It occurred to me that for all the arguments I've run into about Islam on the Internet, I don't actually know much about Muslim philosophy or values. I can read a book and think "this is very Christian" or "this is very Buddhist" even if the story never explicitly mentions religion, but I have no idea what kind of story would be "very Muslim." On such a large forum, there must be Muslim posters--what fiction do you think of when you think of your religion? To be clear, I'm not necessarily asking for stories that are about Islam, written by Muslims, and/or written for a Muslim audience. A good point of reference is http://gamechurch.com/gamechurchs-2015-games-jesus-loves/, a list of games that go with Christian ideals but in many cases aren't intentionally Christian. I'm okay with reading about the surface mechanics, but a lot of what I've seen that's about being "culturally Muslim" or "raised Muslim" doesn't get into the kind of values and principles I'm going for.
Well, I personally am not a Muslim (I'm a Christian as if anyone cares lmao) But my best friend for many many years is Muslim. I can tell you right here and now that most of the crap you read about Muslims is false. There are two branches of Islam (the names escape me, it isn't my religion after all) basically one branch is peaceful and one branch is extremists. Most Muslims you will meet is the peaceful branch, at least that is how it is here in the US. ISIS is actually pretty anti-Muslim beliefs. I have attached the "Muslim rules of war". I can't really help you in giving you books about their culture, but I hope I can answer any questions about their philosophy or values. They are super peaceful and believe it or not their values are super close to Christianity. Basically anything that a Christian considers you have to do to be a good person is the same for Islam. On top of that most of the stories in the Bible are also in the Qur'an.
Of fiction with an Islamic undertone I have no knowledge. A lot of the philosophy in Islam is pretty hard to come by. I have searched for it a lot as well, and while the names of the philosophers aren't hard to find, their actual works in a translated version are. This is because of several reasons. The first is that many of the works of traditional muslim philosophers are quite old. A lot of it comes from Iran as well, and the old Persian language (which is hard in itself) was written down in Arabic (which is perhaps even harder). There are some translations though, so if you search you will find. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_philosophers This is a list of the most prominent Muslim philosophers and their works.
Personally? I thought that 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi did a fantastic job of showing White/Christian heroes working together with Arabic/Muslim heroes to fight against the warmongering villains who want the world to think that Whites/Christians and Arabs/Muslims have no choice but to kill each other.
May not be what you're looking for, but Tom Clancy wrote several novels where Islamic characters featured prominently both as good guys and bad guys. Good examples include Sum of All Fears and Executive Orders. In general, he casts the Saudis as good guys, and various terror groups and Iran as enemies. He doesn't go too deep into philosophy, but these books are definitely a good read, and even the extreme characters don't feel flat, but instead are pretty interesting. A novel that I haven't read, but have seen the movie of, is the classic sci-fi series Dune. The series is well known to have Islamic parallels. Again, not sure if it's what you're looking for. Not really an expert on this subject. That's just rude.
I think you're referring to Sunni and Shia... Sunni Islam is a denomination of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad's first Caliph was his father-in-law Abu Bakr. Sunni Islam primarily contrasts with Shi'a Islam, which holds that Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, not Abu Bakr, was his first caliph. Sunni Islam is by far the largest denomination of Islam. As of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted 87–90% of the world's Muslim population. Neither branch is extreme. There are extremists who proclaim both branches...a bit like there are Christian who are extremists.
Right I knew that the one was Sunni couldn't remember the other though. This is interesting information though. All my information comes from my muslim best friend shes Sunni and she herself avoids Shi'a because she says "they are the ones that are the extremist terrorists." (her words not mine) She had always explained Sunni as the peaceful ones and Shi'a as violent. I guess even actual Muslims have prejudice against Muslims.
Yes! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam The history of Sunni-Shia relations has often involved violence, dating back to the earliest development of the two competing sects. At various times Shia groups have faced persecution. Militarily established and holding control over the Umayyad government, many Sunni rulers perceived the Shia as a threat – to both their political and their religious authority. The Sunni rulers under the Umayyads sought to marginalize the Shia minority, and later the Abbasids turned on their Shia allies and imprisoned, persecuted, and killed them. The persecution of the Shia throughout history by Sunni co-religionists has often been characterized by brutal and genocidal acts. Comprising only about 10–15% of the entire Muslim population, the Shia remain a marginalized community to this day in many Sunni Arab dominant countries without the rights to practice their religion and organize. In 1514 the Ottoman sultan, Selim I, ordered the massacre of 40,000 Anatolian Shia. According to Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, "Sultan Selim I carried things so far that he announced that the killing of one Shiite had as much otherworldly reward as killing 70 Christians." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein On 5 November 2006, Saddam was convicted of charges related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites, and was sentenced to death by hanging.
@Shadowfax wow.. well the more you know!? That literally just blew my mind everything I thought is kind of changed now. Sunni don't seem very peaceful anymore. But everyone has had wars in their history, and that does not reflect on the current day Muslims of course.
Perhaps Dune? Even that's a stretch. You're correct in that there aren't really any that come to mind. There's a distinction to be made between a sentiment like "I don't believe the Quran is truth, but I'll respect your belief" and a snarky "Your religion is a lie and I have no respect for you". Your post inclined toward the latter.
Yeah, that's similar to the things Sunnis I've known have said. Ironic, considering that Al-Qaeda and ISIS are Sunni. The Shia have their fair share of extremists, but they tend to be more focused on local/regional matters rather than striking at the West. It just goes to show how our biases tinge our perception of the world. There are smaller groups within Islam, like the Ahmadiyya and Sufis, but they tend to be the ones getting persecuted by extremists. They have little political power, and to my knowledge there isn't any country in which either of them are a majority population.
Are you going to help us find fiction that expresses Muslim ideals or are you not? As the old saying goes: you may have a point, but if you're gonna be an ass about it no one's gonna want to listen to you. Now either you help us, or you stay out of our way while we help the OP find those books. And I'm speaking as an Agnostic.
Did I say it was any different than mocking a political party? No, I didn't. As for why you should show respect, that's a simple exercise of "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
To the Members, Please continue the thread on its original course. The member who was derailing the conversation with the non-sequitur, derailing comments some of you have noted will be taking a break from our community. There is no need to respond to him, because he won't be responding back. Wrey
HUZZAH! We shall continue our endeavors to find the elusive stories that focuses on and expresses Muslim ideals.
Aw man. I had a really informative and not at all rude post all typed up too. lol But yay. He was really stirring up trouble. ETA: I realize it sounded like I was being sarcastic above... I wasn't. lol I was actually wording my post very nicely despite the fact that I was shaking with angry adrenaline.
He wouldn't have been worth the trouble; you may as well have been pouring gasoline into a campfire. --- Y'know, it's more than likely that this piece of fiction won't count because it was written so long ago but... One Thousand and One Nights Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves - A piece written along with the others within the larger One Thousand and One Nights
It's been a long time since I read it, but I think A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini was quite informative (in a lovely, storytelling way) about Muslim culture. Less so beliefs, I think, but it does give an idea of the day-to-day lives of Muslim women in Afghanistan. At least, at the time it was written.
I found this Buzzfeed article that lists novels about Muslim life. I'm not sure if these are the kinds of books you're looking for, but.. Just in case.
As great as One thousand and One nights is, it's not a very accurate representation of Islamic culture. I should now, I'm an ex-Muslim. I was raised in a Muslim family and was taught Islamic values most of my life. I can tell you that as far as Islamic ideals go, it depends on the individual muslims. back home - I'm Iranian by the way, if you were wondering - I met a lot of people who while considered themselves muslims, didn't really practice it in their every day life, my parents are among these group. on the other end of the spectrum you've got the very very devout muslims, you know the hardcore ones. Then are all the others in between. what I'm trying to say is, that depending on how old-fashiond and devout a Muslim is, their responses and reactions to any form of media, including books will vary. So a certain book that a moderate muslim would find to be perfectly in sync with Islamic values, might be considered offensive by a more traditional one. Oh and there is also the matter of whether the Muslim in question is Shia or a Sunni - the two main branches of Islam. While there is some common ground between the two there are also many many contradicting views between these two branches that have resulted in ongoing fueds between them. So you need to have that in mind as well
Certainly. I'm sure someone particularly traditional could find something offensive in anything if they set their minds to it.
