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The Islamic roots of *Star Wars*
This is even better than having a Muslim President:
...the Arabic word for "great," akbar, has been adapted into George Lucas's Star Wars franchise, in the form of Admiral Ackbar, a heroic character and military commander whose success in space helps Luck Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance repel Darth Vader's Galactic Empire. Featured in Return of the Jedi, Ackbar is just one of many characters and settings in the Star Wars universe that have an Arabic background. Luke Skywalker's home planet, Tatooine, takes its name from the Tunisian city of Tataouine (al-Tataouine in Arabic). Darth Vader's home planet is Mustafar, a slight variation of Mustafa, an Arabic name that means "the chosen one" (and is one of 99 names for the Muslim prophet Muhammad). Attack of the Clones showcases Queen Jamilla, whose name is a slight variation of jamilla, an Arabic word for "beautiful." And Revenge of the Sith features Senator Meena Tills, whose first name means "heaven" in Arabic.
That is from Jonathan Curiel's often interesting Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots. The book also has an intriguing discussion of Islamic influences on the architecture of the World Trade Center.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 4, 2009 at 07:44 AM in Film, Religion | Permalink
Comments
It's a trap!
Posted by: james B. at Jun 4, 2009 8:06:46 AM
In the title of your post, shouldn't it be "references in" rather than "roots of"?
D here.
Posted by: Daniel Klein at Jun 4, 2009 8:45:07 AM
I don't know all the reasons for the Arabic names, but it isn't surprising that they named Skywalker's home planet, Tatooine, after a Tunisian city; after all, that portion of Star Wars was filmed in Tunisia.
Posted by: Craig at Jun 4, 2009 8:45:58 AM
Overreaching. Maybe in later Star Wars films it became more conscious & took on a life of its own, but originally the "Arabic" influence on Star Wars primarily came by way of cribbing concepts/settings from Dune, methinks (in which the influence is direct and intentional and literal within the story, of course).
Posted by: Sonic Charmer at Jun 4, 2009 9:03:26 AM
On the other hand, Luke's Mom is named Shmi, as in Hindu's Lakshmi.
Posted by: NE1 at Jun 4, 2009 10:14:02 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Darth Vader's home planet is Tatooine, not Mustafar.
Posted by: Nate at Jun 4, 2009 10:29:53 AM
I always thought Meena was a hindu name -- short for Meenakshi
Posted by: charlie at Jun 4, 2009 10:46:13 AM
Can somebody tell me, are Walid Jumblatt and his Druze militia real, or inventions of George Lucas?
Posted by: Duncan at Jun 4, 2009 10:50:32 AM
Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" figured heavily in Lucas' writing of the original storyline. The book focused on various cultures' religious/mythic traditions...so there are plenty of cultural traditions represented in the franchise.
Posted by: Noah at Jun 4, 2009 11:16:54 AM
Yes, but the writing on Darth Vader's breastplate is in Hebrew...
Posted by: Fazal Majid at Jun 4, 2009 11:37:21 AM
If you go to Tatooine, Tunisia, you can still see the set of Luke Skywalker's boyhood home in one of the troglodyte dwellings. Because of the aridity, the set has deteriorated very little over the last 30 years, even though much of the high-tech looking stuff is just painted foam rubber.
The dwelling was once a personal house but is now a very inexpensive hotel, where the rooms are dug into the side of the caves. I stayed a couple of nights at the hotel in late 2007. A rather surreal experience.
Posted by: KingM at Jun 4, 2009 11:42:46 AM
If you go to Tatooine, Tunisia, you can still see the set of Luke Skywalker's boyhood home in one of the troglodyte dwellings. Because of the aridity, the set has deteriorated very little over the last 30 years, even though much of the high-tech looking stuff is just painted foam rubber.
The dwelling was once a personal house but is now a very inexpensive hotel, where the rooms are dug into the side of the caves. I stayed a couple of nights at the hotel in late 2007. A rather surreal experience.
Posted by: KingM at Jun 4, 2009 11:43:10 AM
Mustafar was the volcanic planet at the end of Revenge of the Sith where Obi-wan Kenobi fought Anakin Skywalker and where Anakin sustained his lava-related injuries. Much more at, uh, Wookieepedia.
Posted by: mobile at Jun 4, 2009 12:05:52 PM
As noted earlier, Tatooine is Anakin Skywalker's (Darth Vader) home planet, while Mustafar is the site of the duel between Obi-Wan and Vader which led to our tragic hero's downfall.
Posted by: Paul B at Jun 4, 2009 12:06:13 PM
Admiral Ackbar should have been called Captain Obvious, on top of the fact that if Lando hadn't convinced him to not retreat the Empire would have won. What does "Lando" mean in Arabic?
Posted by: James at Jun 4, 2009 12:57:18 PM
Lucas uses obvious philologic symbolism in the Star Wars saga from various languages, e.g., Jabba and Chewbacca are close to the Russian words for "frog" and "dog" and whadyaknow, they resemble those animals. Sebulba, a bad guy, sounds like Spanish word for "onion," etc.
Posted by: Dan at Jun 4, 2009 1:53:02 PM
All certainly better names than his "Nute Gunray."
Posted by: John Thacker at Jun 4, 2009 2:16:18 PM
The Living Force stuff seemed like it had been borrowed from Sufi Islam. I read somewhere the five pillars of the Jedi Temple were conceptually borrowed from the five pillars of Islam.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at Jun 4, 2009 2:26:52 PM
Well, but let's not slight American Shriners, who have their Omar, Hejaz, etc., temple names emblazoned on their funky fezes . . . .
Posted by: Edward Burke at Jun 4, 2009 8:38:13 PM
Meena is a common Indian name, and through derivation a not unusual Thai name. It is also the foundation of the name in Thai for the month of March, Meenakom. I understand it has something to do with fish and may be related to the astrological symbol for pisces.
Posted by: Jack at Jun 4, 2009 10:45:22 PM
You realize, of course that we don't actually have a muslim president...
Posted by: Andrew at Jun 4, 2009 11:47:16 PM
@jack: That's correct. The Thai calendar derives from the Bengali solar calendar (that being the part of India Buddhist missionaries came from.) Meena ("the fish") = Pisces. Another fun fact; both the Indians and the Greeks got their zodiacal signs from the Chaldeans which is why they correspond so closely.
@charlie: Meena the girls name comes from the zodiac sign not a short form of Meenakshi (a Goddess) though thats a semi-popular girls name too.
Posted by: jaldhar at Jun 5, 2009 12:22:34 AM
You mean Arabic roots, not really Islamic roots...
Posted by: Ali at Jun 5, 2009 9:44:55 AM
Just as a quick note, The closest word in Arabic to "Meena" is "mina" which can be translated to port. The most popular word for Heaven, and there are many, is "Jannah"... *Sniff*
Posted by: Christoff Cellanetto at Jun 5, 2009 9:00:50 PM
Nute Gunray was based on Ronald Wilson Reagan?
Posted by: Seamus Buscuit at Jul 19, 2009 11:02:11 PM
