It
started out like any other summer day. Kismetta’s father and brother arrived from
Dubai with plans to stay for a month. But then a call came from Abu Dhabi, and
everyone, including Sumeja, is hurrying back to the UAE. Left alone to ponder what
happened, Kismetta wonders. Can Iimi help her understand how Catholics handle
what Muslims call… Qadar?
Pre-Comic
Notes:
(This comic was uploaded prior to the Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities on 6/12/25. If the comic took place in real time, some of the events would have been handled differently. See the Post-Comic notes below.)
Qadar (also spelled “Qadr”) means God’s divine will. In
Islam, “Allah has decreed everything that happens in the universe according to
His prior knowledge and the dictates of His wisdom.” However, the concept of Qadar in Islam does not reject free
will. It differs from the Christian concept of God’s permissive will in that, under His permissive will, God allows evil through our free will, but does not will it, allowing humans to make moral choices. Under Qadar,
everything happens by Allah’s decree, but humans are still accountable for
their actions.
Some
vocabulary to be aware of: The term Qadar Allah wa ma sha’a fa'al (قدر الله
وما شاء فعل) means “It is God's decree, and He does
what He wills.” It is a common phrase used to recognize what is seen as an
unavoidable reality. You might notice the word Qadar pop up in other Arabic
phrases in the comic.
Of course, this is a simplification that probably misses some of the nuances. I would ask the reader not to draw conclusions based
solely on this description.
Post-Comic
Notes:
While,
in the real world, tragedy can strike without warning, putting an unexpected
tragedy into a story requires more planning. This story arc was in the planning
stages before issue 192 when Kismetta revealed that her parents would have to undergo
hardships before God’s will prevailed. Issue 275 was a sort of “head fake” on
what the new normal was.
The
trick was in trying to prevent the portrayal from looking like “God being
unjust” or “God punishing Muslims for being
Muslims.” Neither was my intention. Instead, I hoped to portray it as “because
of the choices they did make (Bahrudin’s adultery and polygamy, Sumeja’s running
away, deception leading to seeking revenge, the divorce, etc.), they suffered
pain that might have been avoided.”
So,
yes, as a Catholic comic, it sides with the Catholic idea of God’s
permissive will. Please do not confuse this view with saying God is indifferent or powerless in the face of evil. God is all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good. But He permits free will when it does not violate His positive will.
“La qadar Allah this
was…” was used instead of “Inshallah, this is not…” because the people
using the term were actively praying that Zara was not the person
in the accident.
Iimi’s Aspergers moment and
reaction to Kismetta was another moment that needed planning. Iimi had been
doing well, and I thought this could be where sliding back could fit. I didn’t
want to turn the focus of the second part into “Iimi being heroic.” So, I tried
to make it more indirect. Her eyes were made smaller, and the blue eyes were
given a duller finish. I changed the font to one slightly thinner and more
“brittle.” Her word balloons were altered from the standard to rounded, with a
slight waver in the stem. And, of course, the “stimming” marks were present in views
of her legs. I was trying for the effect of “something is off” without having
characters calling attention to it.
As it turned out, I was
going through a similar need to decompress when scripting and preparing this
comic.
If you’re wondering who the extra person is in the final panel, that’s Fatima as a toddler. A reader recently pointed out that she should be older… which was true.
As mentioned in the preliminary notes, this comic was uploaded before Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities. If the comic took place in “real time,” Bahrudin would have wanted to have his family out of the country, including Zara and Eid. I could see Raziq and Zara thinking he was overly cautious and that she would be perfectly fine in Abu Dhabi. He would then feel guilt and regret for not insisting. He would also have insisted on Sumeja, the boys, and Fatima staying in America.
The attack will be mentioned in the future (especially if the conflict escalates), but that’s why the reactions were not normal considering this news.
Image
Credits
Zeus
on page 21 is © Dren Productions and used under license.
Some
images used in this comic were AI drafted by the author using NightCafe
and then edited by the same. No copyrighted artist names (living or dead) were
used in the prompts or for “AI training.”
