God in HP World/Folktales and Religion

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 34134

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "blpurdom" <blpurdom at y...> wrote:

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "jchutney" <jchutney at y...> wrote:
> > IMO, HP is clearly an AU not meant to line up religiously with 
our 
> > world.  But then again, what Fantasy series does?  Perhaps 
I'm 
> > wrong (and I certainly don't mean to offend re:this Delicate 
> > Topic) but HP reminds me of the Alladin and Arabian Nights 
> > stories.  Magic is forbidden in Islam, just as it is in 
> > Christianity, and yet Muslim children are able to read theses 
> > stories of flying carpets, "friendly" genies, and sorcerers 
> > without jeopardizing their faith.  (Of course, I'm sure there are 
> > fanatical Mullahs out there ready to burn Sheherazade!).  In 
the 
> > Arabian Nights, the characters exist in a Muslim world (just 
as 
> > Harry exists in a "Christian world") and yet there are many AU 
> > aspects to these stories.  Couldn't HP be an English version 
of 
> > this type of story?
> 
> I could be wrong about this, but I thought that Arabian Nights 
> predated the advent of Islam to the Middle East.  Plus, not every 
> country in the Middle East converted at the same time or 
uniformly, 
> and even after individual countries did covert large parts of the 
> population, there were many nomads and isolated areas 
where old 
> beliefs persisted for a long time.  And even after Islam was the 
> rule rather than the exception in much of that part of the world, 
> old tales were still told that would seem to contradict the new 
> religion.  

According to Brittanica.com, the Qu'uran and the Hadith  
acknowledge the existence of jinn and ifrit (an inferior class  of 
jinn). These beings are of a lower order than angels, may be 
either good or evil, believers or unbelievers, and like human 
beings will face judgement. In Christian demonology all such 
spirits were considered  fallen and  evil, and would only invoke 
their magical powers on behalf of Men in order to snare them in 
delusion. 

The Arabian NIghts stories were probably first collected in the 
century following the establishment of Islam. I would guess 
Islamic elements were introduced by the scribes who recorded 
them in much the same way that Christian references were 
incorporated into Beowulf and The Mabinogion. 

Pippin