Posted by Ilya Somin:
Radical Islamism and Frank Herbert's Dune:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_09_16-2007_09_22.shtml#1190502423
WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Frank Herbert's classic
science fiction novel Dune.
Frank Herbert's [1]Dune is one of the greatest science fiction novels
of all time. And, as famed sci fi writer [2]Orson Scott Card points
out, there are many parallels between the plot of Dune and the rise of
radical Islamism in the real world:
There was considerable irony in Dune's use of Arabic culture and
language as the explicit basis of the "Fremen," the desert dwellers
who become the source of Paul Atreides power and, when he unleashes
them, the scourge of the universe.
Herbert traces the roots of Fremen culture from world to world, and
makes it clear that, while the specifics of Islamic belief are
never laid out, the customs and culture of these people have been
Muslim all along . . .
The emotional core of the novel, then, comes from a T.E.
Lawrence-like character, Paul Atreides, coming to dwell with and
learning to live as an Arab Muslim, until he is able to lead them
to victorious battle.
Paul, being a non-Muslim, treats the idea of jihad as an abhorrent
one; he long tries to resist the blood and horror of such a thing,
though by the end of the book he has given up and realizes that the
jihad will happen and cannot be prevented or even controlled.....
[A] Muslim would not read this book the same way I did. To an Arab
Muslim, the Arabic words and names would leap off the page; the
Fremen characters would be the ones an Arab reader would most
identify with.....
And when, at the end of the book, the Arab jihad is triumphant,
this reader -- [if like] Osama or another of his ideology -- would
not only feel great emotional satisfaction, he would have the
blueprint for his own future.
Because the Fremen in Dune triumph, not just because of the force
of their arms or their courage in battle, but because they control
the only source of the "Spice," a substance only created in the
complex desert ecology of Arrakis, the planet they control. Without
Spice the starships cannot navigate, and interstellar trade would
grind to a halt.
The whole economy of the interstellar empire is dependent on and
therefore under the ultimate control of the Fremen. Anything the
offworlders do to them will hurt the offworlders far more than it
hurts the Fremen. The parallel with oil is obvious.....
Remember that Herbert wrote Dune in the 1960s, before the first oil
embargo, before any Islamist government was ever formed.
Whether Dune had any causal influence on the rise of Al Qaeda,
Herbert certainly did a superb job of predicting the rise and the
power of such an ideology. I would be surprised if there were not,
among the followers of Osama bin Laden, at least a few readers of
Dune for whom this book feels like their future, their identity,
their dream.
In other words, Herbert got it horribly right.
Unlike Card, I highly doubt that Dune played any role in influencing
Osama Bin Laden or his followers. However, Card is right to note the
striking parallels between the jihad in Dune and the later rise of
radical Islamism in our world. The parallels are imperfect (e.g. -
Dune is the only source of "the Spice," while in our world there are
many non-Arab oil producers). But they are there nonetheless.
This leads me to another interesting aspect of Dune: at first reading,
many readers (myself included) fail to pick up on the fact that the
victory of Paul and the Fremen is a tragedy, not a happy ending.
Although they succeed in overthrowing the evil Harkonnens and the
corrupt Empire, it is only at the cost of unleashing a religious war
that will kill billions. The point is made more clear in the later
(and inferior) sequel [3]Dune Messiah (where Herbert notes that Paul's
victory has resulted in the slaughter of many more innocent people
than the Holocaust). But it is evident on a close reading of Dune
itself as well.
The mistake is understandable. Paul and his Fremen allies are brave
and sympathetic, while their enemies have few if any virtues.
Nonetheless, the Fremen victory ultimately creates far more evil than
it prevents. The danger of religious fanaticism and hero worship was
in fact one of the themes that Herbert sought to emphasize in Dune.
These days, when I reread Dune, I can't help but sympathize just a
little with the Emperor, or even the Baron Harkonnen:).
References
1. http://www.amazon.com/Dune-Chronicles-Book-1/dp/0441172717
2. http://hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2007-09-09.shtml
3.
http://www.amazon.com/Dune-Messiah-Chronicles-Book/dp/0441172695/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-2806535-2827342?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190501786&sr=1-1
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