XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: void@obsolete.nul   
      
   [Read the thread until the point where religion bashing started, killfiled a   
   couple trolls and stopped.]   
      
   I have to concede that the Fall of Gondolin and the Battle of Minas Tirith   
   may be seen as "inspired" from the "fall" of Konstantinopolis and the second   
   siege of Vienna (1683) respectively. But I would hesitate, to say the least,   
   to label them as explicit anti-muslim traces in Tolkien's work.   
      
   On the other hand, nobody seems to try the other way around. There are some   
   obvious similarities in Tolkien's work, on phillosophical ground, with   
   Islamic, particularly Sufi thought, albeit in details. The most striking -to   
   me- has been the element of Elves; their love for Arda, which is destined to   
   pass away, them being immortal in a mortal land; versus the second-born, who   
   are mortal on mortal ground but have been gifted with an immortality beyond   
   the reach of the Elves, even the Valar.   
      
   The creation myth, the Valar and other elements also bear resemblances.   
      
   A detailed account and analysis require a dedicated reading, which I'm not   
   capable at this time but have been thinking about doing sometime.   
      
   Regards,   
   Ertugrul Inanc   
      
      
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)