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I asked this question in World-Building but it seems better fit for Writing.
I ask for a few reasons. Despite the specific arguments against speculative fiction within Quranic tradition and protests by other Abrahamic traditions and Hindus against certain franchises, I've noted:
Accounts of cultures, especially in the medieval period, undermining doctrine by relying on talismans or superstitions possibly at odds with theological tradition.
Modern Muslims, Jews, Buddhists asking for and expecting representation in fantasy and sci-fi.
The suggestion that creating a fictional religion based on a real religion isn't any better than leaving people out entirely, because it creates a superficial proxy to which the writer has no responsibility to portray accurately or fairly.
I've looked into how religious people who enjoy speculative fiction think about this, and I'm trying to find experts on the subject willing to answer my questions, but I'd like as many perspectives on this as possible.
In the past, firebirds, djinni, spirits, angels, demons, basilisks, witchcraft, dragons, etc were generally accepted to be actualities of the world often reinforced by religious belief, and even now, people tend toward a belief in the preternatural where spirits, angels/demons, practical magic, chakras, etc are concerned.
In western liberal society, even though adherents to religions like Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism often voice opposition to how magic/fantasy elements and their faith are depicted in fiction (His Dark Materials comes to mind), it's generally not out of the question for Christian/Jewish characters to appear in speculative fiction. Conversely, in Islamic societies, genre fiction is often thought of as a force opposed to Quranic truth, and fiction featuring Hinduism is frequently ardently pro-Hinduism.
My understanding is that religious doctrine usually explicitly describes magic/witchcraft and spirits/demons as physical actualities within dogma, so it's blasphemous to depict those things as physical actualities outside of dogma. So is it possible to respectfully write a culture that believes in the divinity of Trimurti or the Abrahamic God according to Islam in a world where wizards can perform feats otherwise only achievable through God, or in which elves are physically superior to humans?
I want to stress the difference between coexistence and tolerance. Of course not even a fictional Muslim society would abide witchcraft within its borders; my question is more about whether it's antagonistic to religious belief to feature a sorcerer capable of staving off an army of devout Muslim warriors, or a dragon whose knowledge surpasses that of any Brahman, or a magically-inclined elf child as the sympathetic victim of Abrahamic witchhunters?
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I'm going to say no, but do it anyway. Which may be confusing, but let me explain.
Religious groups are diverse, and you won't be able to represent that diversity in your book, because you will only have so many characters who will belong to each group. We are all slaves to subjective biases, like 'What you see is all there is' (WYSIATI). Our perspective is limited to the obvious.
As you are no doubt aware, most are quite precious about their beliefs. But they are precious only about a specific interpretation of an ideology. Usually other interpretations are regarded as heresy, though for the most part this doesn't apply to Hinduism. A Sunni may not care too much if a Shia is portrayed negatively, just as a Catholic may not be too concerned if a Protestant is portrayed negatively. Importantly, you are unlikely to create a character who matches any given individual's subjective bias.
Therefore, you can create many reasonable characters, and yet will be harshly criticised. If a negative character is Muslim, you're a bigot. If a positive character is Muslim, you're an apologist. If you have two Muslim character, one good and one bad, you'll be accused of tokenism because their being Muslim will be regarded as insufficiently fundamental to their character; you just made them Muslim as a multicultural afterthought.
The only way to create an authentic character is good research. For example; to start on Hinduism, I might advise reading Shashi Tharoor's 'Why I am a Hindu' which discusses the history of Hinduism and contemporary Hindu politics (the author being a liberal Hindu disapproves of Hindu nationalism). Then you could go further, reading Hindu texts (Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads), investigating Hindu demographics, history, music, cuisine, religious leaders, etc.
With such knowledge you will be able to construct a character whose motivations are believably grounded in a specific culture. The real test of course will be whether someone from that group can recognise your fictional character as one of their own. Approval isn't really the point; if you write a Hindu nationalist, a liberal Hindu reader will disapprove of their world view, but they should be able to recognise whether this character is authentic or not.
This has been done repeatedly. Let's take some, in my opinion, good examples I can recall.
In The Chronicles of Riddick Franchise, in the first (Pitch Black), second (Dark Fury), and third (Chronicles of Riddick) you have a recurring character.
Keith David as Abu 'Imam' al-Walid. A Muslim preacher who was travelling to New Mecca for the annual preaching, and was stranded with others when the ship crashed. He is travelling with three young boys.
Here you have Islam portrayed in a Sci-Fi setting, and it's done quite well. Though I dare not say if the terminology is used correctly, he is shown to be a wise and caring man who is deeply religious. A man that doesn't turn his back on his faith during hard times.
In The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (TV Series), you have Hadji, who is a Hindu. I don't remember the series too well, but I do remember Hadji was a valued sidekick, and didn't get shunted into tokenism (that could be the shine of nostalgia, so take with a grain of salt).
You can also look deeper into certain anime shows, they are rife with different cultures though most commonly Japanese (for obvious reason). Naruto, of all places, did this quite well with much of Shinto mythology and breathing new life into this. I bring this up, because most don't realise just how much of their culture is just always present there.
Pokemon also does this well, in their games, manga, and anime. Blending multiple cultures almost seamlessly, and allowing each region a little flair of its own. Curiously, they stray away from religion in the real world sense, but it's easy to see hints in the series and the games, if you consider the 'gods' of the various regions (though they call them legendary Pokemon).
In Memoirs of a Geisha, this is also done quite well. And, yes, I prefer the book over the film, if you want a toned down 'fantasical'.
(willing to research more media if desirable, but none come to mind at present)
My point is, it's already been done over and over. The thing is, the better it's done, the less it stands out. The worse it's done (examples of how I would view 'bad portrayal': Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons) the more noticeable it becomes that certain aspects of the religion are put under the loop and are poked at.
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