Muslim superhero series 'Buraaq' aims to dispel myths about Islam
Buraaq, which started off as a comic book back in 2011, will now be coming to your television screens in the form of an animated series produced by SplitMoonArts.
The series narrates the story of Yusuf Abdallah, a regular guy who happens to be practicing Muslim living in fictional Nova City. He aims to tackle injustice in the world by fulfilling his role as the director of a vast relief organisation, as well as by using his incredible abilities such as super strength and flying for the greater good.
The brain child of two brothers, Adil and Kamil Imtiaz, the duo says that the goal of Buraaq is to dispel the myths and negativity surrounding Islam through the medium of comic books and television.
"In the past few years, we began to realize that there were no positive Islamic characters in the world of mainstream entertainment. Be it movies, TV, books or comics. Especially after 9/11, Muslims were being portrayed in a negative way by the mainstream media. That’s when we had a strong urge to use our artistic skills and produce something inspirational for the Muslim youth," say the SplitMoonArts team on their website.
The soundtrack for the series which will have an English version along with an Urdu version, has been tackled by Shahi Hasan. Junaid Jamshed has narrated the Urdu version of the series.
The creators are currently running a crowd-funding campaign to be able to produce the first episode Buraaq: The Rise of A Hero in high quality 3D animation.
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Comments (47) Closed
Mar 05, 2015 05:39pm
A good work, Kindly sharp the animation more. Look at how the hero walking on sands. make it perfect as our religion.
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Mar 05, 2015 05:48pm
Great
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Mar 05, 2015 06:00pm
Good to see this
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Mar 05, 2015 06:02pm
In my childhood i was the big fan of Superman , Captain planet and Ninja turtles. But neither the series makers nor i bothered to associate these characters with any religion. As the world is progressing towards globalization and inclusiveness , some people are adamant in dividing the people based on Religion. Why Cartoon series now have to profess some Religion?. It seems that somehow we are trying to alienate ourself while the world is trying to embrace us.
Now from the childhood we will teach our children that how to divide the people based on religion.
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Mar 05, 2015 06:17pm
Impressive.. :)
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Mar 05, 2015 06:17pm
What are his super powers? It seems he is just a praying bearded superman.
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Mar 05, 2015 06:22pm
Waitingggggg!!!!!!
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Mar 05, 2015 06:30pm
Excellent work guys. This is a very good initiative.
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Mar 05, 2015 06:32pm
Stop terrorism.
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Mar 05, 2015 06:45pm
This needs to go big...
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Mar 05, 2015 07:28pm
Super hero with a tag!
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Mar 05, 2015 07:35pm
Looks like a copy of all superheros of Marvel comics. By the way was ever religion of Spider Man, Super Man Iron Man etc mentioned or promoted .....seriously guys...really
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Mar 05, 2015 07:50pm
awesome , Great work
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Mar 05, 2015 07:59pm
please keep it real. why is he flying? i rather give him some other super power like sabr, honesty, taqwa etc etc there is so much that can be done here.
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Mar 05, 2015 08:19pm
And what language would he be speaking?
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Mar 05, 2015 08:26pm
name is impressive super work done
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Mar 05, 2015 08:36pm
why not just a Pakistani Superhero, why do we feel our religion is so insecure that it requires guardians. Our religion will automatically flourish, if we act as good humans, care for our fellow beings/ the weak, work honestly, and be patient.
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Mar 05, 2015 08:37pm
It is a great presentation, however, Muslims do not need to join the superhero clan. Superhero concept started to express and demonstrate the false 'white man's burden' philosophy. I agree with another comment writer that the powers the Muslim Hero would have would be of Taqwa, Sabr, Shja'at, etc. Anyone can subdue the bad characters with superpowers. How about a common man doing the same with his intelligence, the guidance he has received, politics, and organizing other common people against crime.
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Mar 05, 2015 08:46pm
flying superhero. How original
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Mar 05, 2015 08:55pm
Still don't understand why portrayed as Arab ?? Starting from a Desert, are we ever going to grow up from Arabian background?
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Mar 05, 2015 09:00pm
Marvelous! Pak is on rise...
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Mar 05, 2015 09:01pm
Zabardast
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Mar 05, 2015 09:08pm
Good idea but how's showing this to a muslim audience in Pakistan going to dispel misconceptions about Islam. Also, before dispelling anyone's notion on Islam first Pakistan needs to figure out which Islam it wants to follow? The moderate Sufi Islam which is its origin or the extreme Wahabi Islam which it tried to adopt from the middle east.
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Mar 05, 2015 09:25pm
great
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Mar 05, 2015 09:28pm
Bravo! Children would love it!
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Mar 05, 2015 10:16pm
We need a politician super hero too. During the day he pretends to be a normal minister and at night disguises himself as a poor man understand the problems of the poor people.
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Mar 05, 2015 10:32pm
good news... best of luck!
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Mar 05, 2015 11:31pm
It is better to find another name as this will create a controversy...
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Mar 06, 2015 12:29am
What is the surname of the Super Hero, Obama?
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Mar 06, 2015 01:19am
My 2 cents..
Positive Islamic characters have to be real in order to have influence over public perception. Don't see how fictional characters will help.
Maybe the Muslims have to do something completely unselfish and massive, that may change perceptions
By the way... I don't believe Superman was Christian....
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Mar 06, 2015 03:13am
I am not sure the super man concept is a good concept for kids to grow up with. Furthermore, associating it with religion seems like a terrible idea. As in, religion gets abused in our country (and largely in the world as well).
We should be creating other forms of example for our kids. For example, how to be humble and accept our limitations. How to have self awareness and self control. How to love Allah's humanity without any baises. How to respect the view point of other people. How to have patience. Having the ability to fly, or having enormous strength, having an x-ray vision are stupid concepts. They don't teach our kids much. We should learn how to sacrifice for others despite our limitations.
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Mar 06, 2015 04:13am
Nice work, can't wait till it goes in full production
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Mar 06, 2015 05:06am
Can't wait to watch it. :)
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Mar 06, 2015 05:39am
I see a trend in Pakistan of superheroes who are supposed to represent their religion, ie. Burqa adventure. I don't understand why Islam should be the only thing associated with a super hero made in Pakistan, whats unique about that? Should there be a observing devout Hindu superhero? or a christian one? If its promoting morals to children and a good image of Islam to the rest of the world than kudos to the artist. But this is redundant as superheros represents universal goodness in themselves , that's why children of any faith anywhere in the world can relate and understand them when dubbed in their language, such as superman and spider man. Why do our heroes have to be defined by Islam. Differences in Superheroes come from the city or culture they live in.Why cant we show the cultural diversity of Pakistan? For example A Karachi spider man speaking the slang of the city like NY spiderman, point being that they represent their geographical area. Its is easy to conclude that Pakistanis don't want to show their own culture because their insecure that either it may seem too Indian ie not unique, or that it would show the multiculturalism of their own country, hence a threat to the"unity" of Pakistan.
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Mar 06, 2015 05:52am
Just having a superhero who is religious and naak is vague don't you think? If we want to teach morality why not be more specific, i suggest have Zakat man- goes to collect zakat from unpious evaders or Ramadan man- both non-western offshoot of Robinhood , fights hunger in Ramadan by stealing from politicians and giving to the poor. There are hundreds of more possibilities! Restriction may apply depending on your sect or madhab.
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Mar 06, 2015 08:54am
If fawad khan mahira khan ali zafar and other stars will give voice to the characters than it will do wobders for the series.
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Mar 06, 2015 09:27am
@winner
I do agree.
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Mar 06, 2015 09:45am
@Suhail Yusuf Superman concept is un-Islamic. Any imagery is un-Islamic. There can be only one superman - God himself and we can't depict him. And the God has told us to hate all those who do not believe in him. A superman would mean someone with godly powers. That would amount to Kufr. How dare someone even think of it? Punish him immediately!
These are some of the suggested dialogues for the comic series. Any takers?
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Mar 06, 2015 12:01pm
waiting
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Mar 06, 2015 12:05pm
Good work, precisely what we should be doing. Reinventing the world around us With our own footprint.
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Mar 06, 2015 12:15pm
its good but is it just me or it really looks like prince of persia the two thrones
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Mar 06, 2015 12:52pm
@Malik Saab
because such depictions are necessary,since Islam is increasingly being associated with extremism and negative images about Islam are filling the media.
Muslims have to counter that negative imagery with positive depictions of Muslims.
In a world without problems we wouldnt need a figure like Buraaq. In a perfect world religion would not divide us. But we do not live in a perfect world. People are saying Muslims arent capable of good things ; Buraaq is one way of telling the world that Muslims are capable of good things
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Mar 06, 2015 01:12pm
woooooow. pretty cool
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Mar 06, 2015 01:15pm
Nice concept, but maybe give it a bit more original touch instead of a muslim superman. In my opinion newer generations are more interested in closer to reality heroes rather than over-powered aliens. Consider inspiration from Arrow/Batman/IronMan etc.
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Mar 08, 2015 02:49pm
It's really a great effort. Today there are many English and Indian cartoon series which are misleading our children. Our children began to following these series characters which is not are teaching. There is a need of such a character which inspires our children towards Islam. And I'm sure when this series starts on TV it will play it's role effectively.
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Mar 08, 2015 07:01pm
@unknown: It's supposed to be appealing to kids, I believe. :P I don't think when asked, any kid would say that his favorite super power is patience. lol But I see your point.
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Mar 09, 2015 12:39am
Keep it up..
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