Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Naif Al-Mutawa: Superheroes Inspired by Islam


Filmed and Posted July 2010 on Ted
In "THE 99," Naif Al-Mutawa's new generation of comic book heroes fight more than crime -- they smash stereotypes and battle extremism. Named after the 99 attributes of Allah, his characters reinforce positive messages of Islam and cross cultures to create a new moral framework for confronting evil, even teaming up with the Justice League of America.

13 comments:

  1. Now Wonder-Woman have to protect her super-clitoris.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, basically it's this, but with more hijabs. Well done Muslims! Lol. Sometimes there just isn't enough vomit in the world. If I live to a thousand I will never understand comic book nerds. Look, I appreciate his efforts to moderate fundamentalist Islam, but this is just wacky. Does he actually think Spiderman and Batman are based on Christian religious figures in order to advance the cause of moderate Protestantism? What a loon. I tried being angry with him for throwing atheists under the bus by saying 'even they don't teach their kids to lie!' but by the end (yes I made it that far, amazingly) I just felt sorry and embarrassed for him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Abusing your stone?

    Do we have to claime religion inspired every secular creation.  Can't human kind come up with anything on their own?

    ReplyDelete
  4. THe real irony here is that if the American super heros were religious in the same way the 99 is, these muslim contries could never accespt them.  Its the fact that we have secular heros, that in many cases assume there is no god, that allows them to be widely accepted cultural Icons. 

    Wouldn't be much internal turmoil, or doubt about their success if they all had a magic power from god.

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOW i guess im the only one who sees this as a real positive. Who better to appeal to muslim than other muslims and this guy clearly has a huminist message? From what i have read above it seem you are all being WAY too myopic.

    ReplyDelete
  6. WOW i guess im the only one who sees this as a real positive. Who better to appeal to muslim than other muslims and this guy clearly has a huminist message? From what i have read above it seem you are all being WAY too myopic.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Sean I am also pessimistic, but I heard that one sentence also, like you clearly.
    But then Naif stated that the koran could be interpretated. This and the whole culture sensetive effort does not feel right. If it works good thats great for more humanistism, but making sharia enjoyable is not gonna work. And is self satisfiyng or something, just dont bother me with this ridiculous fantasy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. im with you sean i see this as a positive- the fact is no matter how much atheists want to claim that we somehow had an effect through secular works- it was only done by moderating religion 1st- in the west christianity became more and more moderate until it lost meaning to many people and secularism took over- we aren't going to get through to muslims by putting banners on buses or constantly bashing them and their beliefs that will only put them in their shells- it might work for westernised muslims but not the ones in their home countries- not yet anyway...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Watching the whole clip - i can't believe how atheists could be against this in any way!!! at the end of the day the sharia laws of islam and the laws of christianity and judaism are all the same- ppl just stopped taking the latter 2 seriously- this is a way to get muslims to take islam less seriously- i think its great!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Taking religion too seriously leads to either fundamentalism or atheism, one of which I'm a fan.  Taking it less seriously affords us the compromise of moderation or apathy, both of which I'm a fan.

    I'll take it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fully clothed wonderwoman?  How is that demonstrating tolerance?  I normally like TED talks but this was just nonsense.

    His superheroes are only loosely based on Islam at best and will not be distributed in cultures where it's a sin for women to show their faces, let alone where it's a sin to read anything other than the Koran.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I approve of a fully clothed Wonder Woman. WhyTF does the one female superhero in North American comic history have to be practically NAKED?!?!?!?! Does that mean all little girls should expect to be poorly dressed when they grow up and want to be super heroes??

    I'm a woman, born and raised in Canada with a liberal upbringing. I loved reading comics as a little girl. But all the big boobs and tight waists make me uncomfortable. I always stuck to Batman and Superman... if you want me to take you seriously, WEAR SOME GODDAMN CLOTHES.

    Aetheists can read as oppression or whatever all they want... Some people don't want to see NAKED women anymore than they want to see NAKED men. Have some sensitivity and GROW UP.

    ReplyDelete