Okay, so a bit of a heads up here. I'm not Arab or Persian or really that much of an expert on Islam & Middle Eastern Folklore, but I am studying such things and am likely a little more knowledgeable than the average person and have a good idea of what might be offensive or jarringly inaccurate. I have been studying Islam and as an extension Islamic cultures to some degree, and also reading up on Al Qadim. I think despite the obvious orientalism, there are some good ideas there with regards how to create adventures that draw from a different set of folklore. Zakhara largely disappeared for 4E. Afterall, you still have Calimshan et. all for Middle Eastern-ish adventures, which for some people might work better. But given the prominence of creatures like Jinn, Ghouls, Rocs, Golems, it makes sense to elaborate a bit more on the Middle Eastern, North African & Muslim influenced areas.
I'm honestly sure if this is something that should even be attempted. It is a sort of appropriation, but at the same time if we're remixing European cultural elements, shouldn't we remix others? I'm not sure, but here's some of the ideas I came up with. Buckle in for some Theology and rants about Jinn and stuff.
Religion: Fate and the "8 Enlightened Gods"
This is the bit that confounded me in a lot of ways. The Realms is largely incompatible with Monotheism(or so the theory goes), but yet in "Fate", we have something that does resemble how certain schools of theology see the Monotheistic/Abrahamic God. We have all this Islamic terminology lifted very plainly(Caliphs, Mosques, "haraam" etc.) outside of the context of Islam which is... a bit odd, to say the least, given Islam's emphasis on monotheism. It's sort of ambiguous as to what Fate is - it's said that Fate is "not a god" and people don't "worship" Fate, but yet have stories of people turning to/praying to Fate for favour, and believing they had some result. This sort of weird technicality and the contradictions between remind me of how different schools of theology resolve concepts like Tawhid, Shirk etc. and what exactly constitutes "worship". For example Wahhabists(the equivalent of which would be the Pantheist league, I guess). The Loregiver herself seems to be an analogue for Abraham(combined with Scheherazade?), and the first unnamed Caliph the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH). Jinn are part of the "Enlightened Faith" just as how they are an integral part of Islam.
The 8 Gods themselves, like Fate, do not resemble the other gods having neither clear alignments or domains, but embodying certain characteristics.
My view of how to make it a more accurate "pseudo Islam" while still keeping it fairly Realms compatible - make it obvious "Fate" is some notion of a monotheistic God. The 8 Enlightened Gods are figures more akin to Saints(like the Sufi saints) or the companions of the Prophet who are revered in temples rather than worshipped, to appeal to the more inherently Polytheistic setting in the realms. But ultimately "Fate" is the only true divinity, and nothing should be partnered with her(Shirk) as she's conceptually different from the "Gods" of the Realms(including perhaps even Ao). In a lot of real Islamic cultures - it's common to revere spirits & Sufi saints alongside Islam, and in Catholic cultures like Ireland gods and goddess are reimagined as fairies, legendary figures and saints. In Alevism, a somewhat controversial sect of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and Ali(RA) are "representations of Allah's light"(one could potentially the Gods of other religions as such).
This is how some people resolve for example the apparently staunchly monotheistic Islam with the faith of their Hindu neighbours(which actually fits with some concepts of Hinduism quite a bit). I think something like this works best for The Enlightened Fate - everyone reveres Fate, just like all Muslims revere Allah(SWT) - but then there's also the Companions, previous Prophets, Sufi Saints, the Jinn, various folk & legendary figures that are revered(though not "worshipped"). From the perspective of outsiders - Fate is not a God and is not Worshipped because you can't be a Cleric of Fate and draw down spells. It's not how it works, because Fate is a abstract concept more than anything, as is "God" for a lot of people. But people still clearly pray to Fate(in places called Mosques/Masjid), and believe they receive some favour.
Nizaris have some particularly interesting ideas about the nature of God, as did the Mu'tazilas, so some interesting reading there.
Jinn: not just Whispy & Firey dudes!
"Jinn" is somewhat of a broad concept, that refers to "unseen" creatures, spirits or what have you. Of course in D&D, we have a habit of making the unseen the seen, and you'll regularly encounter a gaggle of pixies or efreet wyvern gangs on the way down to the local +2 item store. The Al Qadim Monstrous Compendium is actually pretty interesting, compared to how Jinn are presented in Core D&D and since 2nd ED, as it contains a lot of creatures that would be considered Jinn, not just the obvious Air Jinn, Efreets and the like. http://aliftheunseen.com/the-five-types-of-jinn/ <- In Alif the Unseen, G Willow Wilson has some pretty interesting ideas as to how Jinn work, and I definitely recommend reading it for ideas.
Particularly of interest are the Fae-like Shapeshifters like the Silat/Si'lah - though where they(in the Monster Compendium) got the idea they were hags is anyone guess.
Basically, while Jinn are strongly linked with the elements(being born of "smokeless fire", Efreets generally being associated with Fire, Marids with Water, Sakina with Air etc.) it also makes sense for them to be associated with the Feywild, in varying degrees(where the "Unseen creatures) live. Similar to how pre 4E Eladrin/Noble Eladrin were "Celestial Fae", Jinn are perhaps a similar intersection. People often believe animals, insects to be Jinn in disguise(and some humans), and a lot of Jinn(like the Silah) are associated with animalistic features, sometimes multiples at once.
What might the Feywild/Faerie look like in Al Qadim(as with Zakhara, Semphar and others)? Probably a little like the Feywild of elsewhere, but also it'd be very much the "Land of the Jinn". It'd look different from the floating palaces they had in the Elemental Plane of Air, belonging more firmly to the Fae-like Jinn. Again, the descriptions in Alif the Unseen might be useful here - pink skies, sparkling sand, etc. though of course being the Feywild you can expect more greenery.
Jinn won't always lift apart or separate from humans though. In the Qu'ran, the Queen of Sheba, Bilqis, was said to have an Efreet as a servant. Likely, the service and favour of Jinns(as opposed to outright enslaving them) might be seen as a sign of favour from Fate or good luck. However also, people will be wary of interaction with the Jinn because of how different their ways of thought can be, and because they try to teach humans dangerous magic. Sha'irs may be viewed with strong suspicion and even distaste in certain areas of Zakhara.
Exactly what constitutes a "Jinn" here is ambiguous. In 4E there's an obvious "Fey origin" so you know if a feature is Fey - though then you have half-elves etc. who obviously have some Feyness but aren't explicitly stated as such. With Jinn you might want to run with a "Jinn origin" to distinct creatures linked to the Elemental Chaos/Planes, but perhaps also Al Qadim's Feywild(at least the parts of the Jinn occupy!). Possibly Jinn both refers to creatures of an Arabic & Persian origin, extending somewhat towards North/East Africa & India. But also it might refer to all "unseen" creatures, like the Fae. As with the religion, people from Al Qadim may have a different perspective as to what constitutes what, which may be confusing from characters not native to the land.
Distant Lands & Demiplanes: Calimshan, Semphar, the City of Brass.
Al Qadim isn't the only place where Islamic & Middle Eastern terminology shows up. We also have, famously, Calimshan and the surrounding areas, and also Semphar, which has towns who's names were clearly lifted from real-life Iran, in a fit of blatant proxy-ing.
We talked a bit about demiplanes already, with the elemental planes and the feywild. Of course, we can't bring up the Elemental Planes without the City of Brass. And when we look at that, it becomes obvious that thanks to the aforementioned Jinn, a lot of places both in Faerun and across the universe are culturally linked. We know people were taken from Zakhara and dumped into Calimshan at some point in it's history, and thusly is explained having two seperate "Middle Easts" on Toril. Then you also have places like the Five Kingdoms, and more blatantly Semphar. How did this come about? Presumably the same way people came to Calimshan, and the same way adventurers end up in the City of Brass after spending a while in either Calimshan or Zakhara. The Jinn link all these different areas with trade, and culture.
As such - if you're running a game set in Al Qadim, you might want to mention how certain things are cultural imports from Semphar. How the Assassins have another sect in the Fortress of the Old Man(much like how they existed in both Syria & Persia), or mention Alzhedo as another(pseudo-Turkish infused, however that happened) dialect of Midani. Speaking of Calimshan - which mirrors Ottoman Occupied Arabia or Levant somewhat - it serves as a sort of cultural link between Faerun and Al Qadim, much like how Turkey is the gateway between Europe and Asia. Setting an adventure in Calimshan, you may come across less pronounced elements of Zakharan culture - the Enlightened Faith etc. in a manner that's more approachable to outsiders. You may have people who've "Gone to work in Zakhara", whisked off on some Jinn transportation network. The mountains may separate Al Qadim from the rest of Toril somewhat, but there's plenty of ways around that!
Thinking of other cultural links could be useful - sailors from Al Qadim are bound to set out for areas like Malatra for example, mimicking the real life spread of Islam towards Malaysia/South East Asia. Of course, the Corsairs will be causing a lot of trouble for people, potentially. Given Zakhara's attitude to outsiders, often(which is somewhat of a bad stereotype you may want to play down), it may also be useful to display it as somewhat more "advanced" than Faerun mirroring the Islamic golden age. As such, Zakhara may do quite a bit of trade with Lantan, and Artificers may be a much more common class. "Science" may be more of a thing there, which would thoroughly confuse a lot of outsiders.
Anyway that's what I have for now. Hopefully I haven't bored anyone or misrepresented something too badly. I'll probably come back to this thread later, but I'm interested in what others(especially if anyone is of a Muslim/middle eastern background) might think.
I'm honestly sure if this is something that should even be attempted. It is a sort of appropriation, but at the same time if we're remixing European cultural elements, shouldn't we remix others? I'm not sure, but here's some of the ideas I came up with. Buckle in for some Theology and rants about Jinn and stuff.
Religion: Fate and the "8 Enlightened Gods"
This is the bit that confounded me in a lot of ways. The Realms is largely incompatible with Monotheism(or so the theory goes), but yet in "Fate", we have something that does resemble how certain schools of theology see the Monotheistic/Abrahamic God. We have all this Islamic terminology lifted very plainly(Caliphs, Mosques, "haraam" etc.) outside of the context of Islam which is... a bit odd, to say the least, given Islam's emphasis on monotheism. It's sort of ambiguous as to what Fate is - it's said that Fate is "not a god" and people don't "worship" Fate, but yet have stories of people turning to/praying to Fate for favour, and believing they had some result. This sort of weird technicality and the contradictions between remind me of how different schools of theology resolve concepts like Tawhid, Shirk etc. and what exactly constitutes "worship". For example Wahhabists(the equivalent of which would be the Pantheist league, I guess). The Loregiver herself seems to be an analogue for Abraham(combined with Scheherazade?), and the first unnamed Caliph the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH). Jinn are part of the "Enlightened Faith" just as how they are an integral part of Islam.
The 8 Gods themselves, like Fate, do not resemble the other gods having neither clear alignments or domains, but embodying certain characteristics.
My view of how to make it a more accurate "pseudo Islam" while still keeping it fairly Realms compatible - make it obvious "Fate" is some notion of a monotheistic God. The 8 Enlightened Gods are figures more akin to Saints(like the Sufi saints) or the companions of the Prophet who are revered in temples rather than worshipped, to appeal to the more inherently Polytheistic setting in the realms. But ultimately "Fate" is the only true divinity, and nothing should be partnered with her(Shirk) as she's conceptually different from the "Gods" of the Realms(including perhaps even Ao). In a lot of real Islamic cultures - it's common to revere spirits & Sufi saints alongside Islam, and in Catholic cultures like Ireland gods and goddess are reimagined as fairies, legendary figures and saints. In Alevism, a somewhat controversial sect of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and Ali(RA) are "representations of Allah's light"(one could potentially the Gods of other religions as such).
This is how some people resolve for example the apparently staunchly monotheistic Islam with the faith of their Hindu neighbours(which actually fits with some concepts of Hinduism quite a bit). I think something like this works best for The Enlightened Fate - everyone reveres Fate, just like all Muslims revere Allah(SWT) - but then there's also the Companions, previous Prophets, Sufi Saints, the Jinn, various folk & legendary figures that are revered(though not "worshipped"). From the perspective of outsiders - Fate is not a God and is not Worshipped because you can't be a Cleric of Fate and draw down spells. It's not how it works, because Fate is a abstract concept more than anything, as is "God" for a lot of people. But people still clearly pray to Fate(in places called Mosques/Masjid), and believe they receive some favour.
Nizaris have some particularly interesting ideas about the nature of God, as did the Mu'tazilas, so some interesting reading there.
Jinn: not just Whispy & Firey dudes!
"Jinn" is somewhat of a broad concept, that refers to "unseen" creatures, spirits or what have you. Of course in D&D, we have a habit of making the unseen the seen, and you'll regularly encounter a gaggle of pixies or efreet wyvern gangs on the way down to the local +2 item store. The Al Qadim Monstrous Compendium is actually pretty interesting, compared to how Jinn are presented in Core D&D and since 2nd ED, as it contains a lot of creatures that would be considered Jinn, not just the obvious Air Jinn, Efreets and the like. http://aliftheunseen.com/the-five-types-of-jinn/ <- In Alif the Unseen, G Willow Wilson has some pretty interesting ideas as to how Jinn work, and I definitely recommend reading it for ideas.
Particularly of interest are the Fae-like Shapeshifters like the Silat/Si'lah - though where they(in the Monster Compendium) got the idea they were hags is anyone guess.
Basically, while Jinn are strongly linked with the elements(being born of "smokeless fire", Efreets generally being associated with Fire, Marids with Water, Sakina with Air etc.) it also makes sense for them to be associated with the Feywild, in varying degrees(where the "Unseen creatures) live. Similar to how pre 4E Eladrin/Noble Eladrin were "Celestial Fae", Jinn are perhaps a similar intersection. People often believe animals, insects to be Jinn in disguise(and some humans), and a lot of Jinn(like the Silah) are associated with animalistic features, sometimes multiples at once.
What might the Feywild/Faerie look like in Al Qadim(as with Zakhara, Semphar and others)? Probably a little like the Feywild of elsewhere, but also it'd be very much the "Land of the Jinn". It'd look different from the floating palaces they had in the Elemental Plane of Air, belonging more firmly to the Fae-like Jinn. Again, the descriptions in Alif the Unseen might be useful here - pink skies, sparkling sand, etc. though of course being the Feywild you can expect more greenery.
Jinn won't always lift apart or separate from humans though. In the Qu'ran, the Queen of Sheba, Bilqis, was said to have an Efreet as a servant. Likely, the service and favour of Jinns(as opposed to outright enslaving them) might be seen as a sign of favour from Fate or good luck. However also, people will be wary of interaction with the Jinn because of how different their ways of thought can be, and because they try to teach humans dangerous magic. Sha'irs may be viewed with strong suspicion and even distaste in certain areas of Zakhara.
Exactly what constitutes a "Jinn" here is ambiguous. In 4E there's an obvious "Fey origin" so you know if a feature is Fey - though then you have half-elves etc. who obviously have some Feyness but aren't explicitly stated as such. With Jinn you might want to run with a "Jinn origin" to distinct creatures linked to the Elemental Chaos/Planes, but perhaps also Al Qadim's Feywild(at least the parts of the Jinn occupy!). Possibly Jinn both refers to creatures of an Arabic & Persian origin, extending somewhat towards North/East Africa & India. But also it might refer to all "unseen" creatures, like the Fae. As with the religion, people from Al Qadim may have a different perspective as to what constitutes what, which may be confusing from characters not native to the land.
Distant Lands & Demiplanes: Calimshan, Semphar, the City of Brass.
Al Qadim isn't the only place where Islamic & Middle Eastern terminology shows up. We also have, famously, Calimshan and the surrounding areas, and also Semphar, which has towns who's names were clearly lifted from real-life Iran, in a fit of blatant proxy-ing.
We talked a bit about demiplanes already, with the elemental planes and the feywild. Of course, we can't bring up the Elemental Planes without the City of Brass. And when we look at that, it becomes obvious that thanks to the aforementioned Jinn, a lot of places both in Faerun and across the universe are culturally linked. We know people were taken from Zakhara and dumped into Calimshan at some point in it's history, and thusly is explained having two seperate "Middle Easts" on Toril. Then you also have places like the Five Kingdoms, and more blatantly Semphar. How did this come about? Presumably the same way people came to Calimshan, and the same way adventurers end up in the City of Brass after spending a while in either Calimshan or Zakhara. The Jinn link all these different areas with trade, and culture.
As such - if you're running a game set in Al Qadim, you might want to mention how certain things are cultural imports from Semphar. How the Assassins have another sect in the Fortress of the Old Man(much like how they existed in both Syria & Persia), or mention Alzhedo as another(pseudo-Turkish infused, however that happened) dialect of Midani. Speaking of Calimshan - which mirrors Ottoman Occupied Arabia or Levant somewhat - it serves as a sort of cultural link between Faerun and Al Qadim, much like how Turkey is the gateway between Europe and Asia. Setting an adventure in Calimshan, you may come across less pronounced elements of Zakharan culture - the Enlightened Faith etc. in a manner that's more approachable to outsiders. You may have people who've "Gone to work in Zakhara", whisked off on some Jinn transportation network. The mountains may separate Al Qadim from the rest of Toril somewhat, but there's plenty of ways around that!
Thinking of other cultural links could be useful - sailors from Al Qadim are bound to set out for areas like Malatra for example, mimicking the real life spread of Islam towards Malaysia/South East Asia. Of course, the Corsairs will be causing a lot of trouble for people, potentially. Given Zakhara's attitude to outsiders, often(which is somewhat of a bad stereotype you may want to play down), it may also be useful to display it as somewhat more "advanced" than Faerun mirroring the Islamic golden age. As such, Zakhara may do quite a bit of trade with Lantan, and Artificers may be a much more common class. "Science" may be more of a thing there, which would thoroughly confuse a lot of outsiders.
Anyway that's what I have for now. Hopefully I haven't bored anyone or misrepresented something too badly. I'll probably come back to this thread later, but I'm interested in what others(especially if anyone is of a Muslim/middle eastern background) might think.
