Saints, Sufis and Star Wars

(Excerpted from Q News, Issue No. 363)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away noble Sufi shaykhs trained young

dervishes to battle dark powers that sought to lead people along the path of

hatred and anger.They floated through the air, walked on water and did

remarkable acrobatics - all by invoking the divine Force. Sound familiar? It’s better

than you think. IRFAN M. RYDHAN explores the secret relationship between Islam

and Star Wars.

Most Star Wars fans know that director George Lucas,

influenced chiefly by the works of the late American

scholar Joseph Campbell, took spiritual elements

common to many world religions to create the mystical fabric

of his epic saga of good versus evil. As a Muslim, I always

thought the Jedi to be what a true follower of Islam should be

like. Jedi masters, with their North African cloaks and scruffy

beards look like Sufi shaykhs, are taught to respect a greater

power, fight for the innocent and honour a code of morals and

ethics in order to bring about peace and justice in their societies

- exactly what the Islamic tradition prescribes. So what is

the connection between these seemingly ‘Islamic principles’

and the fictional Jedi Order of the Star Wars saga?

There is devotion to Star Wars that non-enthusiasts will

not understand. For example, National Statistics UK reported

that in its 2001 Census 390,000 respondents declared Jedi to

be their chosen religion. I am sometimes unsure whether devotion

to Star Wars has crossed the make-believe barrier or if

these Star Wars fans are just pulling our leg. There may be

some truth in fiction. And I think I know where some of the

truth of the Jedi comes from.

I came across an interesting article entitled Eternal Jihad:

The Way of the Mystic-Warrior from a Sufi website. It

revealed, “We are at the core a Movement of Jeddi; masters of

Futuwwat (“the Way of the mystic-warrior”). We encourage

adherents to train both physically and spiritually, for their

own personal edification and to enhance their knowledge and

abilities in the struggle. The Real does not lie alone in contemplation,

prayer and meditation; nor does it lie alone in

action and revolution. Both of these are notions of “one or the

other” and Allah is not ‘one or the other’. ‘Allah’ literally

means ‘the One[ness] which manifests from Nothing.’”

Note that the Arabic term al-Jeddi (master of the mystic-warrior

way) along with another Islamic term not mentioned,

palawan (perhaps from pahlwan, or strong young man in

Punjabi), similar to Lucas’ Padawan for Jedi apprentice, were

actual titles used by Muslim knights.

THE FORCE

The Force is the common thread between all six movies

and is defined as an energy field, which binds all living things

together, like Allah, God, a Supreme Being or power that most

religious adherents worship, follow and yearn to become a

part of. According to Star Wars mythology, the Jedi “are a

noble order of protectors unified by their belief and observance

of the Force.” The Jedi study and train under the

apprentice-master relationship similar to how many religious

students study under a priest or religious scholar until they

have learned enough to teach and train the next generation of

students.

From a Muslim perspective, the similarities between the

Jedi and the Islamic traditions of instruction are strikingly similar.

For example, a Muslim scholar usually trains under a

shaykh for a number of years before they are given the right

or permission - ijazah - to teach others about Islam. As Martin

Nguyen points out, “In Islamic Sufism shaykhs will have silsilas

that list the chain of teachers going back to the Prophet

Muhammad. A silsila indicates a shaykh’s lineage of mystical

learning from which he draws his spiritual authority.”

Similarly in the Jedi tradition of Star Wars, each Padawan

(apprentice) is taught the same tradition and skills their Jedi

masters were taught by their previous masters. Star Wars fans

know the lineage of Jedi instruction starting from Yoda to

Count Dooku to Qui-Gon Jinn to Obi Wan Kenobi to Anakin

Skywalker.

In the first Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope,

Luke Skywalker, like his father, Anakin, lives in the desert

(incidentally, the desert planet of Tatooine was actually filmed

near the real desert town of Tataouine in Tunisia). From

among this remote desert area with no roots of a civilised

urban society, a ‘chosen one’ arises who brings the hope of

peace and justice to their society. Anakin is the chosen one in

the latest Star Wars films, and Luke can be considered the chosen

one from the original Star Wars trilogy.

Similarly, the Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings be

upon him) lived in the desert where there was no true rule of

law or justice and people followed the tribal system of blood

vengeance. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, brought

Islam to the Arabs, which completely changed their way

beliefs, thinking and the way they lived their lives. Instead of
living for the present and for themselves, as Muslims they lived

for the hereafter and were taught to take care of the poor,

orphans, those less fortunate than themselves and to fight for

social justice and well being for the whole community.

Thus, the Jedi too is taught to be selfless and not selfish like

the Sith, an ancient order of Force-practitioners devoted to the

dark side and determined to destroy the Jedi. Just as Yoda, the

little green master, taught young padawans not to give into fear

and be tempted by the Dark Side - the temptations of the devil

or shaytan - Muslims are taught not to be attached to the life

of this world, the dunya, nor to fall prey to the diseases of the

heart like jealousy, envy, fear and especially hatred as they lead

to evil and sin.

THE GREEN ONE

There is an interesting connection between the Jedi master

Yoda (a short, green skinned creature first seen in Episode V:

The Empire Strikes Back) and Islamic traditions - the character

of al-Khidr means “the Green One” in Arabic. Some

Quranic commentators say that Khidr is one of the prophets,

others refer to him simply as a divinely sent guide and yet others

argue that he is a perfect wali, a friend and devoted servant

of God.

So in other words Yoda - the name itself comes from the

Hebrew for ‘wise one’ or from the Sanskrit for ‘warrior’ - is like

a spiritual mentor who guides the young Jedi in the ways of the

force and teaches them to be strong enough to resist the temptations

and evil inclinations of the Sith and other Dark Forces.

In Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the Emperor tries to

influence Luke Skywalker to give into his feelings of anger and

hatred. As we all know Luke’s father Anakin, did fall prey to

the Emperor’s whispers and joined the Dark Side to become

the fearsome Darth Vader. Because the Jedi - like Muslim warriors

- are taught that one’s intentions in battle must be pure

and that it’s wrong to kill out of anger, even when is outwardly

justified.

Imam Ali, the fourth Caliph and the cousin of the Prophet

Muhammad, was faced with this situation at the Battle of the

Ditch. The noble Imam had knocked an enemy soldier to the

ground and was raising his sword to kill him, when the unbeliever

spat in his face. Imam Ali at once stood still and

refrained from killing his enemy and stated: “Your property

and your life have become sacrosanct to me. I am not authorized

to slay you. I can receive permission to kill only in holy

combat, in fighting commanded by Allah. Just a few moments

ago, I had overcome you in battle, knocked you to the ground

and was on the point of slaying you. But when you spat in my

face, my selfish anger was aroused against you. If I had killed

you, I would have slain you not for Allah’s sake but for my

own selfish reason; they would then have called me not a

champion warrior, but a murderer. When you spat in my face,

my selfish passion threatened to overwhelm me, so instead of

striking you with the sword for my own sake I struck my passion

for the sake of Allah, Exalted is He. There you have the

reason for your escape.”

The Jedi could be considered “Holy Warriors” (or

mujahideen) as they fight for truth, justice and peace. They

meditate (do dhikr) as much as they can, to become “one with

the force”, even in the midst of battle. In Episode I: The

Phantom Menace, the Jedi master, Qui-Gon Jinn begins to

meditate in the middle of his battle with his arch-nemesis

Darth Maul.

Islamic History is filled with stories of Muslim warriors

who stop in the heat of the battle to remember Allah and take

heed of the noble teachings of Islam. Imam Hussain the grandson

of the Prophet stopped to do his Asr prayers at Karbala.

There is even an account of Sayyidna Ali who completed his

prayers while he had an arrow stuck in his leg.

There is a saying in Islam, which states: “Life in this world

is Paradise for the unbelievers and a prison for the believers.”

Which basically means that if one puts all their faith in this

world - the dunya - then it is very easy to fall off the straight

path and be tempted by Satan to the “dark side”.

This is shown very clearly in Episode III: Revenge of the

Sith which is all about the Anakin’s fall into the dark side.

Lucas, himself stated in an interview that the he chose the final

battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan to be on a planet with

flowing molten lava and fire, which represents the fires of

Hell. It is the ultimate showdown between good and evil.

Anakin falls victim to the dark side because he loves power

and the dunya, as he wanted to have the power to live forever

and save his loved ones from death, in particular his wife from

dying during childbirth. He has excessive anger and arrogance,

as he felt he was the most powerful Jedi and no other

Jedi was better or stronger than him. He began to distrust

those who are his righteous guides. He felt Obi-Wan, his

Shaykh, was jealous of him and thought the Jedi Council - or

should we say shura - was against him, which lead him to follow

other sinister forces for guidance. Lastly he had hatred in

his heart and admitted to hating the “sand people”. He fell to

all those vices that Islam teaches the Muslim to avoid.

THE SAND PEOPLE

The sand people or the Tusken Raiders could be considered

a metaphor for the nomadic peoples of Arabia. In

Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the Tusken Raiders kidnap

and torture Anakin’s mother, Shimi, eventually killing her.

Anakin then proceeds to kill sand people in vengeance, and as

he tells his wife, that he ‘killed all of them, including the

women and children.’ But this did not relieve him of his anger

and hatred. I believe Lucas is trying to make a point about the

continuous spewing of hate against Arab and Muslim peoples,

specifically after September 11th. Even though the countries of

Iraq and Afghanistan were bombed relentlessly (it hasn’t

stopped yet), as punishment for the attacks of September 11th

(without any proof or legitimate legalities of course), many

Americans still have hatred against anyone that even looks like

an Arab or Muslim. Many innocent people, specifically

women and children, have been harassed, attacked and sometimes

even killed, because of this ‘hate’.

This wasn’t the only example of Lucas getting political.

After Episode III debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, many

Europeans were saying that Anakin represents Bush and his

Neo-Con cohorts currently in power. One couldn’t help but

notice the very overt examples in the last and final instalment

of the Star Wars series. Of course, the most obvious example

was when Anakin tells Obi-Wan before their final duel,

“Either you’re with me, or against me”, which sounds remarkably

like a current American President.

THE JEDI ARTS

One of the most popular aspects of the Star Wars films are

the exciting light-sabre duels and swordsmanship (Lucas is an

admitted fan of old Samurai films) and martial arts style fighting,

which of course originates from the East. As a former student

of Eskrima Serrada - stick and blade fighting developed

by Muslims of the Philippines - myself, I see many similarities

in the fast-moving and short-range fighting I studied and the

“invented” art of the Jedi masters.

When Anakin fights Count Dooku at the beginning of the

Episode III, he applies a disarm and cut technique that is

directly from the Eskrima tradition Dooku’s arm. The fighting

techniques in Star Wars are reminiscent of the Muslim martial

arts of Southeast Asia as exemplified by Pencak Silat and

Eskrima, which are based on paying attention to the limbs of

the attacker and not concerned with an immediate strike to the

attacker’s head or torso.

Ray Park, who plays Darth Maul in Episode I: The

Phantom Menace, studied Kung Fu (very similar to the empty

hand techniques of Serrada) and Wushu. He frequently travelled

to Malaysia to refine and develop his skills. The bases of

the Muslim martial arts of Southeast Asia are spiritual. This is

the local Sufi expression of Islam. Traditional Indonesian/Malay folklore attributes the initial design of these arts to Muslim saints in the region going back to the 7th

Century. The Silat system is attributed to nine main awliya or

saints, also called the Wali Songo.

Here is another example of the Sufi-Jedi connection. As

Jedi’s study the force and train in the Jedi Arts under the

apprentice-master relationship, so do the Sufis.

My research has shown me some remarkable similarities

between the spiritual world of Star Wars and the ideals, principles

and understanding of Islam. Some of the similarities are

clear - master/apprentice being shaykh/talib and the Force being

akin the creative presence of the divine in creation. Other similarities

were more hidden and surprising - the Jeddi and Palawan

Muslim knights and Yoda’s remarkable similarity to Khidr.

Even though Lucas himself is not a follower of any specific

religion, he has used elements of Islam to convey universal

understandings of good and evil. Combining the common

threads of the human experience with a futuristic space-age

setting and exciting martial arts swordsmanship, came a creation

that has inspired many, across religious lines. There is

something about the Star Wars saga that everyone can relate

to and enjoy. People searching for a “truth” within the

mythology of Star Wars, will hopefully look a little deeper

behind the fiction and find a way of life which emphasises

peace, justice and brotherhood for all humanity. Sounds like

Islamic ideals to me. 􀂄