Lala Comics: Muslim Comics With Heart and Humour

9th May 2021 | Book Reviews | 0 comments

Thanks to Umm Sulayman and Tughra Books for providing a complimentary digital copy of this book.

Lala Comics: The Hilarious Encounters of a Muslimah Learning Her Deen is the first book by the Muslim comic artist Umm Sulayman, also known as Lala, popular on Instagram with the handle @lalaartwork for her comics that explore Islamic teachings. The book is divided into three sections with the themes Muslim Identity/Mindset, Habits/Lifestyle and Adhkaar and Prayer, setting the tone for a reader previously unacquainted with Umm Sulayman’s comics. The drawing style is clearly inspired by Japanese anime and manga with each chapter being a self-contained comic strip-type story. Although I read it in one and a half sittings, this comic format lends itself to being dipped into now and then and could be a nice coffee table book that anyone could open and read at any page.

The subtitle The Hilarious Encounters of a Muslimah Learning Her Deen is an accurate summary of this book, which approaches Islamic rules and culture through the entertaining misunderstandings and mischief of Lala and her family. Umm Sulayman has prioritised referencing accurate sources for all the learning points she covers, which means sometimes including quite lengthy hadiths. While some readers might find these a bit bulky, I felt that Lala’s humour and the fact that she doesn’t take herself too seriously helped to integrate them into the dialogue without breaking up the story. The role of teacher is predominantly taken on by Lala’s husband, Ayye, with his appearing “Aalim hat”, which also adds an element of lightness to the longer passages of text. At other times, the learning happens through the misinterpretations and struggles of other characters. Either way, there are many relatable situations that arise, pulling the reader in to see how the characters would resolve them. The book opens with a misinterpretation of significant proportions as a lesson in standing up for your rights ends with a supreme court ruling and a very satisfied, if rather mistaken, Lala! Another particular favourite, and one that made me chuckle in recognition, was the Maze Challenge chapter, in which Lala must complete feats of acrobatics to reach the empty front row of a mosque prayer space!

I am always excited to see Muslims coming up with creative ways to explore Islam and the experiences and questions that we face as Muslims in daily life. While I think this book would benefit from another edit, I feel that it is a valuable contribution to English-language books for young (and not-so-young) Muslims who are excited to learn more about their way of life. Thinking back to my own teenage self, I would undoubtedly have found it affirming to read this book and see my aspirations and sentiments portrayed in such a sincere and colourful way. Judging from the popularity and genuine engagement that Lala Comics already enjoys on social media, there are many others who feel this way!

The imperfect nature of Lala, Ayye and the other characters means that the reader does not feel like they are being preached to or harshly judged. Rather, they see characters like themselves who are sincere in their intentions, sometimes fall short but always keep trying and I think that is a beautiful reflection of our journey through this life!

Lala Comics: The Hilarious Encounters of a Muslimah Learning Her Deen is now available for pre-order and will be released on 1st July, in sha Allah.