ISLAMIC SPECULATIVE FICTION: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

First, let us define the limits of the topic.  The term “SF” used throughout this essay stands for “speculative fiction” which includes both science fiction and fantasy. “Islamic SF” in our present discussion, is limited to writings in the English language only, though it is a fact that Islamic SF exists in multiple languages of the world, including but not limited to Arabic, Latin, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, etc.

Islamic SF existed in the past but it was not named or classified as such. Islamic SF will exist in the future and, hopefully, it will be more prominent for being named and classified. And that brings us to the present which, as some say, is the best of times anyway. I am then going to begin with the present.

The term, “present”, is amorphous (as are the terms “past” and “future”). What is present to me while I am writing this will be past to you who will be reading it. What is future to me will be present to you. Therefore, in order to avoid ambiguity, in the context of the present article, the present is taken to mean the period from 2007 to 2018. Why 2007? Well, that was when my co-edited anthology of Islamic SF appeared on the scene. This anthology was called "A Mosque Among the Stars" and has the honor of being the first ever anthology of Islamic Science Fiction. The origin, development and effects of this anthology will be dealt in detail in a separate chapter. Here, I will just state that the anthology was very well received and garnered good and insightful reviews. The Kindle version of the anthology is still being sold slowly but steadily at Amazon while the pdf version of the anthology is now available for free download from the “Islamicscifi” website. Incidentally, the webmaster at the “Islamicscifi” is Mohamed Aurangzeb Ahmad who was my co-editor on the anthology. (The website URL can be found at the end of this essay).

This anthology received some very good and thought-provoking reviews and stirred interest in the Islamic SF sub-genre in various circles, including the academia, resulting in scholarly and significant papers like: “Countering the Master Narrative: Islamic Science Fiction, Fantasy and Comics” by Rebecca Hankins. Some students at University of Toronto are writing – or have already written – Masters theses on Islamic SF.

All the above does not mean that there were no negative reactions to the anthology, such as: “Huh! Islamic SF? Is such a thing possible? How could a backward religion nurture a forward looking genre as SF?”

Well, the whole idea behind presenting the anthology was to dispel just such misconceptions about Islam and in the most part we succeeded.

My work on this anthology led me to try and define Islamic Science Fiction as a new sub-genre of SF. This resulted in my pioneering article published by Internova SF. In the article, before I could enumerate what I thought would be the basic tenets of Islamic SF, I had to clarify the “Islamic” part of the sub-genre, which I am quoting below, almost verbatim:

Islam, like other religions, is a combination of beliefs and practices. The most fundamental belief is the Unity of God. God in Islam is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Unknowable. The other fundamental belief is the existence of divine guides, sent by God to guide His servants. These divine guides and God’s messengers include names that are well-known among all Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Christianity: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus and many others. The important difference is the addition of the name of Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him and His Progeny) to this list as the final Messenger of God, and Qur’an as the final divine revelation. As far as practices are concerned, other than ritual practices like salat, fasting, Hajj, etc, almost all other practices would fall under acts controlled by ethical and moral codes and these ethical and moral codes are universal and can be found in almost all world religions.

Keeping the above definition of Islam in mind, below is a list of my criteria for classifying a story as Islamic SF:

1.     Any speculative story that deals in a positive way with any aspect of Islamic beliefs.

2.     Any speculative story that deals in a positive way with any aspect of Islamic practices, like hijab, fasting, etc.

3.     Any speculative story that features a Muslim as one of its main characters and the actions of this Muslim in the story reflect Islamic values.

4.     Any speculative story that takes on one or more elements from the Qur’an in a positive way.

Here is a partial list of SF novels, published between 2007 and 2018, that qualify as Islamic SF per the above criteria.

-       Desert of the Souls, by Howard Andrew Jones

-       Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed

-       Harm, by Brian Aldiss

-       The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate, by Ted Chiang

-       Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson

Of course, textual fiction is not the only medium for Islamic SF. There are other media, like comic books, television, etc.

“Quantico”, with its positive portrayal of Muslim characters, is an example of introduction of Islamic speculative fiction to the television viewers.

The past decade also saw Islamic SF stepping into pop culture via comics. The year 2007 saw the emergence of the first ever comic book series with Muslim superheroes, “The 99”. This was the creation of Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, a Kuwaiti national. The series went on until 2013. A cross-over mini-series with Justice League of America and The 99 was also produced in 2010.

In 2014, Islamic SF entered mainstream comics via the emergence of Kamala Khan, a Muslim teenager, as the fourth incarnation of Ms Marvel. The first collected volume of this series, titled “No Normal”, won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. The series is still going strong.

Another strong entry into the category of Islamic SF in comics is the graphic novel, “Jinn Warriors” by Marwan El Nashar. It uses several tropes from Islam, Christianity and Judaism in a very positive way.

To summarize the present state of Islamic SF, its salient features – other than the fact that a specific definition now exists for this subgenre – are as follows:

-       There exists a website solely dedicated to Islamic SF.

-       Anthologies of Islamic SF exist

-       Islamic SF has made its way into Academia.

-       Islamic SF thrives in stories, novels, comics and television

-       Goodreads even has a separate page on Islamic SF books

After determining that the present state of Islamic SF is satisfactory, let us look back at the past.

In my interactions, I have noticed that whenever the topic of Islamic SF in the past comes up, people invariably bring up one book, “Thousand and One Nights”, more popularly known as “Arabian Nights”. This book of tales was introduced to the Western world when Sir Richard Burton translated this book from Arabic to English. Irrespective of its cognomen of “Arabian Nights”, this book of tales originates from Persia as can be seen from the names of the characters, “Shahriyar”, “Shehrazad”, “Duniyazad”, etc., which are Persian words meaning “king”, “daughter of the city” and “daughter of the world”, respectively.

All good, but here is the nub. I do not consider “Thousand and One Nights” as an example of Islamic SF.

With reference to the four criteria that I quoted above as a starting point to define Islamic SF, “Thousand and One Nights” cannot be classified as Islamic SF under any one of those criteria. Here is how it falls short on all fronts:

1.   The stories in The Arabian Nights do not deal much with any aspect of Islamic beliefs.

2.   The stories in The Arabian Nights deal with totally un-Islamic practices with particular emphasis on murder, adultery, voyeurism, etc.

3.   The actions of the characters, including the king and Scheherazade, are anti-Islamic. As an act of revenge, the king has several innocent girls killed after marrying them. Scheherazade, on her part, invites her sister, Duniyazade, to her marital chamber so that she will have the pretext of narrating a story to Duniyazade, with the obvious implication that Duniyazade becomes a voyeur as she watches the king copulate with Scheherazade. None of these actions are Islamic.

4.   The only element from the Qur’an that is extensively used in The Arabian Nights is the existence of Jinns - or djinns as they are mostly spelled in English, though I do not understand the need for the extra “d”. But even this element is not used in a positive way. The Jinns of The Arabian Nights are as debauched and foolish as the humans.

In other words, the stories from The Arabian Nights do not satisfy any of the criteria of Islamic SF.

That said, ironically enough, there are several stories in the annals of English literature that are directly derived from the Arabian Nights and can be classified as Islamic SF under the above mentioned criteria.

Three novels and two short stories immediately come to mind as memorable examples of Islamic SF that probably would not have existed but for the prior existence of The Arabian Nights.

George Meredith’s “The Shaving of Shagpat” is a humorous novel that intentionally mimics the style and atmosphere of The Arabian Nights. Shagpat is a tyrant who rules by the magical powers of his hair. Shibli, a barber, and Noorna, a sorceress, take on the mission of shaving Shagpat to destroy his magical powers and end his tyrannical rule.

Francis Marion Crawford’s novel “Khaled” is  about a good Muslim jinn who, as an atonement to a harm he had caused, is sent to earth to assume the form of a mortal man and try and win the love of the beautiful maiden, Zehowah.

“Hasan”, written by Piers Anthony, is a fun read about a young Merchant Hasan who goes out into the world seeking wealth but after several trials and tribulations finds love instead in the form of a beautiful bird woman, Sana, who is the daughter of the king of jinns.

“The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad”, by Steven Millhauser, is one of the most memorable and evocative short stories inspired by the Arabian Nights. Sindbad is dying and his journey from the land of life to the land of death will be his eighth voyage. Close to death, he retraces his past voyages with new insights that can only come with hindsight. Millhauser spikes the story with delicious meta-texts.

“The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” (jinn spelled again with that unnecessary “d”) is a short story – or rather a novelette – written by A.S. Byatt. It tells the story of Dr. Gillian Perholt, who is a narratologist. Attending a conference in Ankara, she is given a bottle – the “nightingale’s eye” of the title – in which she finds a jinn. The jinn accompanies her back to the west and they have good times together until they invariably go their separate ways. The story is stylish, witty, atmospheric and knowledgeable.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that though I do not consider The Arabian Nights to be an example of Islamic speculative fiction, it has certainly played its part in the creation of multitude of works that fall squarely under this category.

Two of the oldest works of Islamic SF are “Dastan e Amir Hamza” (originally in Persian) and “Tilism Hoshruba” (originally in Urdu). The earliest known manuscript of Dastan e Amir Hamza is from the year 1562 but the actual story is older than that. It is a massive tome in several volumes, consisting of over 40,000 pages. Tilism Hoshruba is from the 19th century. It is also quite massive but definitely nothing compared to Dastan e Amir Hamza. Both of these books have recently been condensed and translated into English by Musharraf Ali Farouqi.         

In later years, Islam has made its appearance in SF in various ways: through characters, through concepts, through alternate history.

One of the first sympathetic Muslim character that I came across in a science fiction was Inspector Khan, who appeared in the story, “The Long Silence”, by Donald Noakes, published in the March 1972 issue of Analog. Sympathetic Muslim characters have been appearing off and on in works of major science fiction writers: Dr. Sarkar in Robert Sawyer’s “The Terminal Man”; Hakim in Greg Bear’s “Anvil of Stars”, etc.

Several Islamic concepts (particularly the one of Mehdi, the awaited saviour) have been used by Frank Herbert in “Dune”. Islamic concepts have also been used in novels like “Hegira” by Greg Bear, “The Night of Power” by Gary Kilworth and “The Unreasoning Mask” by Philip Jose Farmer. In his novel, Phil Farmer also uses interesting names for inanimate objects. The spaceship is called “Al-Buraq” and the hyper-drive it uses is called “Alaraf”. In Islam, “Al-Buraq” is the name of the carrier that took Mohammad, the Messenger of God, on his journey to the heavens. This name is derived from the Arabic word “barq”, which means lightning.

“Years of Rice and Salt” by Kim Stanley Robinson is a good example of Islamic SF in the form of alternate history. It is an extrapolation of a future where Islam is the dominant religion due to the fact that the plague of the 14th century had decimated 99% of the European population.

And finally, let us talk about the future of Islamic SF.

I am quite optimistic that the future of Islamic SF is bright. This is a rich vein of ideas that is far from being exhausted.

Islam provides a fertile ground for speculative fiction in general and science fiction in particular.

Science fiction has been described as a literature of ideas. Knowledge and reflection are the source springs of ideas. As far as I know, no other religion in the world puts more emphasis on seeking knowledge and pondering and reflecting, than Islam does. There are several well known sayings of the Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) about seeking knowledge:

“Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.”

“Seek knowledge even if you have to travel to China for it.”

Referring to his son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad said: “I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its gate.”

Several verses of the Qur’an urge humanity to think and ponder on the world around them. Below are just a few examples:

Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, there are signs for men who possess wisdom; those who remember God standing and sitting and reclining on their sides and think in the creation of the heavens and the earth… (Aale-Imran: 190-191)

There comes out from within it (the honey bee) a drink of diverse colors, in it is healing for men; verily in this is a sign for the people who reflect. (An-Nahl: 69)

Say, “I exhort you only to one thing; that you rise up for God’s sake, in twos and singly, then ponder…” (As-Saba: 46)

Hence – keeping the above in mind – what religion could provide a better platform for the literature of ideas than Islam?

The proof is – as they say – in the pudding. Let us see what SF tropes can be triggered and what ideas generated by just a very, very cursory glance at the holy Qur’an.

The very first Sura (Chapter) of the Qur’an – Al-Fateha – states:“All praise is God’s, the Lord of the worlds.” The plural “worlds” should be noted. Obviously, ours is not the only world with intelligent life. There are other worlds out there – extra-terrestrial life, ripe for the imaginations of science fiction writers.

Verse 33 of Ar-Rahman (Chapter 55) says: O’ you people of Jinns and humans, if you can penetrate the bounds of the heavens and the earth, then do penetrate through; but you cannot penetrate except with Our Authority. This verse, revealed 14 centuries ago, clearly showed the possibility of space travel. With God’s Authority you can penetrate the heavens and the earth. And what is God’s Authority? Knowledge.

Incidentally, the above verse also talks of Jinn, mentioned earlier in this article. There is also a complete chapter in the Qur’an titled ‘Jinn’. Jinn are considered to be sentient beings made of pure energy. And that brings us to more than one of the well-known science fiction tropes: sentience in a form different from us; beings of energy; a whole race hidden from our eyes, etc.

Al-Kahaf (Chapter 18) also provides glimpses into multiple science fictional tropes. The first part of the Sura talks about the people of the cave – seven people and a dog from a time before Christ – to whom God granted a very long sleep to escape from the atrocities of their times. After sleeping for over three hundred years, they wake up and go out into the world to find it completely changed. Right here are four common themes of science fiction: suspended animation, longevity, temporal displacement and alienation. As an interesting aside, the place where the people of Kahaf slept provides a great spark to the imagination. The location of the cave is a mystery. Qur’an offers very interesting and fascinating hints, but that is all.

An-Naml (Chapter 27) and As-Saba (Chapter 34) talk about Prophet Solomon speaking to insects, birds and animals. Themes of multilingualism and animal consciousness could be explored through these Suras.

These are just some of the themes and ideas that a writer could use to write Islamic science fiction. And these ideas were brought to light by a superficial and perfunctory glance at just five of the hundred and fourteen chapters of the holy Qur’an. Imagine the marvels writers could find if they took a look at the rest of the hundred and nine chapters!

In addition, events from Islamic history can also form the kernel of SF stories. For example, in my story “Synchronicity” (published in “A Mosque Among the Stars”) I used the symbolism of the event of Karbala to provide closure to a significant sub-plot of the story.

As promised, I will end this essay with a list of links to some of the web resources related to Islamic SF mentioned above:

-       “A Mosque Among the Stars” pdf: http://www.islamscifi.com/AMosqueAmngstTheStars.pdf

-       “A Mosque Among the Stars” Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Mosque-Among-Stars-Muhammad-Aurangzeb-ebook/dp/B0027P87LU/

-       A sample review of “A Mosque Among the Stars”: http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel/2009/04/the-message-of-a-mosque-among-the-stars.html

-       Islamic Scifi website: http://www.islamscifi.com/

-       A Masters Thesis on Islamic SF: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/69612

-       Goodreads page on Islamic SF: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/islamic-science-fiction