#or as a Muslim character

[iamumbra195]

Not really in the DC fandom and I don't really read many comics but I've been seeing some videos and posts making headcanons about the Al-Ghul family being Muslim and it pisses me off so much.

This interpretation is deeply rooted in Islamophobia and the ignorant notion that every Arab is a Muslim and therefore a "terrorist". The Al-Ghuls are not and have never been Muslims and any parts of the religion found in their characters are likely due to the fact that Arab culture has a lot of aspects of Islam mixed into it and because again, people think that being Arab and being Muslim are the same thing and a lot of the comic writers are white Americans who commonly have this misconception about Arabs.

I'm not going to go into the specifics of everything because 1) I don't know all that much about canon and 2) this is a little hard to explain but I will give several examples that pretty much disprove that headcannon because The Al-Ghuls do things that are considered major sins in Islam on the daily.

Ra's runs an assassin league/cult and despite what many people think killing people is a major sin in Islam except in very specific scenarios where it may be excused like in self-defence or in war. And what the Al-Ghuls do? That isn't excusable in any way.

Ra's' name in and of itself is proof. His name means the Demon Head and I promise you a proper practicing Muslim would not call themself that or commit the atrocities he has on innocent people. I don't know if this is true but I saw on the wiki that apparently a character named Gerhardt asked him if he was a man or a fiend from hell and Ra's, said that he was both and neither and that he was "Ra's al-Ghul". A Muslim would not associate themself with Hell, a place where evildoers are punished in the afterlife.

Talia committed zina (fornication), yet another major sin, and wears extremely revealing clothing despite the fact that modesty is an integral part of the religion.

The Al-Ghuls drink wine, eat pork and apparently Damian was often fed ox blood soup as a child despite the fact that all these things are explicitly forbidden for Muslims to consume in verses of the Quran. (To clarify a bit, in case you're confused about the ox blood soup, Muslims are forbidden from consuming animal blood because it is considered filthy and harmful, much like pork and wine.)

Not to mention the whole thing about Ra's nearly being 500 years old and the Lazarus Pits apparently reviving him every time he dies... but that's a whole can of worms I don't know enough about to open

So yeah, the headcanon that the Al-Ghuls are Muslims perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Islam as a whole. There probably is more to be said about this topic but unfortunately, I haven't read many comics and have only watched a few of the DC animated movies so I can't say much more.

Feel free to correct me if I've said something incorrect or missed something important.

[maerynarts]

a little gouache illustration inspired by a very beautiful scarf that appeared on my pinterest feed 🌷✨

[mindofserenity]

عندما لا يكون هناك خير ��و حقيقة أو فائدة يمكن التعبير عنها، فإن الصمت هو التفضيل النهائي

When there is no good, truth or benefit to be expressed, silence is the ultimate preference.

— mindofserenity

[samwise1548]

She's waiting for the bus

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[ID: A drawing of an original character named Leila Suleiman. Leila is a brown, female hijabi with large blue cat-eye glasses. She's wearing a blue skirt and light blue cardigan, as well as purple tights. She's squatted down with her arms resting on her knees, and looking up and away. \End ID]

[deanmarywinchester]

really really enjoy how The Bright Sword depicts post-Arthurian britain as this once colonized, twice abandoned place. like it was conquered and then abandoned by the romans, who remade the aristocracy and language in their image and christianized the country and left behind works of engineering that would not be replicated for a thousand-plus years. then it was this land of christian miracles held together by Arthur and God, and then God abandoned the country and those kinds of miracles were never seen again

and the book explicitly plays with the connections between the Roman Empire and Christian/monarchist power, mentioning that some crackpots believe in the eventual return of the Roman Empire the way that people believe Arthur will return some day, and having the protagonist marvel at roman mining machinery that seems impossible to believe could have ever worked the way he marvels at stories of the Quest for the Grail

not 100% sure where this is going but it’s very effective for being a story about how the age of heroes is dead, because the age of wonders and power is sort of twice dead.

[littlefankingdom]

I love that Damian is named Damian. Let me explain why.

The name Damian comes from the Greek, δαμάζω (damazo), which means "to tame, to conquer, to vanquish, to master, to overcome, to dominate", but can also mean "the untamable". Already, this is great. Damian is the heir of the League of Assassins and the Bat, he is meant to conquer all, to master everything, to dominate above all. He is meant to be untamable.

But also, the word "damazo" comes from Damia, one of the names of the goddess Cybele, a goddess that is associated with wild nature or viewed as Mother Nature. And the Al Ghul are all about nature.

Finally, "Damian", and its other forms, is a name that has become associated with the word "demon". I think this is probably why he was named this, because he is the grandson of the Demon's Head, and Damian = demon. Well, about the word "demon": it comes from the Greek δαίμων, daímôn, which is a term associated with some divinities. These divinities aren't evils, they are mostly (from the ones I have encountered being called demons) associated with the afterlife or darkness, but they aren't evil. The Furies, goddesses of vengeance and justice that go after guilty folks to punish them before their death, are called "demons" sometimes. Thanatos, god of death, is called "demon" sometimes. The negative connotation comes from the Abrahamic faiths who villainized aspects of the polytheist beliefs, so their believers would drop them (in polytheist practices, every god exists, others just use a different name or view them a different way, which is fine because they are gods, and you cannot as a mortal define. Which means that polytheist cultures don't villainize other gods they don't know or don't pray to, you can join in the celebrations without renouncing to the gods you honor. Monotheism cannot have you do that.) Hell is the example of that. Hell was simply the realm of the dead, but the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity is the guilty one here) painted it as the "bad realm of the dead" (the division of the afterlife was done centuries after Christianity was created and so the Church could hold more controls over its believers). Another one is Lilith, who was a Mesopotamian goddess also referred to as a demon, so what did the Abrahamic faiths did? They made her a creature of evil. All of this talk because Ra's Al Ghul, when he named himself that, did so to criticize religions. It was all about how demons, evil spirits and creatures are something created by religious authorities so they can target and harm people they don't like, and could harm their power. So, to finish, it makes little to no sense in my opinion for Damian to be displeased with being named or associated with demons. Because the ideology that demons are evil is associated with Abrahamic faiths, and that's not what the Al Ghul believe, they cannot have taught him that. What I'm saying is that when you write any of the Al Ghul associating demons with evil, you are looking at their family from the pov of a culture who depends heavily on an Abrahamic faith, and not from their own culture and ideologies, which are that all this religion stuff is bs. They take pride in being associated with demons, not because demons are evil entities harming humankind, but because demons are something that the authority in place hates.

Anyway, Talia cooked when she named her son Damian.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Advanced Hall Monitor Technique: Go To Detention

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[kevinsdsy]

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the trojans social media au (pt. 10): one of the reasons i made this au was to push my nabil mahmoud lore to the world AND TODAY IS THE DAY ‼️ i’ve forced dealing with your sexuality + religion lore onto nabil and since nora didt specifically confirm laila NOT being muslim i have her be his support system through shared experiences :))) including nabil living w them for a month (which is why jean actually likes him in this au) and jean being a support system through making food because i feel like cat would have told jean about how food & cooking can be such a support system for others

[loumandforyou]

I'm sorry I will never ever understand how Sam is nominated instead of Assad for s2. Again (x3 by now!!!). I wonder if Assad was white British and his name was John Smith or something... would he be set aside that much 🤔 ?

[nahla-art]

A bit of an art dump of my boy Bahar from my current wip

[dreadfuldevotee]

the GG assad snub by amc is crazy especially considering the next season is going to be focused on the guy they submitted for supporting. it's honestly upsetting considering how good assad's performance was

I wish I could say this comes out of left field, but seeing how press has evolved over the course of season 2 (Remember how Assad was on all the pre-season SDCC posters, with his face blown up large on the sides of buildings. To being replaced this year by? Ben Daniels?) It's very clearly about Islamophobia. Articles refusing to print his or Armand's name, disapearing from episode press. It paints a pretty damning picture. And to specifically prop up Sam over him, despite the laughable difference in screentime and frankly- plot importance, leaves a decidedly sour taste in my mouth.

[champmorado]

punch out!! wii characters and what their favorite alcoholic drinks would be

Vodka - soda popinski

Whiskey - bear hugger, the referee

Wine (Rice Wine for Hondo) - glass joe, don flamenco, piston hondo

Beer - von kaiser, doc louis, king hippo, mr. sandman

Fancy Cocktails/Champagne - super macho man

Some insane shit you've never heard of before - aran ryan

Can't Drink (Religion) - bald bull, great tiger

Can't Drink (Not Drinking Age) - disco kid, little mac

[thedevilsniki]

My roman empire is them.

[samwise1548]

I can't think of anything quippy to add here. Just look at my oc

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[ID: A drawing of Leila Suleiman, an original character, sat on an invisible surface. Leila is a brown Pakistani girl who wears a blue hijab and matching cardigan. She also wears glasses, and a long blue skirt with purple leggings underneath. She's looking off to the side nonchalantly. Mehndi patterns glow in light rainbow hues, illuminating her from behind. \End ID]

[artbyaj497]

My OCs, Adam and Semra on a cute winter date!

[futurequibblerjournalist]

aurora altair sinistra < 3

my favourite autistic astronomy lady