Get ready world, because we are getting our first Muslim superheroes ever!
The Brits airwaves will introduce the heroes who called themselves the 99, after the ninety-nine attributes of Allah, in a new T.V. series. The story about the Muslim vigilantes, who each possess one of Allah’s attributes, is already a smash from Morocco to Indonesia and was “recently named as one of the top 20 trends sweeping the world by Forbes magazine.”
Some of the characters include a “burka-clad woman named Batina the Hidden and a Saudi Arabian Hulk-type man named Jabbar the Powerful.” If your worried there is going to be 99 heroes to go along with the attributes, don’t: “there will never be a full cast of 99 superheroes since it is forbidden to depict all Allah’s attributes.”
Dr. Naif al-Mutawa, creator of these characters, hopes that they will have universal appeal and that it will ” instill Islamic values in children across all faiths.” But more-so, he hopes that the crime-fighting heroes provide better role models and images of Muslim culture to Muslim children:
“It hit me that the stories I was hearing were from men who grew up believing that their leader, Saddam, was a hero, a role model — only to one day be tortured by him. I decided the Arab world needed better role models.”
We have our doubts that this will ever make it state-side, not with Middle America still being, well, Middle America.
Would U want to watch this show?