What are some Dos and Donts when it comes to making muslim characters into fictional creatures? Even with a diverse cast of the same species? Like vampires, werewolves, elves, etcetera.
Great question! I've actually found a Medium article discussing this exact issue:
Wondering how to accurately portray Muslims in a fantasy setting? This is your cheat sheet!
The truth is, another thing that is important to consider is the level of accuracy you want. For example, the article says that having Muslim characters in a world with multiple deities is considered rude. However, I personally have never minded seeing that. If I were to write that, I would simply have the character believe these 'deities' were a form of extremely strong jinn causing issues, or leading people away from faith. As long as the character themselves isn't a demigod, and their belief is neither confirmed nor denied, this could work. It really depends on how the story is spun.
Another thing mentioned in the article is that other sapient creatures cannot be included, however, I also do not personally mind that. While it wouldn't be 100% accurate to Islam to have creatures such as mermaids or dragons be sapient, I would be willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the story, so long as the character themselves was still represented nicely.
One idea that wasn't considered in the article would be a Muslim character becoming a werewolf or some other creature. If you would like, you could have it be the result of them being cursed by a jinn. There are a lot of workarounds one can come up with.
I hope this helps! In the future, please send these kinds of questions to @hijabi-detected :3
