As a child, long before my journey into Islam, my days were occupied with the fictional adventures of a small boat and its crew. This tiny vessel sailed between lands and islands in a vast, enchanting world, igniting my mind with its captivating tales.
These stories, from which I derived strength and inspiration, had held a special place in my heart. The architect behind the story was a Japanese author, Eichiro Oda.
The protagonist of the saga is a seventeen-year-old boy named Luffy who embarks on a quest to discover a treasure known as “One Piece,” which is what the story is named after.
I consider myself to have been an “early fan” as I had become immersed in this adventure before I turned eight. This was a time when manga—let alone One Piece—had not yet gained such widespread popularity.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this dose of nostalgia from my childhood prior to accepting Islam is in no way a recommendation or approval of manga/anime consumption. In fact, I have expressed serious concerns about the detrimental effect it can have on Muslims.
As it stands today, One Piece has transcended its niche beginnings. It has become the second most profitable franchise of all time, trailing behind only Superman, with its Japanese rival One Piece poised to surpass it.
One Piece is the best-selling manga of all time, far surpassing other very popular series.
With well over 500 million copies sold, One Piece is by far the best-selling manga of all time. Eiichiro Oda began this series in 1997 and is still publishing new chapters, though he expects the series to finish by 2025. This sea-faring manga is also part of one of the highest-grossing media franchises, amassing over $14.5 billion between its manga, anime, video games, and related merchandise.
The recent success seen by the Netflix One Piece live action series has prompted me to reflect on the phenomenon that is One Piece, especially as it seems its continuously surging popularity may yet reach even newer heights.
But why even discuss One Piece at all?
Primarily because, unfortunately, this manga enjoys tremendous popularity among Muslims too. The live action series of One Piece ended up topping the charts on Netflix’s Moroccan interface. Last year, rumors had circulated regarding the author of One Piece perhaps planning a visit to Riyadh, and the Saudi Twitterverse was abuzz with excitement at the very thought of such a prospect.
Netflix selected Indonesia as a venue for one of the festivals held in promotion for the live action adaptation. In 2022, when the movie One Piece Red had hit theaters, Muslims in French neighborhoods gathered enthusiastically to sing the One Piece theme song.
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As someone who was a long-time fan, I believe myself to be well-suited to addressing this manga and critiquing the underlying anti-Islamic philosophy contained within it. I don’t believe anyone could accuse me of harboring an unfounded hatred and some sort of agenda against One Piece since I cherished it a lot more than most. Despite this, however, upon embracing Islam, I identified and came to terms with the stark contrasts that exist between the core message of One Piece and the teachings of Islam.
If we were to try and sum up the philosophy of One Piece in a single word, it would probably be “Freedom.” The narrative revolves around a young, independent boy whose mission is to liberate the world. As the story unfolds, we encounter different oppressive regimes on various islands, and Luffy liberates these places from their tyrannical rulers.
Though One Piece touches on various themes, such as critiquing racism, its central message is made very clear: be free, chart your own path in life, and refuse to let others dictate your choices.
Regrettably, the One Piece live action adaptation by Steve Maeda and Matt Ovens, both ardent fans of the series, has accurately maintained this message. Luffy is still traveling from place to place, freeing people who have been subjugated by wicked pirates. In a poignant scene with another character, Koby, as they gaze at the starry sky together, Luffy imparts upon him the words, “follow your dreams,” a sentiment at the very heart of One Piece.
This message makes One Piece a particularly potent influence. As an early enthusiast, I understand very well the magnetic pull of a series such as One Piece, with its intricate world-building, character development, Luffy’s charisma, and the roller coaster of emotions experienced by those who traverse its narrative.
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What makes One Piece even more dangerous is its occasional juxtaposition of positive messages with its underlying malevolence. While it encourages standing up for what you believe in, remaining resolute in your goals, and aiding friends in need, every Muslim must remember that the primary and fundamental message of One Piece is profoundly anti-Islamic, even bordering on a Satanic ideology.
It purports that the essence of a good life lies in unfettered freedom. Unfortunately, this liberal conception has already been seeping into the minds of Muslims throughout the world, due to decades of Western social engineering. We often hear the calls of “hurriyyah/hurriyyet” (freedom) even in Muslim lands, and it is often—whether consciously or subconsciously—in reference to “freedom” from the dictates of Allah’s divine shari’ah, which are viewed by many as shackles that prevent them from pursuing their every desire and ambition.
As Muslims, we must recognize, resist, and combat the relentless intentional attempts at manipulating everyone into becoming a cesspool of liberal propaganda and doctrines. Perhaps the greatest step towards achieving this goal is the abandonment of entertainment media, television shows and movies in particular. Will we just continue to allow our minds to be warped and shaped by the enemies of faith and Islam? Or will we wake up from our deep slumber and dedicate our time instead to wholesome and beneficial things, like family, seeking knowledge, da’wah, and worship?
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Can skepticism and rationality prevail ? Words have meaning, therefore of course.
What if the people read the Hadith and the Qur’an, knew their meanings , implemented them and taught them to the other Muslims to spread correct knowledge ? Why couldn’t the people in these countries go back to their countries and abolish the evil in them?
There are 2 interesting parellels between One Piece and the real world.
Celestial Dragons= J*ws
Void Century and banning people from researching it= h*l*c**st denial laws
There is other stuff, but why should we as muslims consume such media when we have something superior, the Quran and Sunnah, actual real role models like the Sahaba and Prophets, not fake stuff, actual real escatology and real bad people (Firawn, J*ws, etc), it is just fake stuff designed to distract people.
People also get fanatical about this, in Japan, One Piece is very big, it seems to me that it is almost like a religion. The Japanese don’t really have a religion.
lol
netflix is a zionists propaganda tool, sadly many muslims didn’t know about this
they slowly influence muslims countries and later will promote their lgbtq.
its a threat, as Netanyahu himself said it is a great tool to change culture
Illuminati’s tools is a cinema which influences peoples greatly and this is why they promote modernity culture through netflix and lgbtqa
I’m worrying because it is famous in muslim countries and you know what the condition of today’s japan
some muslims knew but chose to deny it because it’s “conspiracy theory” to think that sort of stuff
better muslims should leave france before they become murtad or liberals, also those muslims will forget their root and marrying different ethnic and non muslims too
True, even though I am muslim by born. But I did not realise the harmful effects movies and animes had on my thought process untill recently, maybe cause my family put more emphasis on secular education than religious ones. The feel good ideas like “freedom” harms the muslim youth the most I would say. They will start seeing Islam as a burden. When religion is relegated to personal and law of the land is secular, sin becomes more attractive.
The problem is Muslims especially Muslim countries are not creating halal alternatives that will promote Islam and inspire the youth yes we should be seeking knowledge and give dawah and spend time with family but we shouldn’t just abandon entertainment altogether but like with all technology use it in a halal way to benefit the Muslims and Islam and spread Islam and Muslim messages
So I put the fault on the Muslim countries especially the gulf for not creating halal alternatives to western entertainment .
the whole muslim ummah dug their own graves when they didn’t attempt to step into modern cultural stuff like making movies/ video games/ animations.
It’s like refusing to participate in a war as a foot soldier, and all they did was giving major upper hand for the invading army.
since practically every modern entertainment media is made by “non-muslims”, they got a major upper hand to influence muslims.
Muslims on other hand, you either get answers like “read quran don’t waste time on movies/games”.
Which is why we are seeing so many “liberal muslims” and “Lgtv activists”.
It’s a miracle that we are still around despite being drenched into western dominant media.
Exactly agreed but people who say this don’t realize most Muslims while they will read Quran and Sunnah will watch western entertainment and media of an alternative is not made
Yep they made this mistake in the industrial period in their refusal to adopt to modern technology and using it to benefit Islam without abandoning islam they made the same mistake here sadly
yes they shouldn’t reveal their faces the prophets and messengers can be shown as figures of light covering their faces and body while the Sahaba can just have a veil of light on their face. And since the gulf countries are too lazy or stubborn to make the alternatives you have Shia Iran making movies on the prophets and messengers of Allah and showing no respect and showing their faces the famous Omar ibn al khattab ra tv series which has 30 episodes was made by a Persian channel.
My point is if Sunni Muslims don’t make the alternatives then our enemies and the deviants amongst us will
Exactly, to be honest with you. If they did make entertainment related stuff in my opinion the quran would make a great framework in making good story concepts and work ethics.
Lord of the rings series started off from a christian bible as a framework when it comes to inspiration for settings and all that, it was great until netflix ruined the whole series and settings with secular liberalism stuff.
(Part/1)
Video games on other hand, people are getting very sick of secular modern corporate capitalistic practices over making games solely on milking as much profit from other gamers, leading to stagnant game designs and many other things.
If we muslims steps into the world of entertainment, we might have a chance to succeed greatly if we make our own games/movies/stories, inspired by stuff in quran.
(Part/2)
Our ethics in businesses and how we treat our consumers may lead to greater trust amongst customers including non-muslims since we don’t intend to milk as much profits from people.
Maybe we can make a great comeback despite our underdog status.
Then again, that’s unless the whole muslim ummah realizes this whole thing and started making their own entertainments, things will change.
Otherwise, maybe it’s the part of quran’s prophecy of why we are in this state in the first place, at least I know why we are in this awful underdog state.
It’s a strange anomaly the sunni muslim ummah hasn’t dissolved yet just like the christians in the west.
I guess Allah didn’t allow us to dissolve into modern liberalism despite the whole ummah kept shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly.
It’s very painful for me to see them repeating this mistake again and again.
Agreed but instead Muslims either not interested or seem to just copy the west sadly
Muslims don’t want to instead people in the gulf like MBs wants to invest in wasting trillions of dollars on big buildings and attracting western $luts and f@gg0ts and degenerates for tourism then focus on the industrializing the country .
Agreed and the lord do the rings part was interesting to learn
Ertugrul is an example of a sucessful Muslim TV show. There are issues with depicting the Sahaba and Prophets, but something like Ertugrul without the questionable stuff and TV depictions of muslim heroes like Salahuddeen and Ibn Taymiyya don’t have such issues.
Or even do what the Americans do and depict recent wars but with the Muslims as the good guys, ie, Afghans fighting against Soviets and Americans, Palestinians against z***ists, etc.
Yes but my point was exposing the naivety of Muslims who just say read Quran and the Seerah and not use the technology we have to benefit Islam
Also one piece was correct about one thing regarding freedom . There is a freedom Muslims and non Muslims need. Freedom from the degenerate secular LGTV feminist dictatorship of the west and also of other corrupt regimes we need freedom from like Russia and Iran and China . It’s doesn’t mean we have excessive freedom but freedom to fully preach Islam and act upon the Quran and Sunnah .
Seriously. Tell boys to quit television, quit videogames, quit screens and take them camping and reciting dhikr. These shows cause serious damage to the psyche.
Yes but Muslims also need to create halal alternatives that will propagate Islam to give some satisfaction to the youth yes what you said is important but you’re being naive if you think the whole world will just abandon technology most will not the yes recite the Quran but the problem you and other naive Muslims are doing is not creating halal alternatives to these media and cartoons
Let’s be completely honest here. If islam have clearly said “abandon technology” there would have no large muslim empires, and all of the muslim ummah would live like natives waiting to be conqured by other empires.
Yes
People like you is why there is so many liberal muslims nowadays.
You don’t realize that entertainments are just as important as other essential things.
Liberals and zionists already knew muslims aren’t taking part on making their own entertainments because “it’s a waste of time”, so they wasted no time on seizing that opportunity to influence muslims en’masse.
Honestly can’t disagree with you on this point.
You didn’t see last updates, Luffy’s fruit is not Gomu-Gomu fruit any more, its human-human model Sun God Nika. So luffy’s not a hero anymore in the manga or anime, but a God, a God of freedom. And there’s also their advocacy for Modern day Qawm Lut…etc.
entertainment nowadays is not for entertainment
Salam aleykom,
im only a fanboy of one piece since i was very young. As young boy that not practice i dont understand how one piece is anti islamic. Now i im sure. In the second live action netflix series on chapter 5 “wax off” one of the strawhat crew find a book in the desk from the baroque company. That book has the same cover like the holy qoran. They show the scene more times. The message is clear. Islam is the religion of terrorism.