Those who have read the four main Dune novels written by Frank Herbert (not the ones his son wrote): Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, may immediately know of what I speak. Those who have not, I highly recommend you read those four novels. I shall hereby attempt to show how Frank Herbert, although unknowingly, predicted the dangerous, and life threatening, rise of Islam.
The four main novels were written: Dune 1965, Dune Messiah 1969, Children of Dune 1976, God Emperor of Dune 1981. A couple of those publication dates stick out for me. 1969 was the same year of the first manned moon landing, and 1976 was the bicentennial celebration of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence. The other two, I do not remember anything memorable happening except for something classified from when I was in Navy. However, for me only, me wife and I got pregnant with our twin daughters. I would not know this had happened until five months after their birth since I was on a classified mission in the Navy. I returned home three days before my birth date in 1982 to find I was also a father. Kewl.
But I digress.
The two novels of major focus are Dune and Dune Messiah. In Dune, we read about the machinations of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV and the Baron Vladimir Harrkonen to destroy the House of Atreides. These machinations are successful, excepting the execution Paul Atreides and his mother, the Lady Jessica. They escape into the sands of Dune only to find the Fremen. Paul is accepted into the tribe Sietch Tabr governed by Stillgar after he easily defeats a Fremen warrior in a duel. Paul, who later becomes Muad'Dib, spends many years learning from the Fremen, has a son with his lover Chani, Leto II who is later killed in a raid. As he progresses and becomes more prescient, Paul is even later considered to be the Fremen Madhi, their prophesied messiah. Paul later goes through the Water of Life ceremony and becomes the Bene Gesserit's Kwisatz Haderach, the universe's superbeing they had been attempting to create through a eugenics project. Eventually, Paul Muad'Dib "takes control of the Empire, he realizes that while he achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain (Wikipedia)."
In Dune Messiah, we see the results of the Fremen jihad that spreads across the Empire, killing over 61 billion people who refuse to accept Muad'Dib as the Emperor, and the Fremen religion. Although the novel does not cover the jihad in exacting detail, it does mention it enough for those in today's world of the powerful Islamic nations of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Brunei, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, and others I don't remember off the top of my mind. There are 13 Islamic states where apostasy (a total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc.) is punishable by death. That alone should tell you of
Here is a very good propoganda video by Genetically Modified Skeptic about this atrocity to human rights.
Look at how Islam has risen in the last 35 years.
As said, if you have not read the Dune series by Frank Herbert, read them. You shall see an eerie similarity with the rise of Islam in that 35 years. In fact, Islam is greatest threat to all of humanity on the entire Earth.
rmfr
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I have to catch up on all the links you provided. Thanks for all the material. Looks like a good read. I will say that all those Abrahamic Religions are peas in the same pod to me. I think the title of most dangerous religion still belongs to the religion that has it Grip on the US. So it's a tie between Christianity and Catholicism. True there are some talented recruiters in Islam and its radical side is truly dangerous, but it's young compared to its sister religions and not so deeply rooted. The world would be a better place if ever the influence of these 3 cults is lessened.
I think if you read Desmond Morris or Joseph Campbell even Jung have a lot to say about archetypes of the "Hero." You will find nothing significant is Dune, Moses, Jesus, Ulysses, or any other mythology. The basic hero patterns are evident in all their lives. Their life stories, whether or not they actually existed, were written as superhero myths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
It's just a good outline for a sci-fi adventure novel. (And these books are great by the way. I have read them twice and listened to them on audio once. They ARE worth the re-read.)
I love what I've read of Dune, which amounts to those first two books. I noticed the similarities as well, but I'm not as informed on the timeline of Islam's rise in popularity as you seem to be. Although, most religions seem prone to have fanatical sects. It isn't only Islam that was behind execution of dissenters. I feel like Herbert could have easily taken many of the same principles and applied them to other cultures in the story, which would have made the fanatics fall more in line with another of our real-world religions.
I think that line line in the story is more a reflection than a prediction.
Thanks y'all. I know he did not predict anything. He just used the premise of combining governments and religion to point out how dangerous the two combined could be. But I did find it interesting when I watching a video about Frank Herbert's "universe" and the current rise of tyrannical totalitarian Islamic states in the last 35 years. I also thought it was interesting to note how the Fremen jihad killed over 61 billion persons who would not accept Muad'Dib as the Messiah of their prophecies.
The one similarity is the apostasy issue today with the Islamic religion. It is now doing what Christianity did when it was a tyrannical totalitarian power just a few centuries ago. It is also interesting how a religion behaves once it becomes a nation-state. And I think it was this fact that Frank Herbert was alluding to that could happen again.
I still think that as of today, Islam is the most dangerous nation-state religion. If humanity is not careful...
rmfr
On the contrary, this post isn't well research. Frank Herbert was an admirer of Islam even stating in a 1976 Radio interiew "
We tend … not to recognize how much Islam has contributed to our culture,” stated Herbert in a 1976 radio interview. “But we owe Islam enormous debts of gratitude." With the latest resurgence of Dune it seems Herbert's initial reflections and inspirations have been buried away and glazed over.
On the contrary, this post isn't well researched. Frank Herbert was an admirer of Islam even stating in a 1976 Radio interview
"We tend … not to recognize how much Islam has contributed to our culture,” stated Herbert in a 1976 radio interview. “But we owe Islam enormous debts of gratitude." With the latest resurgence of Dune it seems Herbert's initial reflections and inspirations have been buried away and glazed over.
Hello everyone!