A few months ago I linked a Nora Bostany Washington Post story about Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and his inspirational line of Muslim superheros THE 99.
Well the great news is THE 99 has joined Marvel universe! Click HERE to access Teshkeel Comics.
In an email to Hilaliya Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa explained how THE 99 came about:
In the summer of 2003, after completing my MBA from Columbia I made a decision to combine the two very distinct parts of my educational life in a search to create new superheroes for the children of the Islamic World. The result of my search is The 99. The 99 is a series of traditional superhero comic books geared to the imagination of children and young adults. The 99 name is taken from the ninety-nine attributes of Allah. These attributes strength, honor, truth, mercy, invention, generosity, wisdom, etc. -- combine to become the super powers of my superheroes. With the caveat of course that no one hero has more than a single power and no one power is expressed to the degree that Allah possesses it. My superheroes would be built neither on the Western style of individual heroes like Superman, Batman and the like nor on the Eastern mold of Pokemon where teamwork and shared values could overcome all. It would be an amalgam of East meets West-an appropriate compromise given the foundation of Islam and the geography of the Middle East. And so it was, armed with my characters and a business plan seeking the seed money to bring my characters to life, that I set out in the fall of 2003 to find my market and my financing.
Al-Mutawa is a true Kuwaiti hero, a creative and innovative individual who managed to meld pop culture elements with moderate and positive Islamic ideals in an effort to encourage Muslim virtues of tolerance, peace and non-violence.
The government of Kuwait could learn by Al-Mutawa's example. You don't need elaborate, stuffy conferences with dozens of talking heads philosophizing about why radicalism is present in some Arab societies. You need more creative, talented people like Al-Mutawa and you need society to nurture them. His example is worth 1000 government morale or moderation "awareness campaigns."
We wish Al-Mutawa much luck and success.
Hello everyone, today, January 29th of 2007, Dr. Nayif Al Mutawa came to my school that he actually graduated from. He told us about his works and AL-99 (the 99),, i appreciate his work verymuch in trying to help spread islamic-related stories to the world. In my opinion, i guess he'll be a well known person and famous and will have his works spread through thw whole world, MASHALLAH 3ALAIK DICTOOOR. I read the 1st few pages of the 1st comic book fro the 99 and i actually find it interesting, like im in a movie. Thank you very much NAYIF, god bless you and all the ppl.
Thanks for passing by Mohammed, I'm glad you enjoyed Mr. Al-Mutawa's work - he's an inspiration to us all.
I caught the end of a programme on the comic on Aljazeera and was really excited, but I didnt catch the creator's name. Now I know and I'm definitely gonna try and get hold of it, thanks!
I dont really agree with this... see, those 99 names of Allah is for him, not to be personified in humans.. And I dont think its really Islamic... The ladies are not dressed modestly, and most importantly, in surah al ikhlas, It said dat we shud not associate him with anything... and with the publishing of this comic, the author is associating Allah with his comic characters
Sigh* they're completely covered and modesty is more how you carry yourself the clothing that is just an extention and IMO insignificant. Your personality is more important, this looks good. They're associating certain characteristics of the 99 names to individuals. It's not like they're giving them the names.