Are Ana and Pharah Muslim

Story Discussion
#1

before you say “what does this have to do with the game” or some crap just remember that soldier 76 has a skin with dog tags that say his religion is Catholic, Reaper has one that says he has no religion, Kings Row spawn room is a literal church… Zenyatta’s entire existence… so religion definitely exists in the overwatch world, some heroes do identify with one, and im curious to know if these two do as well.

anyways, i was wondering if it’s possible ana and pharah are muslim, based off some clues I’ve noticed: neither have any alcoholic drinks in the cookbook (i know some other heroes don’t either but combined with other evidence this could be a point), and drinking is haram in Islam (as are tattoos but… maybe they’re not very practicing?) pharah has a line “peace be upon you, Khalil,” a common greeting/blessing in Islam (I know zen says peace be upon you too but context!!), in her comic Khalil even quotes the quaran “he who saves one life, it is as if he saves the whole world,” and this resonates with her (after he dies, anyway), I think I saw somewhere Ana’s default skin headpiece was based off of a hijab? as well as Pharah’s Bedouin skin… and yeah, I think that’s all I’ve got, besides ofc that egypt is a majority Muslim country and they’re both from there… do you think my “theory” holds any water?

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#3

Granted, I don’t know much about Islam, but shouldn’t Muslim women cover their head? I thought that was like a big thing.

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#4

No you’re free to choose to wear it or not. ( in theory)

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#6

There is not very much mention of religion in Overwatch aside from the fictional Shambali, and the contrasting Jack/Reyes (Jack is Catholic, Reyes is atheist, shown to us in a list of opposites between the two). Considering the tattoos, I would be inclined to say no.

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#7

Ana doesn’t strike me as the religious type.

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#8

How about pharah? (20 characters)

#9

I had a coworker who is Muslim. Very strictly followed Islam from what I could tell. We had to do an audit for an out of town client so we decided to car pool. Was about a 3 hour trip where we decided to discuss our religions.

Me being a devote Christian, I have to say there was a lot I did not now about Islam. It was an a very enlightening and rewarding conversation.

But to the point. He said that killing is forbidden in Islam for ANY reason whatsoever. Under no circumstances are you allowed to kill another human. Ever. War, self defense, etc. All forbidden.

I can’t say whether all Muslims believe that, but he certainly did. And that is the only real knowledge I have on Islam.

So since Pharah flies around shooting people with rockets I would say she is at least not the same Muslim as my coworker. Perhaps Anna, as long as she was just a healer.

#10

Hard to say. When I think of Muslims, my mind often immediately heads towards stereotypes that are often not strictly true because I’m ignorant of the religion beyond hearsay. I suppose Pharah could be if she grew up with those teachings (whether Ana followed them or not), and I could see her making a quick prayer before a mission, if not just to add another small layer to her character. But I’m surprised traditional religion like catholicism still exists at all in the Overwatch world.

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#14

i generally think that depends… if i remember correctly the relevant verses speak about women not being allowed to dress provocatively… which arguably is relative to the local culture…

so arguably that could be interpreted to say the that some like a Hijab could be inappropriate in the west even… well at least the burka or niqab for sure as those stand out way to much!

it’s also worth mentioning that it was not very long ago christian countries would have women covering their heads more too and western fashions where more common in the middle east before a lot of the cold war crap happend and the region got de-stabalized and religious right wing groups took more power…

I mean the middle east in some areas where more like the west in the past… and Iraq even more so given Sadam husein was not all that fond of rival power bases… kings generally keep tend to wanna undermine organized religion since its a dangerous possible competing power base…

though also with Islam sadly never had its big blow out between secular power and religious power so the two never properly separated…

no equivelent of the holy roman emperor fighting it out with the pope to define what power either party should hold…

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#15

But Muslim countries have armies… same as any other country… they still need to defend themselves

#16

Not saying it’s correct or incorrect. I’m not Muslim so I don’t know, but the only Muslim I know was very adamant about that.

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#17

It’s possible they follow an updated denomination of Islam. Perhaps in the future, feminism has actually had some success reforming Islam. And it’s become more accepting of women’s liberation and LGBT rights.

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#18

The acrual recipes were picked by the author of the book, not michael chu, he was a lore consultant , more than likely for the snippets added in at the beginning, i wouldnt really count the cookbook as evidence of people following certain religions or being vegetarian/vegan

#19

would have to be a branch developed in the west then…

But as long as Saudi Arabia has oil and therefor influence (other then just owning meka which is huge) they will likely be pushing their particularly nasty Salafi/Wahabi branch of islam. (which is basically the branch all the terrorists like)

having a dictatorial form of government that controls a major resource tends to enforce the whole fuedalistic tendency… the king reigns on high distributing the wealth from above… and there is little room for social reform.

because trade is often a driver of change and when one person does all the trade that really limits the possible change trade can drive…

For example take the spread of christianity to the nordic countries that was totally driven by trade …

But if the Nordic countries had only on product to trade and that product was centrally controlled by a king then frankly Scandinavia may very well be worshiping Thor and Odin at this point… (technically there is still an real temple to the Norse gods in island)

for the forseable future i think islam is going to be very slow to reform… mostly due to very conservative countries with great oil wealth…

Ironically more secular tyrants like Sadam Husein could have been a bastion of more liberal social norms… and he would have likely still have been a US ally if he had not gone and attacked Kuwait.

as i think i mentioned Islam really lacks a separation between secular and religious powers which is a great feature in a religion… sadly you kind need that conflict to happen before a major religious schism (like suni vs shia… so lost opportunity… Christianity had it’s secular leader Vs Religious leader blow up back during the early church and the holy roman empire way before Martin Luther nailed up his long list of grievances on the door )

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#20

I got the impression that Pharah either followed the native American religion (because of her father), or she was a loose follower of both that and also Islam, so nothing strict. Though Pharah did work (and live?) in Egypt so possibly she picked up expressions/phrases (as well as from her mother) so probably need a little more than this to figure if she is religious or not.

#21

It seems like she was way closer to her mother growing up, though. She only saw her father in the winter and they had a “complicated” relationship when she was a child. It sounds like if she were to be influenced by a parent towards a faith, it would be her mother.

#22

I think you mentioned about the Bedoiun skin, but Pharah also has the Rainmaker which is Native American in origin. Of course I know this doesn’t necessarily mean anything in terms of religion, but seems to be influence on both parental sides, I mean you wouldn’t wear something to honour your ancestry (and your father) if you didn’t like it. Think Pharah really needs short movie or something so we get a better idea.

#23

So what exactly is indicating the beliefs/lack of beliefs between Jack and Reyes? I only ask because I’ve never seen it before and that particularly interests me.

#24

it is but some people arent religious, but yes its is a very big thing in our culture

#25

no muslims are allowed to defend but even then it is ONLY a last resort if ones life is threatened(i am muslim btw)

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