The Dune movies, Part 1 and Part 2 so far, are some of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen for a variety of reasons. The first reason is aesthetic; These are very well-made movies. They’re drop-dead gorgeous. The second reason is that they are clearly analogous to, and romanticize, Arabs and Islamic culture as a whole. There’s plenty that’s left out of the films that are instead in the books, like major conflicts being referred to as Jihads (before that word was given a new English connotation), as well as other smaller examples of the usual Hollywood Arab erasure but the core themes of the book are still present in the films because you simply cannot tell this story without them. 

The Lisan Al Gaib concept, referring to the Mahdi, Paul Atreides, as a Messianic figure who is reborn as Paul Mu’addib and the exploration of the circumstance around his coming is so fascinating that when I saw it executed, something in my mind clicked a little. There’s real wisdom to be gleaned here and I think the wisdom goes back to another concept that most Arabs, and all Muslims, share: Maktoob.

The Lisan Al Gaib is a prophesied figure that is created by the Bene Gesserit. This secretive religious order influences the politics of the Dune universe of worlds and on Arakkis specifically, the home of the Fremen (Arab-like people), the prophecy is something that is gospel for some Fremen from the South while it is rejected by the people of the North. Basically, the Bene Gesserit have created the tale of the Mahdi, or the Lisan Al Gaib, through oral traditions that have been passed down through generations in the hopes that the Fremen will one day pick on a certain character as their Mahdi, initiate them into their ranks, and allow the Mahdi to lead them to salvation and freedom. He will turn these people from simple desert-wanderers into intergalactic conquerors, ridding their region of the evil of the Empire and its greedy lust for Spice and the Bene Gesserit that control them, supposedly.

How do these events play out in the film? As well as the Bene Gesserit could hope for, it would seem. Despite this conspiracy being completely fabricated and having little basis or potential for coming true, the prophecy does indeed come true. Against every attempt to show the Fremen that he is anything other than an ordinary outcast aristocrat, Paul is thrust into a position of reverence among the people and is finally given a choice: Take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and see that these people can be “liberated” under your leadership against the Empire that betrayed and ruined your family… Or refuse and nothing happens. 

He chooses to reveal himself as the Mahdi and as one group acknowledges his religious significance, all others eventually bow down until the very last non-believing person is forced to their knees. It is him, the Lisan Al Gaib. Just as how it was written. Maktoob. 

(A note: The line between clear conspiracy and happenstance is also walked very tightly. While the Atreides family is decimated on Arakkis, Paul and his mother are miraculously able to escape along with very few others. But it’s also strange that of all the people that could escape, Paul and his mother along with very few others were capable of doing so. So let’s not entertain the conspiracy but if the Bene Gesserit had planted someone on the inside to get them out, it’s totally plausible that this would serve the prophecy. But guaranteeing something like this leading to the outcome of “Mahdi is recognized and destroys Empire” is ridiculous and would be a logistical nightmare anyway.)

What I love about the Maktoob idea is the exploration that if something is believed to eventually happen, then it simply must happen because faith will make it so. Paul Atreides is aware of the Bene Gesserit conspiracy. Paul’s mother is aware of the conspiracy. They know how the Fremen have been manipulated and they know the signs they will look for. They even say it to the Fremen point-blank that you are all being manipulated. But when something is so fundamental to your very being, to your culture, to your understanding of how the world works… You can’t just toss that shit in the bin.

The Benne Gesserit in the Dune story remind me of the Jesuits, or the Order of Jesus. It’s a Christian (Catholic) order that would launch Christian missionaries around the world for years. They were close to the ruling class wherever the seat of the Roman Empire was. They’d do things like research, education, spreading the message of Jesus, whatever other activity of zealous significance might be needed. But the point I’m making is, “wow, similar! An order here and an order there.” It’s also safe to assume that as power became more concentrated in post-Islamic Arabia that each ruling government had its own Department of Religion or Wizarat Al-Deen or whatever apparatus it was, I’m not sure. Actually, I think it’s the Madrasas and the Ulama hierarchy. Anyway.

The Fremen have an oral tradition in the Dune story. They pass down stories that have been essentially lost to time. In fact, the author of Dune clearly placed a very great deal of thought into what Muslims might be like if they left Earth for a place like Arakkis. But specifically, the oral tradition is very important here because even Muslims have a very very very vast oral tradition that may or may not be (but definitely isn’t very) accurate, that has contradictions, and that is fundamentally unverifiable: The Hadith. And in these Hadiths, we have a prophetic figure, a Mahdi, who will save us during the end-times and his significance, his description, his placement in the theocratic timeline of events, is all derived from the Hadith and both major factions of Muslims (Sunni and Shia, like the Fremen North and South) differ in their descriptions of this prophetic figure.

But if the signs come true, who will stand in his way? It’s maktoob! It’s written! So it must be him!

Now I’m not saying that the Jesuits injected information into Islamic eschatology 1175 years ago to make people complacent and to just wait around for a charismatic figure to lead them to salvation. That would be insane lol. But I am saying that if any people on Earth can understand the excitement of the Fremen at seeing their Mahdi be born in front of them, it is definitely the Arabs. Because the core concept that every single person in this region fundamentally understands and applies in their day-to-day life, the concept that has never been taken to its logical conclusion, came true in cinemas! And it looked awesome!

Think about all the prophecies as they have been taught to you and think about how we observe the world. The UAE just experienced historic rainfall. And the vast vast majority of people definitely thought to themselves, ‘sign of the end-times.’ It’s in our veins to think this way. And while yes, some of these prophecies are stated in the Qur’an and will definitely come true, some of them are just not there and have different contradicting versions. And yet, whatever version of the future will seem to start happening, we will cling to. And whatever we cling to, we will accept with a fervor and a passion that will force it to become true.

Because it is written. Because it is maktoob.