J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of Rings and Islam

How The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien has knowingly or unknowingly borrowed much of its mythology from Islam

Introduction and Background

            John Ronald Ruel Tolkein is the author of Lord of the Rings, one of the highest selling books of all time. The highest selling English book ever after the bible. Tolkien was born in South Africa on January 3, 1892, and three years later, him and his family moved back to England. J.R.R.’s father died when he was 4, and his mother died when he was 12. After that his brother and him were left in the care of Father Francis Morgan, a Catholic priest. [1]

In 1915, after graduating college, he joined the British Army to fight in World War I. He wrote, “By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead”.[2] It is well accepted from Tolkien’s writings that he was a devout Catholic. He even explains how he brought his close friend C.S. Lewis back to the Christian faith.

The following are some quotes from Tolkien which affirm that in fact his Lord of the Rings story was in fact, unconsciously then consciously a “religious” and “Catholic” work. Interestingly, he not only indicates it’s a Catholic work, but also a religious one:

“The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like “religion,” to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.“

[3]

Elsewhere Tolkien states:

“I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories), and in fact a Roman Catholic” (ibid.). In 1958 he wrote that The Lord of the Rings is “a tale, which is built on or out of certain ‘religious’ ideas but is not an allegory of them.”

[4]

            This is interesting. Mr. Tolkien states the Lord of the Rings is a tale built on or out of “certain religious ideas”, rather than certain Christian ideas. This is more evident when he states:

“With regard to The Lord of the Rings, I cannot claim to be a sufficient theologian to say whether my notion of orcs is heretical or not. I don’t feel under obligation to make my story fit with formalized Christian thought and belief, which is asserted somewhere. . . . Frodo asserts that the orcs are not evil in origin.

–Letter to W.H. Auden, 12 May 1965

Its clear Tolkien may have borrowed ideas from other religions.  At least we can agree that Tolkien’s narrative is meant to cover the overarching theme of the end of times, where we will see Good ultimately win over Evil:

…Actually I am a Christian and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’- though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.”

[5]

Here we see he explains ‘history’ for a Christian to be nothing more than a long series of losses, until one day they will be saved by a savior who will restore global good and order thereby rectifying the past. This view is consistent with the biblical/Islamic philosophy of the world as communicated by the prophecies of the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Quran.

Middle Earth Does Not Relate to Our Time, Geography or Racial Tensions

 In his interview with BBC’s Genys Gueroult in 1963 (released in 1971), Mr. Tolkien specifically strikes down any insinuation that the geography of middle earth is at all an allegory of the geography of the world or Europe, he indicates that it would not even fit. Further, Tolkien indicates that the different races in Middle Earth are not supposed to represent the different races of humans, rather different qualities that all races of humans possess. Further, Tolkien dispels the notion that the setting of middle earth can be placed during any time in our history, as it does not fit. This should dispel the opinions of some that think the Lord of the Rings was an ethno-centric or an allegory for any particular war in history.

In sum, we know that the Lord of the Rings is a story of the end times of a world, inspired by “religion” and not necessarily only christianity, and is not meant to take a story of race but rather of good and evil. There are many religions that have an end time story, however I would argue only one fits so perfectly in the narrative told by J.R.R. Tolkien. As we walk through only some of these similarities, we will be shocked and amazed at the similarities, to the extent we may be left with the assumption that Tolkien had heavy Islamic influences.

Lord of the Rings and the Religion of Islam: Striking Similarities

“The One” in Lord of the Rings Mythology represents the one true God and he has no son or partners

Tolkien himself indicates that his world has a deity God, and he is the same God of his Catholic faith.[6] However, interestingly, this God is described as “the one” and has no son or holy spirit surrounding his mythos. This God easily fits the mold of the original orthodox Christian, Jewish, and Islamic version of God as being one, rather than a trinity.

The Rings of Power

What other culture values the power of rings? There are two that I can think of; one being Islam, and the second being Vikings. First let’s see what Islam says about the rings:

“Wear rubies as rings for it vanquishes poverty”

Imam al-Sadiq (as)

“you should wear an aqeeq ring, for it protects from all harm”

The Prophet’s (swt) reply to a man that complained of being robbed on the road by bandits.

Imam Ali (as) had four rings: a ruby for its nobility, a turquoise for its aid, a hadid sin (translates to Chinese iron but more accurately hematite, presumably brought from China) for its strength, and an aqeeq for its amulet.

In fact, there are many narrations about the different stones ranging from carnelian, turquoise, quartz, sapphire, ruby, hematite, citrine, and so on. Different stones aid a person in different feats, from connection to Allah and piety, to safety, to physical strength, to pregnancy and childbirth:

            The second example of power rings I can find in historical cultures are the Vikings. The Viking tradition of wearing rings, may have in fact been culturally adopted from Islam. A viking ring was found in the grave of a viking woman, with the Islamically significant agite/carnelian stone with the arabic words, “For Allah” engraved upon it. Once one digs further, he can find a long history if Islamic culture upon the Vikings, and even many Vikings themselves being Muslims. It is entirely possible that the “power rings” of the Vikings, stemmed from the religion of Islam.

            As we can see, these Islamic rings are very similar to the rings of power from Lord of the Rings. Other than the Islamic culture, there is really no other culture that emphasizes the metaphysical power of rings.

The End Times Prophecies of Islam compared to the events of Lord of the Rings

The Dajjal (Anti-Christ):

Imam Ali (a.s.) is the first successor after Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w). He was asked about the Dajjal. Imam Ali (a.s.) responded,

“He shall emerge from Yahoodiya village of Isfahan. He shall be blind in the right eye, the left would be on the forehead like a bloody piece, which would be glinting like the morning star”.

[7]

            Already, we have the imagery of one eye, “bloody”, and would be “glinting like the morning star”. This pretty much sums of the eye of Sauron.

            Further, this narration states that Dajjal/anti-Christ (or Sauron in the Lord of the Rings), will spawn from a village in Isfahan, Iran. Isfahan is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by difficult mountains and terrain, and it lies to the east of Europe and the rest of the Middle East. Further, it makes sense that many would be misled to join Dajjal, as anyone arising from that region would indicate he is the messiah for Christians (Christ), Jews (Mossiach), and Muslism (Mahdi) and many may choose to follow this leader blindly given his great power and “miracles”.

Injustice Around the World

Abu Saeed Khudri narrated that the Holy Prophet (S) said, “In the Last Age, severe tribulations would afflict my community from their rulers and kings such that they have not heard of more severe atrocities and the earth shall become constricted for them and become filled with injustice and oppression and the faithful believer would have no place of refuge from those oppressions.”

“At that time, Almighty Allah (SwT) would send a man from my progeny who would fill the earth with justice and equity and all inhabitants of the earth and heavens would be satisfied and happy and the earth would spew out its treasures and the sky would shower its blessings…”

[8]

Enter the Mahdi

            In Islam there is the lost king, 9^th descendent to Imam Hussein (s), referred to Imam Mahdi. His real name is Mohammed, and he was born on July 28, 869 CE. He has been alive for 1251 years, and he remains in occultation (hidden). The line of Imams was broken after Imam Hussein, as no Imam after that ever re-claimed the caliphate. Eventually the line went dead after Imam Mohmmad al-Mahdi was born. In 874 CE., the six-year-old son of the eleventh imam went into hiding to protect himself from the persecution of the reigning Abbasid empire.

“In that period, the Almighty Allah (SwT) would send our Mahdi, who is the ninth descendant of Imam Husain (a.s.) ….”

[9]

Similarly, in the Lord of the Rings lore, there was a ranger, named Strider aka Aragorn. He was in fact the lost heir to the throne. Aragorn was the 16th Chieftain of the Dunedain and was therefore the true king of Arnor since he came of the line of Isildur. When he was only two years old, his father Arathorn was killed while pursuing orcs. Aragorn was afterwards fostered in Rivendell by Elrond. At the request of his mother, his lineage was kept secret, as she feared he would be killed like his father and grandfather if his true identity as the descendant of Elendil and Heir of Isildur became known. Aragorn was renamed “Estel” and was not told about his heritage until 2951.

The Revered Sword

Legend has it, at the battle of Uhud, Imam Ali and our Holy Prophet Muhammad were fighting along side eachother when the sword of Zulfaqir was given to Imam Ali (as).

One legend says, “when Ali’s sword was broken in the battle, the Prophet took a dry branch of a date tree and rotated it, and it became Zulfiqar, and gave it to Ali. Whoever was slashed by it was divided into two equal parts”.[10] Other legends say the sword descended from heaven. Legend has it that people heard a loud voice proclaiming, The Muslims heard a voice from heaven, saying, “There is no sword but Zulfiqar, and no hero but Ali.”[11]

Similarly, the lost king Aragorn also has a lost legendary sword originally belonging to Isildur. Also will be used in the final war to end all wars.

The Army of the Dead

It is prophesized that some of Imam Mahdi’s army will be an army of dead people that came back to life. This army of dead are people that passed away as martyrs or very pious individuals in the past. This is known as the raj’at (the return). The late Sayyid Murtadha, one of the greatly distinguished scholars, explains as follows:

“After the reappearance of Hadhrat Mahdi (a.s.), the Exalted Allah (s.w.t.) shall cause group of those, who had previously departed from the world, to return to this world in order that they may be partners in the reward and glory of assisting him (a.s.) and in witnessing Allah’s rule over the entire world; He shall also cause the most obstinate enemies to return in order to extract revenge from them.”

            In Lord of the Rings, Aragorn utilizes an army of dead soldiers to help him win one of the last major battles at Minas Tirith. I cannot think of any other religion or fictitious work where the dead will come back to join the last battle.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

It is reported that the Prophet (S) said:

 “Among my progeny is the Mahdi. When he emerges, Jesus the son of Mary will descend to help him, then Jesus will send him ahead and pray behind him.”

[12]

It is reported from Abu ‘Abd Allah from his fathers that Hasan the son of ‘Ali (‘a) said when disputing with the king of Byzantium:

“The life of Jesus in the world was thirty-three years. Then Allah raised him to heaven and he will descend to the earth in Damascus, and it is he who will kill the Antichrist (Dajjal).

[13]

Then Jesus will come to the place that the Muslims are gathered and find their Caliph is praying with them, who will say to him, ‘O Christ! Pray in front of us.’ He will say, ‘But you pray with your people. I have been raised as a minister, not as a commander.

[14]

            In Lord of the Rings, there is a figure that (1) sacrificed himself for the sake of his followers, (2) battled an evil creature and defeated him, (3) who never died but was risen up into some other dimension where time did not function the same as on earth, (4) was brought back for the last battle and end times as a sort of minister and helper for the war, (5) when he came back was not a king but rather allowed the lost king to lead his people revive the earth into a state of peace and tranquility while he takes a secondary role.

We should be able to all agree that Gandalf portrays the role of Jesus Christ in Lord of the Ring. However, now that we see Islam’s view of Jesus Christ in relation to the end times, can we not deduct that this version of Jesus Christ is more in line with Islam’s rather than Christianity’s theology?

The Ground Swallowed up the Enemies

In a pivotal battle, Imam Mahdi’s army will be pursued by Sufyani’s army (an ally to Dajjal), and the desert of Saudi Arabia will swallow up the entire army in this pivotal battle.

Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, Islam’s fourth Imam, described this event:

“The commander of the Sufyani’s army shall be informed about Mahdi’s flight towards Mecca. Najdah ibn ‘Amir al-Hanafi will be one of the Khawarij who commands his army to pursue the Mahdi, but they will not find him… The commander of Sufyani’s army shall stop at baydā’ (plain ground between Mecca and Medina) and a caller from the heavens shall cry out: ‘O baydā’! Destroy this group.’ Then baydā’ will swallow them up”.

[15]

            Of course, we all know of the famous battle in the Lord of the Rings at the Black Gate wherein all of Sauron’s vast army was swallowed up by the ground in the Battle for the Black Gate. I would posit the question, what other mythology or theology could J.R.R. Tolkien have been influenced by?

Other Notable Similarities

            Of course, there are other similarities that are too widely accepted by all religion’s end time’s prophecy and that do not need any proof. For example, in Islam, it is prophesied that in the end times there will be much war, division, poverty, and injustice. We find a similarity in middle-earth before the great battles where murdering gangs of orcs where pillaging and burning the country-sides and causing other similar battles.

            Also, in Islam, the end times will be filled with corruption among the morality of men, and we can see that in certain places during the end times of Middle-Earth, where we see brother jealously and a father’s greed. Also, we see how the entire population of middle-earth was on a mission to obtain the ultimate power of the one ring. In the last days, the forces of evil were much more widespread, and we see that in middle-earth. Others may point to Gog and Magog which is found in Islam and prophecies to be released before the last days. Details are scarce on this and I find is difficult to draw specific similarities.

I have read that J.R.R. Tolkien may have had some Muslim influences in his lifetime through acquaintances and/or friends. No one can deny he was a well read individual of faith, it is not likely to believe he never heard if Islam’s end times prophecies.

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[1] Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About J.R.R. Tolkien”, January 7, 2017, Gospoel Coalition, Inc.

[2] Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About J.R.R. Tolkien”, January 7, 2017, Gospoel Coalition, Inc.

[3] J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 142

[4] Letter to Rhona Beare, 14 October 1958

[5] Letter to Amy Ronald, 15 December 1956

[6] BBC interview with J.R.R. Tolkien conducted by Debys Gueroult for BBS in 1964, released in 1971.

[7] Shaykh Al-Saduq, Kamaaluddin wa Tamaamun Ni’ma Vol. 2, Chapter 47.

[8] Iqdud Durar, Pg. 113

[9] Biharul Anwar, 13/174

[10] See Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, Hayat Al-Qulub Vol 2.

[11] See Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, Hayat Al-Qulub Vol 2.

[12] Bihar, 14, 349

[13] Bihar, 14, 247, 27

[14] Sirat al-Mustaqim, 3, 92

[15] In section 2, chapter 4, of ‘Iqd al-Durar, See “Al Mahdi” written by Sayyid Sadruddin Sadr for more hadiths with similar narriations.