PrinceOfTheWest said:
Folks, don't confuse the Calormenes with Muslims. The fact that they worship an idol clearly indicates that even if they were Middle-Eastern transplants (which I'm sure he was thinking), it would have been from the pre-Islamic days. The culture and mannerisms ar clearly from Mesopotamian/Persian region. The question of how Islam opposes Christianity is a valid one, but I think you're entangling the Calormene question unnecessarily.
Hello everyone. I am new to this forum, but I hope I can contribute something meaningful to this interesting discussion right away.
First let me say that I agree with PrinceofTheWest. To me, its obvious the Calormenes represent Middle Easterners, but not necessarily Muslims persay. Also, the Middle East includes many cultures and religions from many different time periods, and I think that Lewis seems to be focused on the Pre-Islam Middle East. This fits well within the historical timeline if one were to assume that Aslan and Narnia are metaphorical for Christendom. Christianity came centuries before Islam and conflicts between the Greek/Roman empires of the Mediterranean, who heralded many of the ideals espoused by Western tradition, and the monarchial/dictatorial Persian empire of the Middle East, had already been taking place for centuries. The reason why these fantasy authors like Lewis and Tolkien juxtapose a kind of European/Christian society with a Middle-Eastern one is because the societies and cultures are so different and are therefore intended to contrast with one another for various literary and plot purposes.
Also, the previous post by Gryphon does not accurately depict Allah or what was revealed to Muhammad by a long shot. Here is the quote:
"the calomorens are based off of the muslims. calomorens worship a god named Tash. if any of you have read the last battle, there is one point in the book where C.S. Lewis explains how Tash and Aslan are two compleatly diffrent people. Like Allah and God are two compleatly diffent people. Muhammed said that an angel of the lord gave him the gospels he preached but in the bible, it says condem any angel that gives you a gospel. besides, demons are fallen angels and i have little doubt in my mind that muhammed did see an angel. the angel, i believe though, was a fallen demon. same goes to mormons."
Any speculation as to whether Tash is metaphorical for Allah and Allah being the devil is simply ludicrous. There is a reason why Islam is called an Abrahamic monotheisic religion. Muslims claim to worship the God of Abraham, not the devil. Allah is just an Arabic word for God, and it is the same exact word in Palestinian Aramaic(which makes sense since Arabic and Aramaic are related linguistically), which is the language originally spoken by Christ and the people who lived in his area. So the way that Christ referred to God was the same exact way that Muslims refer to him, as "Allah". This is not just a coincidence of a linguistic nature, as it holds a deep symbolic significance for those who speak Arabic including both Arab Christians and Muslims as well as Non-Arab Muslims. Muslims believe that they worship the same God that Christ worships, and the same God that Jews worship.
The devil in Islam is not a fallen angel, but the member of another race that God created called the Jinn. And from this race are helpers of the devil, who are called Shayaateen (A word for the devil in Semitic languages including Arabic is Shaytan, which is probably where the word Satan derives from, and hence his helpers are derived from this name as well) This is especially interesting in light of the fact that Lewis writes in one of the chronicles(I forget which one) that the White Witch is part Jinn, which would tie her character more to the devil than does Tash. As far as I know, Christianity has no concept of Jinn except for the loosely defined term of "demon". But Lewis doesn't use the word "demon", but rather the word "Jinn".
So in conclusion I think there is more of a parallel between Jadis and the devil rather Tash and the devil.
These are just some of my thoughts. I hope I haven't offended anyone or anyone's beliefs.
Not my intention, if so... However, this does not mean that he is directly physically involved. Satan didn't appear to Neitszche, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, or many other of the men and women who have contributed to the sufferings of so many people... And yet the deeds they did are clearly Satan's work. I always think of Satan using our own natural prejudices and needs, and turning them into something vile.
