Liam Neeson, the actor who voices the lion Aslan in the film adaptations of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, has stirred up controversy by suggesting that Aslan could represent the prophet Mohammed or Buddha, just as much as he might represent Christ.
Aslan features in all seven Narnia books, and plays a central role in terms of guiding the children away from evil and encouraging them to do good. Lewis was very clear that Aslan was based on Christ, once writing: “He is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question: “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia?””
In the first book, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Aslan sacrifices his life to save Narnia before rising from the dead, a clear representation of the crucifixion and the resurrection.
Yet, ahead of the release of the latest film adaptation of the books, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” Neeson said: “Aslan symbolises a Christlike figure, but he also symbolises for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries.
“That’s who Aslan stands for as well as a mentor figure for kids – that’s what he means for me.”
Walter Hooper, Lewis’s former secretary and a trustee of his estate, said that the author would have been angered by Neeson’s comments.
He said: “It is nothing whatever to do with Islam. Lewis would have simply denied that. He wrote that 'the whole Narnian story is about Christ'. Lewis could not have been clearer.”
Mr Hooper attributed Neeson’s remarks to political correctness and a wish to be “very multi-cultural”.