大象传媒

It was my birthday the other day and instead of holding a candlelit vigil, I was persuaded to engage in some sci-fi fun.

Some friends planned a surprise and told me, 鈥淛ust turn up dressed as a Jedi鈥�. They then whisked me away to my first ever Film and Comic Convention.

Safe to say my inner geek went as wild as a Wookie losing his rag.
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I gaped at Stormtroopers, queued to have a photo with Lando Calrissian, and could not resist buying a Millennium falcon chopping board.

I鈥檝e grown up with Star Wars running in my bloodstream. It appeals to so many different types of people, not least to people of faith like me.
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I love the Jedi for being these uber cool spiritual warriors, guardians of peace and justice, who focus on meditation and discipline. In fact, the Jedi order have been compared to Sufi Muslims, who once dressed in simple hooded robes. Word has it that George Lucas spent months with a Sufi Order in California, and even borrowed the word 鈥楯eddi鈥� that was used for senior shaykhs meaning 鈥榤y grandfather鈥� in Arabic.

So without doubt I see a place for faith in science fiction. It embraces anything and everything, and shows how religion isn鈥檛 limited or irrelevant. It can be as open as an expanding universe.

I felt so comfortable at the sci-fi convention, even though I was the only Jedi in a hijab. It was a safe space where no one judged, and all were welcoming, whether you were Dr Who, Kylo Ren, or Godzilla - galaxies and species were all united, whatever our beliefs.

And while I won鈥檛 be praying to become a Jedi in Paradise - like one Muslim blogger has - I will be praying to see more of the inter-galactic cultural exchange on earth that I see so fervently in the followers of sci-fi.