XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: hayesmstw@hotmail.com   
      
   On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 07:06:46 +0300, Morgil  wrote:   
      
   >nystulc@cs.com wrote:   
   >> Morgil wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>How about that thing where these West Asian people   
   >>>come up with an evil plot to make it look like their   
   >>>bloodthirsty demon-god was in fact the same person as   
   >>>the benevolent Aslan, to get the more naiive Narnians   
   >>>to accept him. Do you think that points to ancient   
   >>>Mesopotamians or Persians too, and has nothing to do   
   >>>with how pseudo-Christian bigots would view Islam?   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> If there is a parallel to pseudo-Christian bigots view of Islam, I   
   >> have no idea what it is.  Were there really, in Lewis' day pseudo-   
   >> Christian bigots fomenting conspiracy theories about Muslims hatching   
   >> plots to delude Christians into believing that Mohammed and Jesus were   
   >> the same person?  Do such conspiracies, or conspiracy theories, exist   
   >> today?  Or have I incorrectly stated whatever analogy you have in   
   >> mind?   
   >   
   >Certainly, but we can go with that as well. The book   
   >I'm reading about Lewis says he took very seriously the   
   >warning from Matthew 24:24, and it inspired his Tashlan:   
   >"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,   
   >and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that,   
   >if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."   
   >   
   >Now it goes without saying that there has always been   
   >a lot of Christians of all type, who have claimed that   
   >this description fits perfectly Mohammed. Of course we   
   >can't be certain of how Lewis saw it, but when we put   
   >together the Middle-Eastern air of Calormen, and the   
   >false Christ/false prophet plotline, it does not seem   
   >impossible that this is what he was aiming at.   
      
   There is a pretty standard Christian understanding that while there will be   
   many false prophets, towards the end of the age there will be one in   
   particular, sometimes called "the Antichrist" (ie the substitute Christ) who   
   will have a large following.   
      
   Lewis drew on that tradition to create a similar scenario for Narnia, but it   
   is quite impossible that Lewis intended, or had any idea that such a thing in   
   Narnia pointed to Mohammed as the Antichrist in our world for the simple   
   reason that Mohammed died a long time ago, and the Antichrist is yet to come.   
      
   What he could well have had in mind was advocates of religious syncretism in   
   our world who maintain that all religions are fundamentally the same. That   
   kind of attitude may be found among some Hindus and Theosophists but it is   
   VERY RARE among Muslims.   
      
      
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   Steve Hayes   
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