Are the Calormenes metaphorical?

Hullo there.

I personally think that each religion has its own God, and each God are as different and unique from one another. So, I don't see why Waterhogboy would think that Allah is actually the Christian God.

Secondly, Muhammad was given the knowledge of the Quran from Allah through an angel. This angel, called Jibrail (or Gabriel, in the Bible) has been given the task to ensure that the knowledge descended from the Heavens will be taught to as many people on the face of this Earth as Muhammad could taught. Clearly, one can see that an angel and a fallen angel (satan) are two different beings. It is mentioned in the Quran that these two types of creatures originally worshiped Allah. However, when Allah commanded both angels and Satan(s) to give respect to Adam as God's most perfect creation (as in human beings), Satan refuses. In return, Satan promises to ensure that human beings would always be forgetful of their own God(s) and lure them to the gates of Hell, where those who are on Satan's side, would be the burning fuel of Hell.

Plus, any people of a certain faith would think that their religion is the True One. Why should Christians be any different? What makes it so sure that Christianity, Islam, or any other religion in the world, is the True One?

Unleavened, you mentioned that Allah might be actually Satan Himself. To clarify on this matter, Allah is the one Who creates Satan. He can't be a thing he created, just as we can't be Him who created us. Which brings to this: If Jesus Christ is the Son of God, why do Christians worship Him? Why don't God Himself, the "Father" of Jesus Christ, be worshipped?

On the matter of Calormene, one must bear in mind that they doesn't represent Muslims as a whole. True, some Muslims believes in Paganism, and act really nasty and evil. But isn't that just what a human being is? There are many kinds of human beings living in this world, so I don't find it surprising that people of any religion acting in such, unaccepted ways. I much agree with the thought that Calormene actually represents the ancient Arabian Knights of a more romantic era, than the Muslims Arabs of the now.

I seriously don't want to offend other faiths and religions any more than you do, but if you could debate on the matter of Allah being non-existent, I believe I have the same right, as well.
 
hey

don't bother trying to figure it all out that takes away the fun of reading the books! EXCEPT

I am the prisoner of the WHITE WITCH
I'm in her tower, she is only letting me use my computer once a day
HELP ME ASLAN

--long live narnia long live PRINCESS PETAL the true princess of narnia--
 
I not asking you guys to figure it all out, you know. It's just I felt that there are representations of any religions in Narnia, eventhough C.S. Lewis had written from a Christian point of view. I had no problems with that, I assure you, for most of the time, I kept coming across symbolism of Islam in it, as well. (You do know that Christianity and Islam have a lot in common?)

I just wanted to make a point in that there's no reason to go on discussing about Gods of other religion when we ourselves aren't sure (100% sure) that our own religion is the True One.

So, enjoy reading the Chronicles while I try to get hold of the Space Trilogy...

Adib.
 
I'm trying to decide which book out of Space Trilogy and Till We Have Faces to read, cause I'll probably only have time to read one of these during my winter break off from school. Which book should I read?
 
Tough call. Faces is the more powerful book (nothing against the others), but it's also more subtle, and you're less likely to get something out of it the first (or second) time. If you've not read the Trilogy, I'd recommend that. You may get as far as Perelandra, which would be well worth it. It's hard to go wrong, since for years Perelandra was Lewis' favorite, until he wrote Faces. You'll love them!
 
Not to underride POTW, but I would vote for Till We Have Faces. Its my favorite out of all of Lewis's books.
 
Ithilien said:
Do you think the Calormenes represent the Muslims? (Assuming the Narnians are the Christians) After all, the two cultures bears certain resemblances. Who then, is Tash. As described in the novel, is Allah then the antithesis of Jesus?
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I guess they might be, though I never really thought about it, hmmm seems like Lewis might be a little racist.....but maybe not......i dun know
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
Tough call. Faces is the more powerful book (nothing against the others), but it's also more subtle, and you're less likely to get something out of it the first (or second) time. If you've not read the Trilogy, I'd recommend that. You may get as far as Perelandra, which would be well worth it. It's hard to go wrong, since for years Perelandra was Lewis' favorite, until he wrote Faces. You'll love them!
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I have read Perelandra and Faces and I find that Perelandra is boring up till the end, Faces is really good howeverI am still confused on his message, also right now I have gone back and am reading Out of the Silent Planet which is the first book in the space triology (I read Perelandra for a book group) and I think it too is boring at the begining though not quite as boring as Perelandra but they are all awesome I do like them all...just they tend to be boring at first I would do TILL WE HAVE FACES first!
 
I don't find any of the Space Trilogy boring -- That Hideous Strength starts out with sort of mundane stuff but pretty quickly becomes engrossing.
 
I thought the same thing...

I just finished HHB a few days ago, and I was thinking the exact same thing about the Calormenes being Muslim. Not so much "Muslim", but just different from MN and LWW. Everything up until HHB seemed very British. Then when HHB starts they talk of turbans and deserts, and the pictures show harem like scenes and very Middle Eastern looking. I wondered why Lewis had switched things up so much. Was there anything historical going on at the time of its publishing that would have him focus on the Middle East?? :confused:
 
The Middle East had been much entwined with Great Britain -- remember Lawrence of Arabia? I think that Lewis felt the Middle East with its exotic customs and beautiful people would add a touch of "Arabian Knights" type mystery to the stories, and I think he was right. Also in HHB, Calormen proved an excellent backdrop to show how far-removed Shasta was from his rightful heritage. If you are a follower of Christ, this can show how far-removed from our rightful place with God when we are living in a sinful state ...
 
I have heard that before. I think that he couldn't just come up with a race of people without adding similarities of existing cultures. So you can debate which culture it mirrors but i think it wont be found. These books are small and don't seem deep but there are things that are hidden that we wont know about. Only CSL knows!
 
Polly and Digory, do you represent a sister and brother? or two friends? or do you just like the names.... or is it none of the above?? :confused:
 
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I think that he/she just likes the adventure that they shared together and the thought of their friendship, that's probably why that's their name. ;)
 
she likes the story and it was one of the best combinations of narnia names without having to toss in numbers.
 
Ithilien said:
Do you think the Calormenes represent the Muslims? (Assuming the Narnians are the Christians) After all, the two cultures bears certain resemblances. Who then, is Tash. As described in the novel, is Allah then the antithesis of Jesus?
Click to expand...
The Calormenes are polytheistic, so they can't be Muslims. Tash is not the only Calormen god (like Allah), just their primary god (like Zeus, Ra, et.al.). More likely they were modeled after pre-Muslim Middle Eastern cultures. As for Tash, Christianity says that false gods are really demons, so that would make Tash a demon, and hence in opposition to Aslan.
 
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