so i have finally read rick's explanation about his muslim character, and as a fellow muslim reader, i have some thoughts too — https://twitter.com/rickriordan/status/1282467172464435200

before we go to my what i think about it, let me just say that my thoughts regarding his explanation about it doesn't represent the muslim community as a whole, this is just my own opinion and it is based on the practices i grew up in —

first off, i would like to acknowledge the research rick has done in order to shape samirah's character as accurate as possible, which means that he definitely has no intentions to harm readers with bad representation

+ oh gods he fasted for a month and memorized a surah? wow

my opinion about his first mistake (the ramadan one)

not gonna lie, me and my family have encountered this rule too! but we rejected it after asking some imam's and experts, rick should've done more research to that

it's good that it has been edited and removed, there's that

regarding to the scene where samirah took off her hijab in front of magnus, well, personally it disturbed me, bc my family would never allow that to happen

but the hijab rules r tricky, and different from every family, based on what i have encountered, so it's a 50/50 for me

the arranged marraige part

i'm very very ok with it, in fact, i think rick has done a great job on it, i can say that this situation with amir and samirah is very much relatable, for the same has happened to some relatives of mine,

i also liked it because +

their relationship is consensual and they love each other

on the fact that they are distant cousins,,, oof, well im okay with it bc i know some relatives of my relatives that are like that,

in my opinion it's fine, BUT, if they are like, first or second cousins, then no ew wtf

this is where it gets controversial,,,

regarding to the "allahu akbar" thingy, when i first read the excerpt that circulated my tl, i got very VERY mad bc why tf would magnus think that?! it's very insensitive and i got disappointed for rick bc of that

but then +

i read the full scene and also read rick's explanation about it and its context, so i changed my opinion abt it and i actually realized that it's not bad at all? idk

i know a lot of irl friends who would think the exact same thing that magnus have thought of, it's sad but it's +

the reality, i guess it's engrained to a lot of non-muslim's mindset (the "allahu akbar = terrorist" one), that makes me sad and angry but again it's true and realistic,

but what i ended up loving in the scene is the part where samirah taught magnus about it, the fact that +

they are open for discussions about it is good enough for me to change my opinion,

rick is brave and reckless for doing this, but i can also agree that he could've wrote the scene more better and detailed,

also i just realized that i had the same enounter once with my cmate soo

lastly, yes i also agree that it's not islamophobic, it's just a matter of misinformation
(note: as a muslim human being i will say this: it is not our job to inform u people about our culture and tradition and stuff, we're just a regular human being, so we do not owe u anything)

if u ever offended me bc of my religion and u blame me bc i didn't inform u about it? beach it's not my fault u're uneducated, it's not the muslim people's job to educate everyone (that applies to other situations too! like poc and stuff)

welp i just want to put it there lol

final thoughts: of course rick has made mistakes about his representation, but im not surprised abt it bc i went into the books with low expections anyway (low expectations for the rep not the plot), after all, rick is a straight white man, he's prone to mistakes

i would not kiss rick's ass for introducing a female muslim badass character, but overall im still glad he made a character like her, it's not a perfect representation, but it's a start, but i don't think it's an awful representation as well, just needs more research

so i would like to thank my fellow muslims for pointing this out to rick!! u guys r the best i love u all!! thank u thank u for calling out rick about this one ily ily

there's more mistakes but im not going to say my opinion abt that bc i think it's not my place to do it??

also just one tiny request? to the non-muslims out there who r very very loud abt this samirah situation, can u pls tone it down a bit? it's kinda overpowering the actual muslim's opinion, but ofc thank u for being vocal, ty for using ur privilege to help us, ily all

that's all ty

wait so if ure a muslim and u have read this thread and u find urself disagreeing to what ive said, i just want to say that it's fine! u have the right to be upset and angry and disappointed if u feel like rick did a bad job of representation, again im just basing this from my +

life experiences (im a muslim living in a catholic country), we all have our own different experience,s therefore we might interpret the texts differently, so again, all our opinions are definitely valid!! very very valid ily all