traditional folk art, modern print publications,
and commercial art. Islamic comics have several
different kinds of themes. Some involve holy fig-
ures mentioned in the qUran or famous people
in early Islamic history. Muslim prophets such
as abraham and mUhammad are never portrayed
in human form in these publications. Rather,
such comics depict a landscape or a burst bubble
accompanied by a speech bubble or narration
box containing the prophet’s words, while the
prophet himself remains invisible. Other people
are shown in human form, however. Another kind
of Islamic comic seeks to teach the importance of
performing one’s ritual obligations, living a pious
life, or adhering to the ethical values of Islam.
Muslim periodicals published in Europe and
North America contain comics for children that
address similar issues. These are also intended
to help youth learn about their religious heritage
in secular societies where they are in the minor-
ity. On the other hand, anti-Islamic comics have
been published in the United States and Europe
by individuals and groups seeking to convert
Muslims or criticize or insult their beliefs and
practices. Such activity, while it is allowed in the
name of freedom of the press, has provoked angry
responses, as witnessed in Europe in 2006 when
the publication of unsympathetic cartoon images
of Muhammad in Denmark and other countries
sparked demonstrations by immigrant Muslims
in Europe and outraged Muslims in other parts of
the world.
See also (^) books and bookmaking; calligraphy;
eUrope; Folklore.
Further reading: Allen Douglas and Fedwa Malti-Doug-
las, Arab Comic Strips: Politics of an Emerging Mass Cul-
ture (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994); “It’s
a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s... Nabil Fawzi!” Saudi Aramco
21 (March/April 1970): 18–25; Frances Prichett, “The
World of Amar Chitra Katha.” In Media and the Trans-
formation of Religion in South Asia, edited by Lawrence
A. Babb and Susan S. Wadley, 76–106 (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).
communism
One of the most important expressions of political
ideology, social organization, revolutionary action,
and economic development to appear in the 19th
and 20th centuries was communism. Its founding
figure was Karl Marx (d. 1883), a German intel-
lectual and journalist, who argued that history
was an ongoing struggle between the haves and
the have-nots (the rich and the poor) over control
of wealth. He believed that history would end with
the triumph of the working class over the exploit-
ative holders of capital, bringing about a peaceful,
classless society in which wealth was shared com-
munally. Communism, also known as Marxism,
inspired social and revolutionary movements in
eUrope, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Several of
these movements were able to establish central-
ized dictatorial regimes run by communist parties
in Russia (known as the Soviet Union from 1917
to 1991), Yugoslavia, china, North Korea, Viet-
nam, and most of the countries in Eastern Europe.
These governments were strongly opposed to
organized religion, because they believed that reli-
gion represented the established interests of the
old order and that it perpetuated false ideas about
human nature, economy, and society. By the end
of the 20th century, the majority of governments
under communist control had fallen except those
of China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba. The
decline of communism at the end of the century
coincided with the resurgence of political Islam,
and some scholars have seen a causal relationship
between the two phenomena.
During the 20th century, Islam encountered
communism in three ways: 1) intermittent sub-
jugation of Muslim populations by communist
governments in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe,
China, yemen, and aFghanistan; 2) overt opposi-
tion by conservative Islamic states such as Saudi
Arabia to communist governments and parties;
and 3) competition among rival Islamic and com-
munist party organizations in their opposition to
undemocratic and authoritarian right-wing gov-
ernments and occupying powers. Many Muslims
K 160 communism