Hi, I'm not a Muslim but I am a Queer POC. I know how it feels to have a lack of representation or even acknowledgement of my kind of identity within media. I feel like the best way to create characters within certain circles that I'm not familiar with is to just ask people from there, so that's my aim with this post.

I have two characters who are both Muslim and Queer, and I don't want to create a depiction that feels inauthentic or disingenuous. So feel free to point out anything that I should change or even remove. These characters are yet to be given a name, so I'll just refer to them as "Character A" and "Character B". First, I want to receive feedback on some shared traits that these two have.

For those that would rather not read my wall of text, here is a TL;DR:

CHARACTER A & B
Superheroes that use verses from the Qur'an and/or Muslim scholars, preachers, e.t.c. to cast magic.
Concern regarding depicting Muslims and Islam through a harmful lens of mysticism surrounding non-Christian religions.
Should I give one character a hijab and have the other one without because not all Muslim women have them? Or should I give them both because I shouldn't try and continue to discuss the idea that hijabs is some kind of controversial thing, and there are so few hijabis in media in general.
Should I make the hijab colourful?

CHARACTER A
WLW, unsure if I should make her lesbian, fall under the bi umbrella or unspecified WLW.
Her parents are supportive of her homosexuality, but the rest of the family isn't. She and her parents left their home as a result.

CHARACTER B
Cousin to Character A.
Ran away to seek shelter with Character A's family because she's a transwoman.

Character A & B

They are both superheroes that uses that world's magic system. A concept that somewhat transcends mortal understanding, and requires certain amount of "channelling" through familiar concepts, such as casting in their native tongue or using certain phrases from influential people. For Character A & B this means that they cast their spells in Arabic. As for the "using certain verses", I wanted to explore the idea of using religious texts as a sort of "prayer" to cast their "intent". This is mainly because I have seen this sort of magic before, but the religion is almost always Christian. I wanted for their Muslim identity to be undeniable, and something they aren't ashamed of. The Magical community within this story isn't exclusive to any one group, it's a skill that any human can refine. It's a concept that transcends beyond just men and monsters, and therefore, transcends beyond a single culture and language.

But I worry if my depiction is sincere. I don't want to try and depict Islam as occult or demonic. For instance, Romani people have repeatedly asked not to be depicted as thieves or witches, and I do somewhat believe that there is a level of negative mysticism given to religions in the West that aren't Christian. So if need be, I'm willing to make Character A & B something that isn't connected with magic.

Some thoughts regarding their designs:

• I didn't want to connect the idea that Muslims, (in particular those from SWANA,) are inherently "masculine" or "not as feminine" than their non-coloured counterparts. You see, I want to see more muscular women within media, in particular action.
  • At the same time, I don't want to cement the idea that transwomen have to be hyper-feminine or "pass" to be enough of a woman. So to disallow transwomen from being muscular, I think I'm doing quite a bit of harm.
  • Solution: Do both. Make a Muslim character that's big muscular and one that maybe tones down on it a bit.
• I wanted to have my Muslim hero to have a hijab. I see too much demonisation of an extremely important piece of cultural identity.
  • But, I can't ignore that, yes, some women don't have a choice. I have met Muslim women who have a hijab, and I have met those that haven't. I want to continue to showcase the hijab as a woman's crown, not a prison.
  • So I faced a problem. I want to show a Muslim woman with a hijab, but I also want to show one without. To show that a Muslim woman isn't defined by if she wears a hijab or not, but at the same time, not spark a disingenuous idea of how Muslim women are.
    • Solution: Do both, maybe... So I could just have it so that Character A or Character B has a hijab and the other one doesn't. But I also questioned if this line of thinking is even correct. Is this perhaps like how the patriarchy controlled women through skirts? Forcing them to wear it and control how long it HAS TO be. Or is this a nonsensical debate that Islamophobes have created? It's about a woman's choice after all, much like skirts. If I make it all about hijabs and not the underlying issue of oppression, maybe I'm doing Muslim women a disservice by continuing a conversation that's perhaps not important.
    • So, I need some feedback regarding this. Am I just making a big fuss over nothing or not? I can just give them both hijabs, its a very important thing in media to show hijabs with how society currently views it. Honestly, I was thinking about making one girl have a vivid pink hijab, (inspired by a hijabi I saw with a cute matching outfit of pastel pink,) and the other one have a black one. I'm not sure why I don't see more colourfull hijabs, but I have noticed that they tend to be more discreet. White, black or tan is the most common one, but I've also seen some very creative ones too. Is colourful hijabs a more modern thing? If so, I would love to ask if its appropriate of me to give these characters some very colourful hijabs.
• NOT ABOUT THE DESIGNS BUT AN INSIGHT AS TO WHY I'M DOING THIS
• Quite some years ago, I listened to this SWANA girl in class, (I'm not sure if she's Muslim or what country she was from exactly.) She mentioned how she used to go to an all-girl's school and that one of the girls there confided to her and their friends about "not feeling like a girl." None of the girls had a problem with this and promised to keep it a secret. But the main reason why she told us this was that she wanted to make it clear that LGBT+ people exists everywhere, not just the First World.
  • It was quite enlightening listening to her. She gave me a much needed perspective about how people view corruption in societies they call home. For instance, she told us how she was arrested once for dressing "indecently", something that the arresting officers didn't explain further. She told us that she was wearing a hijab and that the length of the skirt she was wearing was below the knees. In other words, she was dressed decently, and these officers just wanted to abuse their power and harass a woman.
  • She continued by stating that the misuse of the Qur'an's text is shameful. That nowhere does it say that this is allowed, and that the politicians that continue to misrepresent it for their own needs is shameful. She was genuinely angry which was rare, as she's usually a positive and joyous person.
  • But I noticed a similarity to how the Bible was misused to further the needs of power-hungry people. Because of all of this, I couldn't just let people continue to look down on the culture belonging to Muslim and the people in SWANA. I don't want for people to hear the names of these cultures and think, "Oh yeah, those." Especially since we in the West have LITERALLY done the same.

Character A

One of the main characters, she is a sapphic woman, (undecided if I should make her lesbian, under the bi-umbrella or if I should leave it unspecified so that sapphics are free to interpret it as they please.) Her mother and father are supportive of her identity, but the rest aren't. As a result, they immigrated to the country the story takes place in, (a fictional country based on western culture.)

Her Grandmother eventually visits along with her cousin, Character B, and wants for them to all move back home. Character A's father had made the claim that he was afraid that they, the family, would hurt Character A, which upsets the Grandmother greatly. She would never allow anyone hurt Character A and she feels hurt that he would even imply that she, or anyone in the family, would do such a thing. But her son didn't leave home just because he was afraid that someone might her his child, he left because his mother wouldn't look at his child the same way she looks at her own. She would love in spite of who her Granddaughter is, not because. To live there would break the hearts of many.

The main reason for this backstory is that I want to show that families with queer children doesn't have to be toxic. And I wanted for queer Muslims to have something to enjoy and not be seen as a kind that is doomed to always suffer. But, at the same time, I don't want to ignore the very real and very serious problem that they face.

Character B

She is a side character, but important for Character A's story. She arrives with her Grandmother to try and bring Character A's family back home. But in truth, she used this opportunity to seek shelter with Character A's family. She had always known that she is trans, and she has never hated that fact about herself. But seeing how the family reacted to Character A, she was afraid of what might happen to her. She still wants to be with her family after all, so asking Character A's family to shelter her was the best option available to her.

Character B awakens her powers much later than Character A did, so her story will have a lot of focus on Character A teaching Character B how to live. From having superpowers to being a girl, I wanted for this to be an origin story unfurling in front of us.

The thought behind Character B's story:

• Character B is a woman, she's just also trans. I've thought that I can perhaps connect to her powers by maybe having it so that only the women of the family have this power.

Thank you for reading

Thank you so much for reading, (even if it's just the TL;DR, any feedback is appreciated). If I misused a term here, please feel free in pointing it out. And if the text seems oddly phrased or structured then it's probably because I kept on moving the placement of text around to better fit the categories, (at the expense of reading coherency.)