Master List of Fictional Muslim Characters

[dhobikikutti]

Master List of Fictional Muslim Characters
[Source Material - Character(s)]

Films
Films: English
The 13th Warrior - Ahmad ibn Fadlan
Disney's Aladdin - Aladdin, Jasmine, The Sultan, Jafar, various people of Agrabah
Arabian Nights (2000) - various characters
Body of Lies - Hani Salaam, Aisha
Flightplan - Obaid, Ahmed
The Ghost and the Darkness - Abdullah
Hidalgo - Jazirah, The Sheik, various other characters
Hurt Locker - "Beckham", Prof Nabil
Iron Man - Dr. Yinsen
Kingdom of Heaven - Saladin (fictionalised), Firouz, Nasir, Mullah
Land of Plenty - Hassan, Youssef
The Losers - Aisha al-Fadhil
The Mummy - Gad Hassan, the Medjai
My Beautiful Laundrette - Hussein family
Pitch Black - Abu "Imam" al-Walid, Suleiman, Hassan, Ali
Chronicles of Riddick - Abu "Imam" al-Walid
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Sallah
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - Azeem
The Seige - Samir Nazhde, Sheik Achmed Bin Talal, Khalil Saleh
Slumdog Millionaire - Jamal Malik, Salim Malik, Jamal and Salim's mother
Syriana - Prince Nasir Al-Subaai
Three Kings - Amir Abdullah, Capt. Said
Touch of Pink - Alim, Nuru, Hassan, Khaled, Karim

Films: Hindi
Amar Akbar Anthony - Akbar
Bombay - Shaila Bano, her parents, various other characters
Chak De! India - Kabir Khan, Gul Iqbal
Delhi-6 - Roshan, Roshan's mom, Ali Baig
Fanaa - Zooni Ali Beg, Rehan Qadri, Nafisa Ali Beg, Zulfikar Ali Baig, Rehan Jr.
Iqbal - Iqbal, Khadija, Anwar, Saida, Farida
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Sayeeda, Rukhsaar, Ashfaque
Kabul Express - Suhel Khan, Khyber, Imran Khan Afridi, Zoya
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - Rifatbi
Lagaan - Ismayeel, Ismayeel's dad
Mission Kashmir - Inayat Khan, Altaaf, Hilal Kohistani, Sufiya Parvez
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer - Jehangir 'Raja' Choudhary, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, Najma Ahmed Khan
Mukadar Ka Sikander - Zhora Bai
My Name Is Khan - Rizwan Khan, Razia Khan, Zakir Khan, Haseena Khan
New York - Omar, Agent Roshan, Samir, Zilgai
Pakeezah - Nargis, Sahibjaan, Shahabuddin, Salim Ahmed Khan, Nawabjaan, Hakim Saab, Nawab Zafar Ali Khan, Madame Gauhar Jaan
Rang De Basanti - Aslam, Ashfaqulla Khan, Amanullah Khan
Refugee - Nazneen Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraf, Salma Ahmed, Shadab J. Mohammad, Manzur Ahmed
Sholay - Rahim Chacha
Umrao Jaan (1981 and 2006) - Amiran/Umrao Jaan, Dilawar Khan, Khanum Jaan, Nawab Sultan, Faiz Ali
Veer-Zaara - Zaara Haayat Khan, Saamiya Siddiqui, Raza, Shabbo, Mariam Hayaat Khan, Jahangir Hayaat Khan
Zakhm - Mrs. Desai
Zanjeer - Badshah Khan
Zubeidaa - Zubeidaa, Riyaz, Suleman Seth, Mehboob Alam

Films: Urdu
Khuda Kay Liye - Mansoor, Sarmad, Maryam/Mary, Maulana Wali, Maulana Tahiri, Sher Shah
Khamosh Pani - various characters

Films: Israeli
Ajami - Nasri, Omar, Malek, Binj, various others
Avanti Popolo - Haled and Rasan
The Band's Visit (2007)- Lieutenant-colonel Tawfiq Zacharya, Haled, other band members.
Beyond the Walls - Issam
The Bubble - Ashraf and his relatives
The Lemon Tree - Salma, Ziad Daud
Walk on Water - Rafik


TV shows: English
24 - Habib Marwan, Abu Fayed, Walid Al-Rezani, Reza Naiyeer, Nadia Yassir, Navi Araz, Dina Araz, Behrooz Araz, Hamri al-Assad, Yusuf Auda
The Adventures of Sinbad - Sinbad, Doubar, Firouz, other characters
Aliens in America - Raja Musharaff
Bones - Arastoo Vaziri
Community - Abed Nadir
East Enders - Saeed Jeffery, Naima Jeffery, Ashraf Karim, Ali Osman, Mehmet Osman, Masood Ahmed, Zainab Masood, Shabnam Masood, Tamwar Masood
East West 101 - Zane Malik, Amina, Mariam, Rahman, Amir and Yasmeen
Little Mosque on the Prairie - Amaar Rashid, Yasir Hamoudi, Sarah Hamoudi, Rayyan Hamoudi, Baber Siddiqui, Fatima Dinssa, other characters
Life - Mrs Reese (Dani Reese's mother)
Lost - Sayid Jarrah, various characters from his backstory
Oz - Kareem Said, Zahir Arif, Jefferson Keane, Huseni Mershah, Nasim Bismilla, Sanjay Afsana, Hamid Khan, Leroy Tidd/Salah Udeen, Ahmad Lalar, Jamel Yusef, Kevin Ketchum/Supreme Allah
Persons Unknown - Sgt. Graham McNair
Robin Hood (BBC version) - Djaq, Prince Malik
Robin of Sherwood - Nasir
Shameless - Kash, Yvonne and their children
Skins - Anwar
Sleeper Cell - Darwyn Al-Sayeed, Faris al-Farik, Ilija Korjenic, Christian, Tommy
Spooks/MI-5 - Zafar Younis, Zaf, Ibn Khaldun, Fiona Carter
The Wire - Brother Mouzone (implied)

TV Shows: Israeli
Avoda Aravit (Arab Labor) - Amjad, Bushra, Maya
HaAlufa - Jalal Kassum
Parashat HaShavua - Manar, Amir El Nashaf, others

TV Shows: German
Türkisch für Anfänger - Yağmur Öztürk
Edel und Stark - Otto Özdemir

TV Shows: Danish
The Eagle - Nazim Talawi


Books, Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Graphic Novel
American Gods by Neil Gaiman - Salim, Djinn
Archangel Protocol series by Lyda Morehouse - Mouse (Christian El-Aref), Page, Jibril
Budayeen Nights by George Alec Effinger - Mared Audran and other characters
Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust - Hamza
Edenborn by Nick Sagan - Haji
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Alai
Evolution by Stephen Baxter - Ahmed
Fool's Game by Sarah Zettel
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling - Hassan Mostafa, Ali Bashir
Mary Russell series by Laurie R King
Pashazade, Effendi and Felaheen - by John Courtney Grimwood
The Phoenix Code by Catherine Asaro - Muslim software programmer
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner - a main character
Strangers in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein - Dr. Mahmoud
The Mote in God's Eye, The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - Horace Bury
The Unreasoning Mask by Philip Jose Farmer - Ramstan
A Wind In Cairo by Judith Tarr
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley


Books, Realistic/Historical Fiction
Alamut by Vladimir Bartol - Hassan ibn Sabbah, other characters
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani - various characters
Brick Lane by Monica Ali - various characters
Haj by Leon Uris - various characters
The Crusades trilogy by Jan Guillou - various characters
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - Turgut Bora
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Amir, Hassan, Baba, Ali, Rahim Khan, Assef, Soraya, Sohrab
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - various characters
The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra) by Gaston Leroux - the Persian Daroga
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie - various characters
Snare by Katherine Kerr - Idres Warkannan, Lubahva Shiraz, Nehzaym Wahud, Indan Alwazir, Arkazo, Zayn Hassan, Bashir Hassan
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth - Nawab Sahib of Baitar, Zainab Khan, Imtiaz Khan, Firoz Khan, Kabir Durrani, Hashim Durrani, Dr Durrani, Abdus Salam, Saeeda Bai, Tasneem, Rasheed, Ishaq, Begum Abida Khan
One Thousand and One Nights - (Note: The stories have been collated from Indian, Persian, Jewish and Arab sources, and thus many not necessarily involve Muslim characters, although many do deal explicitly with Islamic theology.)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - Mariam, Laila, Rasheed, Tariq, Jalil, Aziza, Zalmai
Where She was Standing by Maggie Helwig - Hasan Saleh Tanuli
White Teeth by Zadie Smith - the Iqbal family
The Amelia Peabody Series by Elizabeth Peters - various characters
The Islam Quintet by Tariq Ali - various characters
 Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - Azad Naskar, other characters

Books, Children's/YA
The Black Stallion series by Walter Farely
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones - Abdullah, Flower-in-the-Night, the Sultan, Jamal, Dalzel, and Hasruel
Does my head look big in this by Randa Abdel-Fattah - Amal Mohamed Nasrullah Abdel-Hakim
Habibi by Naomi Shahib Nye - Liyana
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie - Haroun, Rasheed, Soraiyya
Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke - Farid
King of the Wind by Margarite Henry
Samir and Yonatan by Daniella Carmi - Samir
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind By Suzanne Fisher Staples - Shabanu
The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor - Ejimafor "Ejii" Ugabe
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville - Deeba Resham, Hass Resham, other family members
The Forbidden Game trilogy by L.J. Smith -- Aba (no other name given)
Angeline by Karleen Bradford - various characters
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry - various characters
The Carpet and the Phoenix by E. Nesbit



Anime/Manga
Full Metal Panic! - Sousuke Sagara, General Majhid, Belfangan Clouseau


Comics and Graphic Novels
Marvel - Justice/Josiah X/Josiah al hajj Sassiq, Arabian Knight/Abdul Quamar, Arabian Knight II, Arabian Knight III, Faiza Hussain/Excalibur, Dust/Sooraya Qadir, Sedara Bakut, Batal, Black Tiger/Abraham Brown, Aminedi, Veil, Black Raazer, Sirocco, Wild Rose/Rose Kugel, Farisa, Slaymaster
Brain Tablet - Muhammad Nur
DC/Vertigo - Aisha al-Fadhil, Ali
DC - Janissary/ Selma Tolon, Naif al-Sheikh, Rampart/Jaffar Ibn Haroun Al Raschid, Sinbad/Davood Nassur, Archer of Arabia, Cascade/Sujatmi Sunowaparti, Sandstorm, Mohammed Ibn Bornu, Scirocco, Super-Shayk, Muhammad X
Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman
Dykes To Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel - Samia
Wildstorm - Hamza, Damascus, The Doctor/Habib Ben Hassan
Filmation/CBS - Sinbad
Gauntlet - Shamal
Teshkeel Media (The 99) - Noora the Light, Jabbar the Powerful, Rughal, Dr. Ramzi Razem, Mumita the Destroyer, Bari the Healer, Darr the Afflicter, Jami the Assembler, Raqib the Watcher, Soora the Organizer, Hidayeh the Guide, Sami the Hearer,
IPC Media / 2000 A.D. - Snow
Elliot Publishing - Kismet
Quality - Alababa
Irrational Games; Electronic Arts - Green Genie
Comedy Central - Muhammad, Spanky Ham
Mampato/Fernando Mujica Fernandez - Bromisnar
Rima Khoreibi - Iman
Broadway - Mosque
Milestone - Wise Son/Hannibal White
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - various characters (If it's RPF, please avoid)

Comments

[marina]

There's also a main character on a very popular Israeli soap called HaAlufa (and by popular I mean it was the hottest thing on primetime), Jalal Kassum. I've never watched the show (I'm not much of a soap person) but I've seen him all over in ads and clips and whatnot and I do know he's a Muslim character (who has an affair with one of the Jewish characters).

So, um. There's him, if he counts for the purposes of this list.

[marina]

Also (god I hate not having a paid account on DW and hence no comment editing), I was wondering if the book Reading Lolita in Teheran counted, considering it's autobiographical. I'm not sure where it would fall in "realistic fiction", but putting it out there.

[dhobikikutti]

I'm going to have to say no to that one, because it's listed as non-fiction, and we have a no-RPF policy in place to avoid imbroglios.

[marina]

Ah, cool.

[dhobikikutti]

Ok, added all of these, and now we have a TV: Israeli category which fills me with glee. (Should I be listing these under languages? Hebrew?)
Please consider writing pimp posts/fic for any of these!

[marina]

I... don't know! Um, I don't think that would be super accurate though since both in TV shows and films Arab-Muslim characters tend to speak both Arabic and Hebrew, if not the other characters as well. Though the things I mentioned ARE all Jewish-Israeli productions.

Would you be interested in pimp posts about the films, or about the specific characters?

(OK now let me indugle in some insanity, since this post is to blame for it, I might as well share:
roga and I have spent over an hour on chat now researching and trying to come up with more stuff (because seriously NOT ENOUGH MUSLIM CHARACTERS ON THAT LIST WTF) and as a result I got exposed to clips from HaAlufa and now I am afraid of getting addicted to a soap opera (WHY WHY WHY) but I mean, this clip totally got to me. This is about Jalal, an Arab-Muslim Israeli player on a soccer team in Israel and Daria, daughter of the Jewish owner of the team. Their relationship is constantly sobtaged by various character (until they get their happy ending that is) and at some point Jalal introduces announced to Daria that he has a(n Arab-Muslim) fiancee and so it's over between them.
I, um, liked the clip so much I actually... translated it to English O_o
Jalal: I told you I have a fiancee
Daria: You haven't said you don't love me.
Jalal: why are you doing this?
Daria: cos I know you. I see how you're looking at me, I know you're lying to me.
Jalal: In what way?
Daria: In not telling me the truth! I don't know, you're trying to protect me or something! you don't really have a fiancee, do you?
Jalal: No, I do have a fiancee!
Daria: You know what? Tell me you love me and it won't matter, even if you have a fiancee I'll wait for you. I'll be your mistress, how's that?
Jalal: Why are you doing this to yourself?
Daria: Cos I wanna know what they told you. I want to know who spoke to you.
Jalal: No one spoke to me! This is the reality - start accepting--
Daria: I don't have a problem accepting reality, I have a problem accepting your lies! So tell me, how old is Yasmin?
Jalal: 20
Daria: What's her sign?
Jalal: Libra
Daria: What month was she born?
Jalal: October
Daria: Oh, just like you?
Jalal: Yeah just like me.
Daria: Do you love her?
Jalal: Daria, stop!
Daria: Don't you understand? It doesn't matter what they told you - you don't have to protect me, we have a love that's true and vast and do you know how rare that is? People look for that their entire lives and can't find it, and we found it! So what, you just want to throw it away just like that?
Jalal: I don't love you.
Daria: Thank you. OK that's what I came here to hear. Bye.
Jalal: Daria! Daria! Wai...
ANYWAY CARRY ON I WAS NEVER HERE I DO NOT NEED TO BE ADMITTED TO A MENTAL HOSPITAL WHAT)

[dhobikikutti]

Oh. My. God.
If that translation does not sell the show, I don't know what can.
That is AWESOME.

So, madam, I am putting you and roga down for at least two posts during Ramadan, where you will pimp out the glories of this wonderful soap, and any other show/film of your choice.
Because clearly, it is your duty to sell this to the world. For the greater good. ::stern look::

(I am now contemplating writing a drabble for Days of Awesome just based off this scene.)

Edited to actually answer your questions: You can pimp show or character, its up to you, and I'll keep it classified as Israeli unless anyone objects. Thanks!

[marina]

Um, in case it wasn't clear in my original comment (I don't think it was!) I meant that I'm in favor calling it Israeli and not Hebrew, cos Hebrew wouldn't be super accurate.

LOL DUDE TOTALLY DO THAT. Jalal and Daria end up moving to Italy together and becoming guest stars on the show in its second season, so there's plenty of room for fic.

And yeah sure, sign me up for that stuff :) IDK about roga of course, you'll have to ask her.

OMG SORRY IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO RESPOND COS I JUST GOT TOTALLY SUCKED INTO THIS STORYLINE ON YOUTUBE (WHY AM I WATCHING A SOAP OPERA?!). Daria's (Jewish) boyfriend Dovi, the main atagonist, filmed them having sex and informed them he's got the footage. Daria and Jalal then ty to deal with. As usual, Jalal's eager for Daria to dump him to get her out of harm's way but she refuses to give up.
Jalal: Daria don't you udnerstand? If the fans see this, they'll... they'll call you "an Arab's whore".
Daria: so they'll call me that. Twice, 3, 4 times. It'll get old.
Jalal: IT WILL NEVER GET OLD!
Daria: Fine, then we'll just have to get used to it!
Jalal: Daria don't you understand? You're... I would never marry you.
Daria: Excuse me? Who the hell said I wanted to marry you? What, did I propose to you without noticing?
Jalal: :O
Daria: What?
Jalal: I just... feel so used. Now that I know you only wanted me for my body. :(
AHAHAHAHA
And then there's this clip (at 0:34) where Dovi bursts into their room in the morning (this is after Jalal has supposedly beaten the shit out of him in some scene I can't find) and Daria totally flips out ("I swear I'm going to put you in prison Dovi and when they rape you I'm going to film it and put it online!"):
Dovi: but I'm your boyfriend!
Daria: NO DOVI YOU ARE MY EX FROM HELL
Dovi: (almost crying) how am I supposed to feel when I walk in here and see him like this, wrapped in that towel?!
And then the whole scene Daria is spitting mad, Dovi is completely brain-breaky and hysterical and Jalal is all like "Oh hey dude, come on, sit down, let's talk about this, let's sort this out."
I DON'T EVEN KNOW. IS IT THE LATE HOUR OR IS THIS AS AWESOME AS IT SEEMS?

[marina]

Aaaaaand to make up for me basically becoming a Jalal fangirl all over your (pretty unrelated) post, I'll also put up:

The Lemon Tree - Salma, Ziad Daud. I haven't watched the film - I don't watch a lot of Israeli cinema, something I'm trying to work on - but it did win a bunch of awards got very good reviews.

Syriana - Prince Nasir Al-Subaai & related characters
Body of Lies - Hani Salaam, Aisha

[dhobikikutti]

Finally updated to add these. The Lemon Tree sounds lovely, I hope I can get my hands on a copy to watch someday. And Jalal and Daria are still the most Epic Thing Evar.