A comic artist has been fired from Marvel for including apparent anti-christian and anti-semitic references in a new spinoff of the popular X-Men comic strip. Indonesian man Adrian Syaf made explicit references to religious and political divisions in his country in issue one of X-Men: Gold, citing a verse of the Koran that urges Muslims not to trust Jews and Christians.
One of the controversial drawings showed X-Men character Colossus playing baseball while wearing a t-shirt with ‘QS 5:51’ emblazoned across his chest. Verse 5.51 in the Koran is commonly translated as “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.”
While the references went over the heads of most readers, people in Indonesia immediately spotted the reference and highlighted it on social media.
The verse is currently being used as part of a protest against Basuki “Ahok” Purnama Tjahaja, the first Christian governor of Jakarta. In a speech, the governor claimed hardline Muslim leaders who oppose him had cited the verse in efforts to turn voters against him.
This sparked a huge backlash with at least 200,000 Muslims taking to the streets of Jakarta to protest on December 2, demanding that the state arrest and prosecute the governor for insulting Islam. Tjahaja is currently on trial with a verdict not due until after an upcoming election.
“Marvel has terminated Ardian Syaf’s contract effective immediately,” the company said in a statement to Comicbook.com. Syaf’s work will feature in works that have already been sent to the printer however it will be replaced in upcoming issues.
“The mentioned artwork in X-Men Gold #1 was inserted without knowledge behind its reported meanings. These implied references do not reflect the views of the writer, editors or anyone else at Marvel and are in direct opposition of the inclusiveness of Marvel Comics and what the X-Men have stood for since their creation,” Marvel said.
My career is over now. It’s the consequence what I did, and I take it,” Syaf said in a Facebook post that has since been deleted.
“Please no more mockery, debat [sic], no more hate… In this last chance, I want to tell you the true meaning of the numbers, 212 and QS 5:51. It is number of JUSTICE. It is number of LOVE. My love to Holy Qur’an… my love to the last prophet, the Messenger… my love to ALLAH, The One God.”
Source: https://www.rt.com/viral/384550-marvel-comic-fired-religion-references/
