Pop culture integrates Christianity, Islam has to insert itself...for now

Will the first Muslim superhero be the last?

Written Friday June 17th, 2022

(Near Toronto, Canada)

While finishing deadlines for my day job as a trainer, I hurriedly scanned the timing for Jumah (Friday) prayer at local Mosques in my area. I needed to find one that fit around my work schedule. As I hurriedly made it on time for 1:30pm and ran into the Mosque my mind went to two days earlier on a surreal experience during Ms. Marvel Episode 2.

Kamala (Ms. Marvel) and her friend Nakia are sprinting to the mosque for prayer and an Islamic sermon. Every Muslim who was grown up in a Western country has experienced some form of this at some point. Piles of shoes, packed worshippers, a nice men's section, and a sub-standard women's section (sorry fellow men, where's the lie).

It was surreal for me as a Muslim to see that come to life in a show about superheroes. The thought stayed with me as the Imam (prayer leader) gave a Khutbah (sermon) on Christianity and Islam. I hope Allah forgives me because my next set of thoughts were all about how literally all of my favourite shows are infused and interwoven with forms of Pro, Anti, or Neutral Christian culture.

• Daredevil atones through faith and his iconic fights take place in the Catholic church

• Neo had to Sacrifice Himself with Trinity to save the people of Zion in the Matrix, among so many other Biblical themes

• Indiana Jones had to use the Holy Grail to save his fathers life

• Meliodas is a Demon who fights on the side of the Angels in the Japanese anime the Seven Deadly Sins in the "Holy War" between Heaven and Hell

• Trevor Belmont must defeat Dracula, demons, and a corrupt church to save the people in Castlevania the American anime adaptation of the famous video game. Crosses and holy water abound...

• Even the latest Jurassic World: Dominion movie's central plot was about genetically modified Biblical locusts threatening life on Earth, more so than the dinosaurs!

These are just a handful of examples there are hundreds and hundreds more over decades. This is what is called Christian Privilege and even further White Christian Privilege. Or as the famous Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci would say "hegemony" meaning the common becomes common sense.

None of the above list is considered a Christian show but is deemed universal despite having white or white inferred male leads layered with Christian religious themes sometimes in the subtext, but sometimes the main text. Sometimes Christianity looks good, sometimes not so good, sometimes neutral. But the point is its the unchecked dominant norm, everything else is the exception.

None of these shows were considered, "woke", "pandering", or "niche and for a "specific audience". Ms. Marvel Despite rave reviews, and huge elements of support has been met with fierce resistance. As someone who has done anti-Islamophobia training for over two decades I firmly reject the notion that those who review bomb the show or join a so called troll trap called Christians against Ms. Marvel are some how fringe. Research in every other field shows how insidious and silent Islamophobia is. So if you are triggered by what I am saying then you are running up against your own biases and priviliges.

It reminds me of earlier points of my career when I used to do religious accommodation consulting. Employers needed to make an accommodation for Muslims to get time off work to go for Friday prayer, but Sunday was historically a holiday for worship.

Even if people now work on Sunday, it is still a time where millions are off as the work week is still considered Mon-Fri. Additionally Christmas and Easter are built into our holiday schedules. Eid that the Muslims in Ms. Marvel celebrated is not. It's an accommodation.

People will point to art and society being secular when you bring things like this up, but that secularism has Christianity embedded in literally every Facet.

Islam has a very different relationship with the entertainment world, and its own unique set of challenges both from within and without. Historically Muslims created some of the world's greatest works (Rumi anyone), but today we find ourselves balancing between being perceived blasphemous (to our own) or boring (to everyone else).

To remix Morpheus from my favourite ever movie The Matrix which at the time had no problem getting green lit despite its Christian influences.

(My additions to his words are in the brackets)

"You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe."

(That Christian culture IS mainstream culture in every aspect of speculative fiction so much so that when you see Islam it just looks abnormal in art or just seems like it's for Muslims)

OR

"You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.

(The truth that Muslim inspired art is every bit as good and mainstream and isn't just for Muslims. That we Muslims aren't content to be second fiddle audiences anymore)

I would often end my trainings with a thought provoking point. "What if everyone had Friday for Muslim prayers off, but Sunday was a work day like in some other parts of the world." You could always see who wanted to grapple with the idea, and for who it wasn't a starter at all. Some would go as so far to get a bit upset and wonder why the system had to be changed at all. They missed the point of the exercise.

What if Ms. Marvel is more than a first of its kind or an "accommodation" to us Muslims; who have been waiting for so long to be represented.

What if she is the gateway to imagining hundreds of diversified stories about Muslim narratives to the point we become synonymous with mainstream too?

Nadir Shirazi M.Ed. is based in Toronto, Canada and is the creator of the forthcoming MultiFacet Islamime (Islam + Anime) Project Sep 30-Oct 30.

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