In a world where the vision of Islam is continuously muddled though the media and the actions of a few, one man sought to rethink what the ideals of Islam can do to unify people through the values that everyone has in common, values like honesty, mercy, and foresight. Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, a clinical psychologist licensed in New York state and trained at Bellevue Hospital’s survivors of political torture program, wanted to create characters that his five sons, as well as children from across every cultural and religious spectrum could look up to. And thus, The 99 were created.
The name of the comic series, which is in reference to the 99 names of Allah, has been named one of Forbes Top 20 trends sweeping the globe. Dr. Al-Mutawa has been named as one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (an independent research entity) for the second year in a row. There is even a theme park opened in Jahra, Kuwait dubbed “The 99 Village” based on the series!
Dr. Al-Mutawa was determined to make this a professional and top notch endeavor and so he works with current and former writers for comics like Spiderman, Power Rangers, and X-men. The latest development is that this October, Stuart Moore and Fabian Nicieza of DC Comics and Dr. Al-Mutawa of Teshkeel Comics will unite to publish the six issue mini crossover series “JLA/The 99,” where the young, fresh superheroes of The 99 work with the classic heroes of the Justice League like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Green Lantern.
As a part of their goal to reach global audiences, an animated TV series that will air in Turkey and the United States is also in the works. Teshkeel Comics is also in talks for a major Hollywood film production.
The 99 website contains tons of articles from all over the world featuring Dr. Al-Mutawa and The 99. You can even buy a digital copy of an issue for only $1.99 and the first issue of the comic you can download for free!
There’s even a recent shout out from President Barack Obama at the Presidential Summit for Entrepreneurship about how The 99 is one of the most “innovative responses” to improving dialogue and building bridges between people.
Check out Dr. Al-Mutawa’s lecture on TEDtalks (also found above) to get a better idea of his great initiative. Inshaallah (God Willing) may his project move further to change the blurred vision of Islam outside and even within Muslim communities, because as Dr. Al-Mutawa says, “it’s dangerous when a group selfidentifies itself as extreme.” When Muslims begin to see themselves in the light that others have cast on them, it becomes a whole other problem. Hopefully this inspires you to start that project you’ve been thinking about or to think more creatively about the ways you can impact the world, your community, your neighbor, or most importantly your family.
Salaams Out!
Please Visit The99.org
An article written by Dr. Al-Mutawa on CNN can be found here
See President Obama’s entire speech here
