On 2/8/06, Larry C. Lyons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Its been the presumption amoung many that there has not been any > positive Islamic voices or Moslems decrying the violence. there were > two articles in today's Washington Post about some who are working > against the violence. The first is a very respected Islamic scholar in > Saudi Arabia who is speaking out against the "cartoon" violence: >
The second article is about Naif Al-Mutawa, a businessman who is trying to get financing in order to develop a line of comics called the 99 - about a group of superheroes who personify personify positive Islamic virtues. http://www.antiwrap.com/?878 Superheroes Powered on Islam By Nora Boustany Wednesday, February 8, 2006; A16 Naif Al-Mutawa was a businessman looking for financing. His idea was to create a line of comic books, nonreligious in theme, starring superheroes endowed with Islamic traits. But he needed a selling point. To shock investors into action, Al-Mutawa would pull from his pocket an article about a Hamas supporter in the Palestinian territories who was making millions selling a children's album with stick-on pictures of suicide bombers and other bloody scenes from the intifada. Something more positive was needed, Al-Mutawa argued in his sales pitch, to save the children from embracing a culture of violence and death. His strategy worked. "That's what is happening in a vacuum," he told potential financiers. "Don't sit back and complain or say we are getting gobbled up by globalism. Do something. We need to offer content that kids will gravitate to." His plan was to create an alternative pop-culture product that would sell all over the Muslim world, in Arabic and English, from Morocco to Bangladesh. In just one year, he had 54 investors on board from Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Egypt, Mexico and China. Al-Mutawa, 35, even collected $1 million from his classmates at Columbia Business School. "I am the only Kuwaiti who went to Beirut and came out with money," he chuckled. "My idea was to mine Islamic culture for appropriate concepts for children for that part of the world," he said. The result is "The 99," a comic series with stories woven around 99 characters who each personify one of Islam's attributes of God. One is wise -- Ha kim. Another is farsighted -- Basir. Yet another is powerful -- Ja bbar . "We are creating a pop culture that has an Islamic underpinning or archetype. It is really global, or universal, an amalgam of everything that's out there," Al-Mutawa said. None of the characters carries weapons, and they are split evenly between men and women, only a handful of whom cover their hair, he said. Al-Mutawa describes himself as a "junkie" who grew up on Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys adventure novels, in the absence of appealing Arab alternatives. Now his enthusiasm for his own pan-Islamic brand name, "The 99," knows no bounds. Al-Mutawa, chief executive of Teshkeel Comics, also became the distributor of Marvel Comics in the Arab world. A father of four sons younger than 9, he said he wanted to preserve what was precious in his culture for his own children. "People are always lamenting our Golden Age, where has it gone, so the story goes like this," he said, recounting the ancient stories that informed his comics. The grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulagu Khan, invades Baghdad and destroys the library, Dar Al Hikma. Books are tossed into the Tigris, which turns black and red with ink. The Hurras, or Guardians of Wisdom, take 99 gems and dip them one by one into the water to suck the knowledge out. Three worry beads with 33 stones each are carried to Andalusian Spain and stored for 150 years until Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella storm Granada in 1492. The Noor Stones, or stones of enlightenment, are then scattered around the globe. While the heroes' powers mirror the 99 aspects of Allah, the characters come from all over the world -- South Africa, Saudi Arabia, France, the United States and elsewhere. Like Superman's Clark Kent, the characters have alter egos. Jabbar, the strong one, is also Nawaf Al-Bilali, who is discovered accidentally in Saudi Arabia by Dr. Ramzi Razem, who will become the leader of "The 99." When Al-Bilali steps on a land mine, fragments of the stone turn him into Jabbar. Noora, from the United Arab Emirates, is kidnapped for ransom but escapes from her cell. She finds a gem in her hands as she digs a tunnel to flee. Her superhero power is the ability to see the light of truth in others and allowing them -- or forcing them -- to see it in themselves. The characters work in teams of three, which allows for the possibility for thousands of stories for the series, which was launched online Friday and which will come out in magazine form in May. The first story will be available free online on March 10. Al-Mutawa has written stories and plays since he was 10, and later essays and commentaries when he was in college in the United States. His parents told him he could write only as a hobby, so he obtained a doctorate in clinical psychology from Tufts University, specializing in trauma and torture victims. He studied for two more master's degrees at Columbia's business school and Teachers College. Larry Durocher , a longtime mentor and the father of a student who roomed with Al-Mutawa at summer school 17 years ago, is now involved in his comics project. "Naif has a desire to preserve his culture for his kids," he said. "Even if he did not intend it, it is also a way to export it to other kids in the world, just like the Japanese-invented Pokemon captured the attention of children everywhere." Joseph R. Flicek , an adjunct professor who taught Al-Mutawa a course on launching new ventures at Columbia Business School, said he had "very strong communication skills," presenting well in both cultures. "He is of the new generation that does not have the dogma of the past, and it brings a new voice of reason. That is what is so refreshing." -- Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion. 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