In Theory: Can a Muslim be a superhero?
DC Comics, the publisher of hit superhero stories featuring Batman and Superman, recently introduced a new comic-book hero to its ranks and found itself under fire for doing so.
The latest addition to DC’s pantheon of heroes is Simon Baz, who has taken up the mantle of Green Lantern. What makes Baz different is that he’s Muslim, a fact that’s drawn both praise and criticism. Baz is the first Arab American superhero in a genre that’s been dominated by whites with a smattering of African Americans. Baz is portrayed as a patriotic American who’s horrified by the events of 9/11 and finds himself and his family under attack by New Yorkers in the days and months after the terrorist strike.
Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Assn. of New York, said, “In general, when you think about Arabs and Muslims in main roles in pop culture, they’re always the villains.... To finally have the opportunity where the Arab American can be the superhero, to be the one who saves people, is a lot more powerful an image.”
But Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch has accused DC Comics of aiding jihad by promoting a false notion of Muslim victimhood. He said, “[T]he goal of the victimhood game is to deflect attention away from jihad and Islamic supremacism.”
Q: What’s your take on this? Is DC right to expand the diversity of its characters to include a Muslim?
I see nothing wrong with creating a Muslim comic book character as long as it avoids negative stereotypes. DC Comics wants to tell stories, sell comic books and maybe even make some social commentary. Creating a character with real-life parallels makes sense from that perspective. People will connect with him. Simon Baz sounds kind of like Spider-Man’s Peter Parker, the misunderstood outcast/underdog who actually is a helpful hero. This kind of character communicates a message of hope that maybe even we ourselves, with all of our foibles, could do something good, even if no one else thinks we ever could.
Does a positive Muslim character deflect attention from Muslim jihadists? Possibly, but I really don’t think Americans consider all Muslims terrorists, anyway. It was wrong in the 1940s to think that all Japanese Americans wanted to overthrow our country, and I think we realize that kind of thinking is wrong today. Regarding the Christian response, rather than putting down others, we should focus on proclaiming Christ, as the Apostle John encouraged: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the father, and with his son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).
Pastor Jon Barta
Valley Baptist Church
Burbank
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Absolutely, and good for DC Comics! I’m surprised that a comic book company would go out on a limb instead of continuing to play it safe. But DC Comics may be following a trend.
I found out only recently that a Southern California seminary is offering classes to Christians, Jews and Muslims in the same classrooms. I applaud this development. The seminary doing this says it is doing so because members of all three faiths live side-by-side in their communities, so they might as well meet each other in class.
One of the great insights about Jesus is that he recognized that we human beings are so similar in our wants and needs, regardless of our faith traditions. His parable of the Good Samaritan touches on that similarity. In the story, a traveler falls among thieves and is left for dead. The hero of the story, a Samaritan, was an outcast to Jesus’ listeners, so to have him be the rescuer and tend to the half-dead traveler had to shock Jesus’ own people.
My point is that the Samaritan recognized human need, even in a perceived enemy, and he helped him. To be human means to be compassionate to another’s needs, regardless of your background, or his/hers.
Matt. 5:44 provides Jesus’ instruction to his followers to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them. That sly rascal Jesus! He knew that if you pray for an enemy, suddenly he/she is no enemy but another human being just like you.
So good for that Southern California seminary and good for DC Comics. What Jesus was trying to say was that Samaritans are people, too, and both the seminary and DC Comics are saying that Muslims are people, too. What a radical idea.
The Rev. Skip Lindeman
La Cañada Congregational Church
La Cañada
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Simon Baz as Green Lantern in the DC comics is a good role model.
And it is appropriate that Arab Americans are represented in popular culture in the same ways other segments of our society are represented.
Simon Baz is described in the comic book as a Lebanese American who is an ordinary young person before becoming the powerful Green Lantern and working for justice. The story portrays Baz as having normal weaknesses and sometimes breaking the law before becoming a hero. It is a valuable example for young comic-book readers to see someone they can relate to so they can learn important lessons about life. Popular culture can lead the way in helping Americans see how we, together, can make a unified nation.
Steven Gibson
Atheist
Altadena
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It’s all about the story we find ourselves in, isn’t it? If you can tell a compelling story, you can inspire a child, change a mind, or create new pockets of imagination in the culture. Superheroes are particularly infectious, which I guess is an obvious point, given the number of superhero movies and the pervasively healthy market share of Halloween costume sales. I myself have preached as Wonder Woman. We grow up wanting to live into these best images of ourselves as strong, righteous, brave, self-sacrificing, and resilient. Good stories with interesting characters influence us more deeply than facts and arguments ever will.
So if you have an opportunity to create a superhero who flies with courage into the face of stereotypes, why not pursue it? From my brief look at DC Comic’s intentions for Baz as Green Lantern, it looks like they aim to break up the ranks of heroes and villains so that the story we tell is not one in which the hero and villain are so easily identified by color, religion or previous bad choices. Certainly we need this new pocket of imagination. This includes not only Muslim kids who would like to see themselves reflected in the “good guys,” but all of us whose ideas of “good” and “bad” have been shaped by the stories we have been told — by the news media, by movies, by books.
To my mind, what ultimately matters in our storytelling is our struggle with the ethics of keeping the peace and saving the day. Comics make it easy to decide who is bad and worthy of destruction: Clearly, it’s that maniacal, mutated guy over there with the doomsday machine. But in real life, the motivations that drive and shape people to heroics or villainy are not always so clear, and the clearest strategy for justice is not always to send in a team with awesome weapons and Super Suits. How might we tell stories in which we see ourselves as brave and courageous, as peacekeepers and justicemakers, even without weapons, even without physical strength? Hey, that reminds me of another story I know....
The Rev. Paige Eaves
Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church
Montrose
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Here is what I see. Heated conflict over a comic book character’s religion. Killings over cartoons and videos. Numerous U.S. communities rejecting Islamic churches and community centers. Christians justifiably fearing for their lives in Muslim countries. Sects within Islam battling to the death. Followers of the God of Abraham united only in an apparent quest to destroy each other.
Perhaps even believers can understand unbelievers wishing a pox on all houses of religious intolerance.
Roberta Medford
Atheist
Montrose
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It was two weeks after the events of 9/11. I was waiting at JFK to board a flight home to Los Angeles. As I glanced around, I noticed a middle-eastern-looking man standing next to me. As our eyes met, he seemed to be searching my face desperately. I gave him a polite smile.
Like a drowning man thrown a life preserver, he began talking impulsively. He informed me that he was a Lebanese American, a naturalized citizen for 30 years, and the owner of a company that manufactured professional sports jerseys.
He expressed deep sadness about the terrorist attacks as his eyes darted around nervously. I could feel the fear. “Have things been difficult for you since then?” I asked.
Relief swept over his face, and he began to relate how some long-time customers had canceled orders, his wife had received a death threat at home, and his children had been bullied at school. Close to tears, he blurted out, “America is my country too. I’m an American just like you.”
My heart went out to him. Through no fault of his own, he was now being targeted and made to feel “less than.” I think I met Simon Baz that day — not the superhero, just the ordinary mortal. Robert Spencer is wrong. Muslims can also be victims of stereotyping and intolerance. They can suffer injustice just like anyone else.
Of course Muslims can be superheroes and do noble and valiant deeds. There are more than 1 billion Muslims in the world, and I am sure that less than 1% of them advocate violence or terrorism. We need to see the reality of our joint humanity and remember that the second great commandment of Christ is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Pastor Ché Ahn
HRock Church
Pasadena
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The fact that we are asking this question means some fringe elements in our society have still not accepted the average American citizen of the Islamic faith. Yes, indeed DC Comics should include a Muslim, along with other religious and ethnic groups that represent the pluralism and religious diversity of our great country. Our founding fathers built this concept into the fabric of the U.S. Constitution, and the better-informed, enlightened segments of our country embrace it today wholeheartedly.
The superhero Simon Baz is a reflection of the everyday American heroes in our society today who happen to be Muslim. Countless Muslims quietly and heroically serve the public interest of our nation in numerous capacities, from law enforcement agencies at home to all branches of the U.S. military worldwide. So to create a fictional Muslim superhero is simply a natural and logical manifestation of who we are as a nation.
If we allow the outright bigotry directed toward the comic book character of Simon Baz, it tarnishes our American values established during the founding of our nation. As General Colin Powell mentioned during an October 19, 2008 interview on Meet the Press, being a Muslim should not disqualify a person from being a genuine, patriotic American, or even becoming president — or, for that matter, a comic book superhero like the Green Lantern. We need to be forever vigilant in upholding our country’s motto, E pluribus unum — “Out of many, one.”
Levent Akbarut
Islamic Congregation of La Cañada Flintridge
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I think it is a very good idea that DC Comics created a Muslim character who becomes a superhero. I sincerely hope that this new incarnation of the Green Lantern will inspire Islamic youth across the United States — and indeed, around the world — to be truly horrified by events such as 9/11 and reject all acts of terror, regardless of where they occur or against whom they are committed. I pray that some of these young people may grow up to be real-life heroes who take bold stands against the terrorists and extremists that unfortunately are all too common in Muslim circles.
The sad truth is that since the attacks of 9/11, we seem to be witnessing a rise in Islamic extremism that menaces Western culture in general and in some instances — like the case of Israel — could pose an existential threat. Just this week, United States embassies in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen have been attacked; America’s ambassador to Libya and several of his staff were murdered. These atrocities were apparently committed because of a video that purportedly showed disrespect to Muhammad. All people of good conscience fail to understand how the murder of innocent people is ever justified in the name of Islam; it is even more maddening to see such tragic acts of violence take place over such a relatively trivial matter.
While these ugly incidents are perpetrated by relatively few individuals, the deafening silence of the masses is disconcerting, at best. It takes people of courage and principle to stand up and declare that there is never justification for actions such as these. I truly hope that Muslim children will emulate the figure of Simon Baz in DC’s Green Lantern comics and become real superheroes who stand up for justice, condemn violence, and have a positive impact upon the Muslim world.
Rabbi Simcha Backman
Chabad Jewish Center
Glendale
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I say a rousing hurrah for Green Lantern character Simon Baz!
We are a diverse country that includes a multiplicity of cultures and religions. And there is no reason that our heroes, whether they have superhuman powers or not, should be limited to being white, Anglo-Saxon Christians. We need to recognize the heroic qualities of all people, not just those who are like ourselves.
Nor does it seem that this comic book character, while Muslim, is anything less than a patriotic American who is horrified by the atrocities of the 9/11 attacks. To suggest that including him as a hero in the series is supporting the idea of terrorist jihad is patently absurd. Nor is incorporating information about vicious, anti-Muslim attacks by some Americans after the destruction at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon a fabricated attempt by the cartoonists to portray Muslims as victims. Many were victimized.
We need to stop seeing those who are different from us as our enemies. Maybe then we would find the many ways in which we are truly alike. And wouldn’t it be amazing if the way that came about were through the comics.
Rev. Dr. Betty Stapleford
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills
La Crescenta, CA