A common children's cartoon interpreted Islamically

Category: WEAK

Samurai Jack is known for having little wordage. The first entire half hour had zero dialogue. It's a pretty awesome show. So they could understand easily what's going on, but they being kids, of course, are gonna ask a ton of questions ('YEH KYA HORA HAI'). Boys tend to stare entranced and absorb it without thinking but girls especially like to ask a million questions during the process. <3 I found myself explaining the entire thing in Islamic terms and was surprised at how well it fit.

This is what I explained:

Three angels were fighting a great Djinn, as powerful as Shaitan, named Aku in space. Since this was before Islam and all that ( ), they took the forms of the various human nations. One after the Greeks, another after the Egyptians, and another after the Indians (without having to explain the whole 'god' thing... it's a cartoon... Indians can have six arms in a cartoon). They were blasting away at him, with stars and everything, but a tiny piece of it fell all the way to Earth where it was buried as the dinosaurs came and went, etc. etc. until finally humans arrived. At first the Djinn was just growing like a plant everywhere. This brings us to medievel Japan. The thing was growing all over the Kingdom, and the Emperor (consider him like Dhul-Qarnayn(as)) didn't know what to do. He took some special potion thing (I forgot what the eldest called it), and threw it at the weird growth but that only wound up giving it 'life' (human-like consciousness). Meaning magic is bad and the Djinn thrives on it. So it took it's proper form as a typical Djinn. It destroyed half the Kingdom, and trapped the Emperor. Out of nowhere, a white 'Buraq' came. A giant glowing white horse with a ton of legs, kind of like the one that took Prophet Muhammad (saw) on Isra & Miraj. Wherever it stepped or breathed, the Djinn-growth would disappear. It freed the Emperor and flew off. It reached the top of some mountain where three Sufi Pirs (I said Walis, but they didn't know what Wali or Awliyah or those words meant yet) were waiting. As he stepped in, they were transported into space, where he was just hovering about. The three Angels stood before him and told him about the evil Djinn that was plaguing his Kingdom. They then lifted him up, and took out from within his Ruh, his Taqwa (righteousness, piety... God-consciousness... the youngest doesn't have a grasp on these things yet, the oldest barely does, but is able to suspend disbelief and believe that Taqwa can become tangible in a Nur-like form). The three Pirs took out giant hammers, and as the Angels kept zapping it, they hammered it into a shape. A samurai sword. They gave it to the Emperor, and the Angels told him that the sword was forged from the Taqwa within his soul (Ruh). It is the only thing that can defeat the evil that is the Djinn, Aku. But, they warned him, the Djinn's magic is like nothing the human has ever seen before, so he must be careful. So, the Emperor, decked out in glowing white armor with the sword, gets on a flying cloud (Hazrat Suleiman (as) could travel like that) and goes back. He fights the Djinn in his various incarnations. And this part, they all got. That the Djinn, being evil, took various incarnations... was scary, but also kind of funny. He liked to make fun of and mock the humans, especially the Emperor. And was very chalaak. Meaning all these attributes are things to be wary of (as is embodied in Islamic teachings). The Emperor finally defeated Aku by capturing him in the sword and trapping him in the Earth. At that moment also, Jack was born. And the Emperor and his wife decided Jack was their backup plan.

As he grew up (the two-parter ended here, and this is another episode), he was sent around to the kings of the various human nations and trained by the best. He got back just in time, as a solar eclipse struck, and the Djinn was freed (mentioned here the Hadith about how the Prophet(saw) treated eclipses). He fought Aku, but as he was about to trap him in the sword as his father had done, the Djinn pulled out a new trick. He opened a portal many years into the future and threw Jack into it. When Jack comes through, Aku has taken over everything and the world is populated by mutants, aliens, robots, and all sorts of weird things. Then I summarized that the rest of the stories involve Jack trying to find a way to defeat Aku and go back to his time. But Aku never fights him properly, always sends his minions in various forms. He comes up with a ton of tricks, sometimes coming in the form of humans to trick Jack and foil his plans. The few times he does fight Jack, he does it hilariously, by first arguing that it has to be with no weapons (no sword), so Jack agrees... then he says it has to be a certain spot, at a certain time, etc. etc. and Jack agrees readily as long as Aku doesn't change forms. This behaviour is the kind the Qur'an repeatedly mentions of past peoples, like Bani Israil. (Jack was kicking his ass until Aku broke his word and fled).

Even though they were girls, they loved it. I dunno if they have the attention span to sit through a ton of these, but they would if it were in Urdu. I need to get the DVD sets of Voltron, Thundercats, and the other shows. I can't wait to spoil Abdullah when his parents aren't looking. :anxious:

The best part is, of course, being able to visualize all these Islamic teachings. Now when they think of what a saint/wali is like, they'll know. It's not just about fantastic tales of miracles, it's about their everyday embodiment of their beliefs. Like how Jack walks around in simple clothing, is very humble, incredibly considerate of others, protects the weak and oppressed, of few words, never lies, etc. etc. I also like how it lets them see how important being good is... it makes all the good behaviour, that increases piety or taqwa, practically important. It really does protect you from Djinns too. Boys tend to accept it all a bit more easily, girls tend to be too clever for their own good.

Children (definitive)

Category: STRONG

God assigns souls to children based on overlapping criteria of what kind of kids the parents deserve, and what kind of parents the kids deserve (as well as all the other factors in His Judgement that aren't typical of every situation). This doesn't necessarily mean balance (bad kids need good parents, and bad parents need good kids), but it does mean reward/punishment. Once you get to a certain stage of embodying Deen, then you're almost guaranteed to churn out perfect kids. An incredible majority of the higher level spiritual guides or ulema I know of have had children who turned out IDENTICAL to them in religious/spiritual respects, while of course remaining completely individual.

Mufti Muhammad Shafi (Ma'ariful Qur'an)... his son is Mufti Taqi Usmani (who later revised that and supervised the English version). That's just enough said right there, that his son reached the same ultimate stage of scholarship. Here's the dedication to a book he wrote, "An approach to the Qur'anic Sciences".

"To my respected father/ Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi (ra)/ in whose person lay for me/ the compassion of an exemplary - nay, an unmatched father, an impeccable teacher, and a sagacious guardian and mentor./ and to none else on earth/ my love and my devotion are directed./ My Allah shower Mercy on him./ Without his prior permission do I dedicate this little effort to him with the submission./ [some urdu]"
-Justice Mufti Taqi Usmani (Ret.)

<3

Another popular instance, Hazrat Umar Ibn Khattab (RA), his son was Abdullah Ibn Umar (RA)... who was actually as qualified for the Caliphate as even other Sahabah. :0! Umar didn't want to turn it into a dynasty, so it went to Uthman (RA) next.

Yet for normal people, we're to expect to turn out kids that are probably nothing like us in terms of 'soul' but just like us in outwards ways (appearance, personality, etc.). Yet these people brought up children who had similar souls (the good kind) but their true individuality showed through in that they were hardly anything like their parents. The one true measure of a person (Deen) was what they had in common with their parents. It's amazing how something like faith can be a factor in turning out the genetically perfect combinations of genes (diversity in offspring).

And yet for so many 'religious' people now (the ones closer to 'our level', the ones we're likely to know personally), they wind up with kids that are the opposite of them in terms of kindred souls but physical/mental clones otherwise. Sincerity in religion it seems, is not a common thing amongst the people. Or maybe sincerity is not enough and you just need to be THAT damn good.

It's highlarious how people nowadays talk about giving their children their 'space', to let them 'find themselves', etc. etc. Only to wind up with the kids being clones (for better or worse, usually worse, even if it appears better at first sight) of themselves. It's like the metaphor about the painting. Silly people, simply dabbing at a canvas with a brush in the imitation of a great painter is pointless if you don't have the right paint on the brush, or the right order and placement of the brushstrokes. You think you're being enlightened parents, but there's no end result.

As I said earlier, if a child can ask over 400 questions a day, you should be able to explain Allah in 400 different ways a day.