In one episode of Robin of Sherwood that Muslims today would do well to take note of, called “The Children of Israel,” the Sheriff of Nottingham falls in debt to a Jewish money lender. Unable to pay it off, the Sheriff decides the only way out is to play on the English people’s deep anti-Semitic feelings and incite a riot against the Jewish community in Nottingham. The Sheriff recounts the outbursts of attacks against Jews at the coronation of Richard I, (“It’s a good way as any to celebrate,” he remarks) and talks about other attacks against Jews. His plan succeeds and the small Jewish community is massacred, but the money lender and his family manage to escape to Sherwood Forest, where they are found by Robin Hood and his band of outlaws. The sight of the children of the family moves Nasir and they speak to him. “They are Jewish”, he tells the others. “Can you speak their tongue Nasir?”, asks Little John. “A little,” replies Nasir and looks tenderly at the children and says, “Ash-shalom alaykum.” The Jewish children, pursued by the anti-Jewish English mobs, could not be safer now that they are in the hands of a Muslim.

Nasir’s character was so established and admired that the writers of the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves decided to use him in their film. However, for legal reasons they changed the name of the Muslim character to Azeem, who was eventually to be played by Morgan Freeman. Like Nasir, Azeem is also brought back from the Crusades, but this time by Robin Hood. The film starts with a cringingly stereotypical scene in Jerusalem in which a pre-dawn call to prayer is juxtaposed with a scary Arab Muslim prison guard who is about to cut off Robin Hood’s hand for stealing bread. “This is English courage,” Robin declares as he prepares for his punishment. However, he manages to escape and frees Azeem (who was about to be executed) in the process; Azeem says he must accompany Robin because he saved his life. Together they head for England. Upon returning, Robin, who is a noble, discovers his father has been killed and resolves to become an outlaw to serve the poor.

Throughout the film Azeem is referred to as “the barbarian” but is presented as being more civilized than the English. We see him searching for the sun to determine the direction of Makkah, but when he prays, because he is a Hollywood Muslim, he does not know to pray properly! In one scene we see Robin and Azeem searching for the villainous Norman soldiers. Azeem pulls out a primitive telescope and spots them through it. He hands the telescope to Robin for him to see; Robin jumps back and pulls out his sword thinking the soldiers are closer than they actually are. Azeem shakes his head and says sadly to Robin, “How did your ignorant kind ever take Jerusalem?” Later, Little John’s wife goes into labor in the forest but has difficulties. Azeem says he knows he to deliver the breech baby by caesarean section. We hear screams from Little John’s wife, and Friar Tuck, in a moment of anti-Muslim malice, declares, “I tell you the barbarian is killing her.” But the healthy baby is delivered and Robin remarks to Azeem, ”You truly are a great one.” Again, the Muslim character is also shown as a skilled fighter, with Azeem slashing down enemies with his scimitar sword and using gunpowder to make explosives. At the end of the film, as a mark of his dignity and Muslim character, Azeem stands while all the outlaws kneel as King Richard enters the forest.

Rassan, mark Ryan’s Muslim character for a comic book Robin Hood story

So popular has this Muslim outlaw become that it has become the subject of spoofs. In the 1980s and 1990s Tony Robinson (formerly Baldrick from Blackadder) wrote Maid Marian and Her Merry Men for the BBC. This comic version retold the legend casting Maid Marian as the true leader of the band of outlaws and Robin Hood as wimpish and narcissistic. Robinson also sent up the Muslim character with Barrington, a black Rastafarian, complete with dreadlocks. Mel Brooks also aped the character in his comedy Robin Hood: Men in Tights, where the rap-singing outlaw is called Asneeze.

Such is the familiarity of the Muslim merry man that people now regard him as part of the established tradition, along with Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and others. There was also a Muslim outlaw called Kamel in the 1990s’ TV series The New Adventures of Robin Hood. Allen Wright, who has a Web site devoted to the Robin Hood legend (www.boldoutlaw.com), mentioned this to Mark Ryan, the actor who played Nasir and who even created a Muslim character called Rassan for a comic book Robin Hood story: http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robint/ryan1.html

Wright: People who have visited my website were completely amazed that the Arab Merry Man only dates back to the 1980s.

Ryan: Well, the interesting thing is, Allen, that probably the more you delve into this that there is a tradition, and I only found this out after I had done the show, that the Crusaders, particularly the Templars, came back from the Crusades with a lot of Arabic influences. They did all kinds of deals and trades with the Assassins and the members of the Muslim sects. And they actually brought back Arabs with them to Britain. There was actually a small colony of Arabs living in Staffordshire at one point, and I believe the British people called them Baileys. They were thought of as being gypsy/Arabic blood lines. They were in little groups of villages almost called bailees. Again there's the Arab/Jewish influence in Ivanhoe. So, in reality, there probably was, although it wasn't common, a substantial Arabic influence. Particularly on the Crusaders and particularly on the Templars. So all we did really was rediscover it. We brought something out that probably existed already.

Maybe having a Muslim hero figure in such an old English legend can promote better understanding and dilute the notion of the Muslim as the age-old and present day enemy.

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**Muhammed Abdelmoteleb is the head of English at an international school in Cairo. He is a graduate of both the University of Wales, Cardiff, and Cambridge University, and has been a contributor to Q-News, the British Muslim magazine. He currently resides in Cairo with his wife. You can contact him on mabdelmoteleb@gmail.com.

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