The Stone throwing devils can be seen as a riff on a central part of Muslim tradition:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning_of_the_DevilI saw someone claim it was a slur used against Muslims in Victorian England, but haven't been able to confirm that. Either way, it was easy enough to make a connection, especially with the card being from Arabian Nights.
Huh. Never heard of that tradition. Shows what I know.
It could be read this way, although this tradition seems to be the direct symbolic descendant of "stoning a person to death" thing, and the flavor text of the card doesn't really fit that interpretation that much - it makes a bit less sense to note a particularly sinful person casting the first stone in
this tradition than in one where people are brutally killed for their sins. Well, maybe it doesn't, IDK. For what it's worth, actual stoning is both more famous and more fitting to take shots against.
Worth noting that this, far more innocuous, tradition causes, uh, this:
Stoning of the Devil article on Wikipedia wrote:
These two factors have been said to be most responsible for a stampede during the Hajj of 2006 which killed at least 346 pilgrims and injured at least 289 more. This was despite several attempts by the authorities to inform pilgrims about the permissibility of staggering their visits to the jamarāt as well as instructing them to leave their luggage at their tents. Adding to the confusion involved in the tragedy is the lack of co-operation on the part of pilgrims who do not leave the jamarāt area by the proper route, and therefore interfere with the movements of others who are arriving.
Another crush occurred on September 24, 2015, in Mina when at least 2,411 pilgrims were killed, a new Associated Press count shows, three times the number of deaths acknowledged by the kingdom three months later.[8] The AP figures establish the Sept. 24 crush at Mina as the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage. It occurred just weeks after a fatal crane collapse in Mecca.
I feel compelled to note: I think that most Muslims in the modern world want nothing to do with either kind of stoning, and follow much more peaceful and safe interpretations and doctrines.
But I feel like we should reserve the ability to take shots of criticism against particular things that lead to painful death of hundreds of people.