this did not relieve him of his anger and hatred.

I believe Lucas was trying to make a point about the continuous spewing of hate and evil against the Arab and Muslim people, which has been continuing to get worse and worse in mainstream Television and Films out of Hollywood (i.e. “Executive Decision”, “True Lies”, “The Siege”, etc.) and of course after the attacks of September 11th, 2001 – the cat came out of the bag and many more films, television programs and radio shows started to generalize, stereotype and attack Arabs, Muslims and the religion of Islam. This lead to a lot of hate crimes against anyone that even looks like an Arab or Middle Eastern (including some Non-Muslim Hispanic and Latinos).  Many innocent people, specifically women and children, have been harassed, attacked and sometimes even killed, because of this hate.  CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) received 1,717 complaints of hate crimes and attacks on the civil rights of American Muslims within the first 6 months after Sept. 11th.

This wasn’t the only example of Lucas getting political, since after Episode III debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, many Europeans were saying that Anakin represents Bush and his Neo-Con cohorts currently in power.  One couldn’t help but notice the very overt examples in the last and final installment of the “Star Wars” series.

An example that sticks in my mind is when the Emperor was taking control of the Senate.  Senate Palpatine (aka the Emperor) was calling for war against the “separatists” (i.e. read as “insurgents”, “terrorists”, etc.) and the Jedi, all the while the whole Senate erupted in agreement.  Padme (aka Queen Amadala) then says “..So this is how Liberty ends, with thunderous applause”!

Of course the most obvious example was when Anakin tells Obi-Wan before their final duel, “Either you’re with me, or against me”, which is basically straight out of Bush’s mouth when he said “Either you’re with us [i.e. America], or you’re with the terrorists” immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11.

This reminds me of a very funny take on the whole Bush Inspired U.S. “War on Terror” transposed into “Star Wars” mythology I came across on the web.  Here is an excerpt:

It’s believed that Skywalker [Luke] was specifically trained by infamous terrorist O bin Wankanobi. Wankanobi, occasionally called “Ben” and easily recognized by his bearded visage and long, flowing robes, achieved near-martyr status among the Rebels after his death last year during a spy mission. His more fervent followers believe that Wankanobi lives on within them today, some even claiming to hear his voice during times of duress.

The attack on the Death Star came shortly after the Empire’s destruction of Alderstaan, a planet whose government was known to harbor terrorists. Responding to criticism over the total annihilation of the planet, [Darth] Vader stated, “There is no middle ground in the War on Terror. Those who harbor terrorists are terrorists themselves. Alderaan was issued ample warning. The fight for continuing Freedom is often burdened by terrible cost.”

In other words, the Emperor, Darth Vader and the Empire are equivalent to Bush and Company and Luke Skywalker, the Jedi and the Rebel Alliance are referred to as “terrorists” (or “separatists”, “insurgents”, etc.).

The Jedi Arts

The most popular aspects of the “Star Wars” films are the exciting light-saber duels and swordsmanship (Lucas is an admitted fan of old Samurai films) and martial arts style fighting (which of course originates from the East).  As a former student of “Eskrima Serrada” (Stick and Blade fighting developed by Muslims of the Philippines) myself, I see a lot of similarities in the fast-moving and short-range fighting I studied for about two years, and the “invented” art of the Jedi masters.
When Anakin fights Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) at the beginning of the last “Star Wars” film, at end of the fight, Anakin applies a disarm and cut that is a technique from Eskrima to Count Dooku’s arm. Going back into history, the technical differences between the Japanese/Chinese arts and the Muslim arts of Southeast Asia regions of Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia:  The Muslim arts of “Pentjak Silat” and Eskrima are based on paying attention to the Limb of the attacker and not an immediate strike to the attacker’s head or torso.

Ray Park, who plays “Darth Maul” in “Episode I: The Phantom Menace”, studied Kung Fu (very similar to the empty hand techniques of Serrada) and Wushu and frequently traveled to Malaysia (a Muslim country) to refine and develop his skills.
The spiritual basis of the Muslim arts of Southeast Asia is very immense. This is the
local Sufi expression of Islam, through martial arts practice, rather than through poetry or music as otherwise done in India and Turkey, etc. Traditional Indonesian/Malay folklore attributes initial design of these arts to Muslim saints in the region of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in the 7th Century. The Silat system is attributed to nine main Wali or saints, also called the Wali Songo in Indonesian language.

Here another example of the Sufi and Jedi connection.  As Jedi’s study the force and train in the “Jedi Arts” under the apprentice-master relationship, so do the Sufis.

“What I term the more Sufi exercises include breathing exercises, means of meditative contemplation, and physical exercises. This last activity is practiced within the Qadiri-Rifai Sufi order through the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat Gerakan Suci. Here is a prime example of the Order’s growth. Extending beyond its originally Turkish character, the Order has adopted a Muslim practice from a far corner of the Islamic world.”

Conclusion

From my brief amount of research and study into the “Star Wars” saga, I found many examples connecting the ideals and principles of Islam to that of the fictional Jedi Order.  Some of the similarities were clearly visible (as with the relations between the Jedi master, apprentice and the Force to that of the Sufi Sheikhs, students and worshipping of Allah), while others were a bit more hidden and surprising finds (such as the term “Jeddi” and “Palawan” for Muslim knights and the story of “al-Khidr” – the green spiritual guru which has an uncanny resemblance to the Jedi Spiritual master “Yoda”)!

Even though Lucas himself is not a follower of any specific religion, he has used elements of Islam (as well as other world religions) to convey the universal understandings of good and evil.  Combining that common thread of humanity with a futuristic space-age setting and exciting martial arts swordsmanship, came a creation that has inspired many, no matter their race, religion or culture.  There is something about the “Star Wars” saga that everyone can relate to and enjoy.  And I hope that those people who are searching for a “truth” within the mythology of “Star Wars”, will look a little deeper behind the fiction and find Al-Islam: A true way of life which emphasizes peace, justice and brotherhood for all humanity.

Author Bio: Irfan Rydhan is an Architectural designer by profession (B.A. Architecture, 1997 U.C. Berkeley), but a passionate enthusiast in media arts and activism. Irfan is currently serving as the Public Relations Director for Illume Magazine and has his own featured blog about Architecture, Islamic Art, Media Activism and Halal Food called: Al Mihrab: The Place of War (http://almihrab.wordpress.com)

The website AltMuslim has a pretty good article on an Islamic perspective on Star Wars and some influences on Star Wars. The article is written by Irfan Rydhan. Here is an excerpt:

“Back when “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” first came out, “The Muslim Magazine” had some interesting pieces on the connections between Islam and the content of the Star Wars films. One was an interview with Dhul-Nun Owen who talks about how George Lucas had contacted members of the “Habibiyyah Sufi Order” in Berkeley, CA in order to do research for “Star Wars.” There was also a piece by Mahmoud Shelton about how Sufi ideas of spiritual chivalry (“futuwwat”) have parallels in the Jedi teachings.”