We had the opportunity to sit down with the creator of the game, The Prophet. Now, PCOR9 is allowing the game to use our server as other hosts have shut the site down. After speaking to the creator, we’ve decided to also keep it up, only if they did an interview explaining some of the controversy behind the game. So without further ado, let’s get started!
Ethan (interviewer):
This game seems to have some controversy behind it. Mind telling me a bit behind that?
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
Yeah, so, the game’s fandom got shutdown or deleted, don’t really know which one. The reason behind that, I can only assume was hate speech. Don’t get me wrong, I…, well, I’m not a hateful person, but sometimes things come out in ways we don’t expect.
Ethan (interviewer):
Shame about the fandom. Let me add, I don’t really get the feeling you are hateful. Anyway, back to the game. I played it and found a lot of violent and gruesome scenes. What’s the reason behind that?
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
So any scene in there was made because the prophet himself did those things according to Islamic history which is found in the sira and hadith. My primary sources were Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, alongside the Qur’an.
Ethan (interviewer):
You’re saying these things happened literally?
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
Not exactly. The character in the story is fictional. There is no Muslim or Christian boy named Saami. And because of this, the timeline of each incident between the prophet and Saami are faked. For instance, there is a part where the prophet preaches a message, which I believe was part of his last sermon, yet in the game, he is definitely alive and well. The message was very literal, but the time and place and fictional.
Ethan (interviewer):
One thing I thought about the game was that you added derogatory names to the black person in the game. Why?
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
*Laughs* You mean raisin head? I don’t believe that about people. But the prophet called black Ethiopians that and I cited the source where I got that from. See? You’re already accusing me of being racist when I’m simply pointing out the hadith for what they say and what the prophet thought.
People think that because someone repeats something, it means the person who repeated that thing is bad. But where or who did they hear it from? The source is bad. When it comes to Islam, I admire the Quranists, but look around, Sunni dominate. And Sunni believe these hadith. The normal Sunni Muslim will try to justify or discard most of the hadith, but scholars will tell them they are wrong. So my game is scholarly and ignores the “Muslim friend” everyone has.
Ethan (interviewer):
Care to elaborate with what you mean by the “Muslim friend” that everyone has?
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
I simply mean that most people, at least in America, who defend Islam are defending it based on their Muslim friend they might have. I have nothing against Muslims or anyone for that matter. As a Christian, I’m called to love all people. However, just as not all Christians speak for Christianity, your Muslim friend doesn’t speak for Islam. While I believe your actions should speak for your religion, it doesn’t always happen that way.
Ethan (interviewer):
Fully agree. What part of the game did you really enjoy making? Any special stories about it you want to divulge?
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
I was working on the part of the left for dead men. My friend tells me, “hey, I was reading about this from the hadith! You should put this into the game.” I asked for the sources, read over them and thought, “wow, that’s really terrible.” Don’t misunderstand me, these guys killed a man so they should’ve been punished, but (A.) they wanted camel urine from the guy they killed and (B.) no one should have their hands and feet cut off, their eyes gouged out, and left for dead in the desert. I think it’s weird, those guys from merciful Servant claiming the prophet was this super nice and merciful guy, and then he shows his violence against people who killed a guy he liked. We forget all the people, apostates, Jews, and Arabs, that the prophet killed because he didn’t like them.
Ethan (interviewer):
Do you feel you stayed committed to the sources?
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
Definitely! First, I cited the sources (Hadith, Sira, and Quran). Next, I verified using Islamic scholars (not the typical Muslim, but theological leaders in Islam). Lastly, I checked with apostates (ex-Muslims), non-Muslim Islamic scholars, and non-Muslim/Muslim websites. Almost all said the same thing. The only difference between the sites and opinions were the reasons why the prophet killed people, not that he never killed people (a common Muslim friend claim).
Ethan (interviewer):
Well, that’s about it. Thank you very much for taking the time out to talk about your game.
DramaticPhilospher (creator):
No problem! I enjoyed being able to finally speak out on the issue.