Al-Quraysh Seeks to Teach the History of Islam

According to The Muslim Weekly Syrian video game company is seeking to ease international tensions and educate the West by developing a “pro Muslim” video game. Al-Quraysh is a strategy title that plays through the first hundred years of Islam’s history. The developers hope to “correct the general public’s attitudes towards Islam, alleviate tensions in the West, and help in teaching young Muslims about the early history of their religion”.

The players can choose to command the armies of four different nations, namely Bedouins, Arabs, Persians and Romans, or lead the army of the protagonist, a Muslim warrior by the name of Khaled Ibn Waleed who defeated the Roman and Persian empires having not lost a single battle. The roles involved in the game include building and protecting trade routes and water sources, building armies, conducting battles and freeing slaves.

Afkar Media released Under Siege last year, a game which presented the Palestinian struggle from an Arab point of view. Critics of the game asserted it merely exchanged one stereo type for another. The game caused much controversy as it portrayed the Jewish people as the aggressors instead of the more commonly portrayed Muslims as Radwan Kasmiya, the executive manager of Afkar Media, claimed that most games on the market do.

“Arab gamers are playing games that attack their culture, their beliefs, and their way of life. The youth who are playing the foreign games are feeling guilt. On the outside they look like they don’t care, but inside they do care. But we also don’t want to do something about Arabs killing Westerners,” Kasmiya said in regards to his games.

Al-Quraysh is scheduled for release in September.