Islam and Science Fiction interviews Yahiya Emerick
Islam and Science Fiction has an interview with educator and author Yahiya Emerick. Here’s an excerpt:
Do you think there is a general lack of interest in Science Fiction in the Muslim community?
Yahya Emerick: Not to sound alarmist, but it has been my experience that any type of fiction in general has had a hard time opening the door in most Muslim homes in the Western world. This is ironic given that Muslim immigrants come from cultures that are rich in folklore, mythology and the ever-present ‘jinn stories’ which could easily be transformed into a love for alien stories! I’ve known the odd Muslim kid here and there who likes sci-fi/fantasy, but there’s not been any real groundswell of interest there.
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There is some overlap between folklore and SF. Certainly some fairy-tale tropes survive in SF literature — as in popular fiction in general.
That being said, I would argue that science fiction literature is fundamentally different from folklore, in that it comes with a different set of assumptions about reality.
SF is very much about perceiving reality and time in perspective (prime example: H.G. Wells’ THE TIME MACHINE). In folklore, time is very much perceived as circular or non-linear.
Question: Do some cultures still perceive time as non-linear or without “perspective”? How would this affect the way SF is being read in these cultures?