Jordanian comic author Suleiman Bakhit was a true Arab superhero
Jordanian comic book author Suleiman Bakhit, who created superheroes inspired by Arabic mythology to counter extremist ideologies, has died aged 41 after a long battle with cancer.
Son of former Jordanian prime minister Marouf Al Bakhit, the social entrepreneur managed to carve out his own path to success. Despite having no experience in the comic world and never considering himself to be artistically gifted, Bakhit taught himself how to draw and tell stories in the hope of bridging cultural divides while also confronting discrimination faced by women and girls. In 2006, with a team of writers and artists, he launched the comic book company Aranim Media Factory – a name derived by combining “Arab” and “anime”.
During a speech at the 2014 Oslo Freedom Forum, Bakhit said he felt compelled to act after being the target of racially motivated violence while studying in the US at the time of 9/11. He began visiting local schools to spread the message
that “not all Middle Easterners are terrorists, and Al Qaeda is like the KKK”.
“A six-year-old girl stands up and she says: ‘is there an Arabic Barbie?’ and the boys go crazy. ‘Is there an Arab superman, an Arab Batman?’, they asked. And I was like, ‘no there isn’t’,” he told the audience. “I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so I started teaching myself how to draw, started working with other people creating stories and characters, to try and answer that question.”
It was this moment that sparked his two years of research into mythologies from the Middle East and Arab culture, eventually leading Bakhit to quit his Masters programme in human resource development at the University of Minnesota and return to Jordan to launch his company. His aim was to tackle what he described as “the biggest threat today – terrorism disguised as heroism”, by creating stories and heroes that promote tolerance. In 2010, he sold 1.2 million comics.
“Narratives give us a compelling sense of purpose, it drives our actions, it drives our future actions,” he said. “Similarly, with extremist groups it tells us a lot about their members; where they come from, where they’re heading what their goals, objectives are, even tactics.”
Bakhit committed himself to understanding extremism by working with children in Jordan’s capital Amman and in Syrian refugee camps. Through conversations he learnt about the perceptions some of these young people had of themselves and the West – most notably the idea fed by extremist propaganda that the West is at war with Islam. When Bakhit asked some of the children who they considered to be their heroes, they named Osama bin Laden and Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, based on the belief “they defend us against the West because the West is out there to kill us”. Bahkit described this as “terrorist narrative and Propaganda 101”.
“ISIS portrays terrorism as a heroic journey,” he told Asharq
Al-Awsat newspaper. Bakhit provided comic books for free and when he met the children again a few months later, he found extremist leaders were replaced on the pedestal by comic book heroes.
Bakhit also created cartoons to empower women including
Section 9 – a story based on the all-female counterterrorism unit in Jordan. It was an attempt to challenge misogynistic attitudes.
He also designed computer games. In a 2014 interview, he said one of his favourite characters was Element Zero – featured in one of his first social games. He described him as an Arabic spin on the likes of special agent Jason Bourne.
His endeavours led to challenges along the way. After a few thousand comic books were published and his message began to gain traction, he was attacked with a razor blade in Jordan, leaving him with a scar on the left side of his face. Bakhit took it as a sign he was doing something right.
Holding up a comic book at the end of his Oslo Freedom Forum speech, he said it was “a weapon that does not kill”. “It’s a weapon of hope, a weapon of inspiration, it’s a weapon of heroes.”
Heartfelt messages were posted across social media last week, describing Bakhit as a superhero. The Human Rights Foundation wrote on Twitter: “Today, the @HRF/@OsloFF community mourns the passing of Suleiman Bakhit, an extraordinary artist, poet and activist. He created comics to counter extremism. But really, Suleiman was a superhero. Rest in peace.”