7 Shai-hulud Like the Rebis, the Roman Janus is depicted with two faces, and Frank Herbert admitted to incorporating Janus symbolism in his story. 1 This symbolism pertains especially to doorways, with the Latin word for doorway (janua) deriving from the name Janus. According to its temporal symbolism, the two faces of Janus look respectively to the past and to the future; yet there is in fact an invisible “third” face that pertains to the present. The invisibility of this face expresses the transcendence of the present that reconciles the other opposing perspectives.2 Herbert includes this superior perspective as “the spread out present, its limits extended into the future and into the past” in his description of the attainment of Paul-Muad’Dib in the Cave of Birds. The keystone of an arch may represent such a superior and unifying presence that stabilizes the opposing sides of a door. In a remarkable example from Iraq, the Gate of the Talisman in Baghdad formerly depicted two dragons in its archway, with a haloed (and therefore luminous) hero between them. 3 Brian Herbert, op. cit., page 178. Cf. Guénon, “Some Aspects of the Symbolism of Janus,” Symbols of Sacred Science, op. cit. 3 It is worth considering that this image was demolished in 1917 at the end of Ottoman rule, and since the Ottoman caliphs were representatives of the Prophet, this coincidence is not without significance. The loss of spiritual authority over political affairs in Iraq would have to bring with it psychic and physical imbalance, 1 2 53 Mysteries of Dune The Talisman Gate in Iraq The coiled tails of the dragons may be compared with the serpentine bodies of the Chinese primordial twins. The dragons are not allowed to separate from the hero but are held in perfect balance; and in the Chinese example, the serpent is even more explicitly bound to the human form. The significance of this relationship is contained in the curious Arabic saying with which Shaykh Abd al-Wahid Yahya opens his article on “Seth:” “Kāna l-insānu hayyatan fil-qidām,” meaning, “Man was originally a serpent.”4 The term qidām does not simply indicate the past as opposed to the future, but contains rather the idea of “primordiality.”5 The saying emphasizes that the primordial and therefore at least eventually; and so the entrance of ISIS onto the world stage as a twisted mockery of this authority was only a matter of time. 4 Symbols of Sacred Science, op. cit. 5 In Islamic esoterism, the Primordial Human is termed al-insān alqadīm. 54 Shai-hulud spiritual state is characterized by integration in the psychic domain. No doubt the restoration of this state is made possible, in Tantric terms, by the power known as kundalini, a term that signifies the coiled form of a serpent. Any symbol has a luminous or tenebrous aspect. The sinister connotations of the imagery on page 27 may therefore be seen as but the mockery of the luminous aspect of “riding the dragon,”6 and so Muad’Dib’s riding of the sandworm may rather be an expression of this aspect. In general, the serpent or dragon may alternatively be associated with the integration of the primordial state or with a rebellion against it. This may be compared with the tall stature and longevity attributed by the Abrahamic traditions to the paradisal condition, but that also characterizes the rebellious antediluvian giants. We have seen that a tyrannical giant was replaced by the victorious spirituality of Joshua in the Bosporus, but that the dimensions of Joshua’s tomb indicates that its owner is likewise a giant. A comparable process is discernible in the tales told throughout the Balkans of the qalandari shaykh Sari Saltiq slaying a seven-headed dragon. Following his victory, the saint takes up residence in the dragon’s cave and is ultimately interred in seven different coffins, embodying his symbolic relationship with the dragon.7 Of course, the archetype of the dragon slayer is Saint George, and so it is of tremendous significance that he is known in Islam as al-Khidr, the Green Man, the very saint who accompanied Alexander the Great and attained the Water of Life.8 This motif appears especially in Taoism. Cf. Hasluck, chapter XXXII and passim. Hasluck suspected a correspondence between the accounts of the giant slayer Joshua and the dragon slayer Sari Saltiq, but could not comprehend its significance (page 308). 8 Al-Khidr actually assists Sari Saltiq in his victory over the dragon. 6 7 55 Mysteries of Dune These considerations enable us to turn our attention to the name Frank Herbert gives to the all-important dragons of Dune. The author glosses “Shai-hulud” as: Sandworm of Arrakis, the “Old Man of the Desert,” “Old Father Eternity,” and “Grandfather of the Desert.” Significantly, this name…designates the earth deity of Fremen hearth superstitions. Sandworms grow to enormous size…and live to great age… Although the name seems to be Arabic like so much of Herbert’s terminology, there is no straightforward equivalent to be found, and so the borrowing appears indirect at best. Still, there is a consensus that the word “hulud” is simply the Arabic khulūd,9 especially since this word contains the idea of “eternity” that Herbert includes in his definition. In seeking a direct translation of the word “shai,” however, attempts have settled on the word for “thing,” despite the lack of evidence that Herbert had this generic notion in mind. On the contrary, Herbert does give no less than three indications in his short definition that emphasize the idea of an elder man, that is, shaykh in Arabic or shaikh. Clearly the words begin with the same letters; the hyphen would then simply indicate an ellipsis of sorts in place of the last letter kha that is also the first letter of khulūd.10 The substitution of h for the letter kha is not unknown in the adoption of Arabic words, for example by Turkic languages. 10 At the same time, the ellipsis would also replace the last letters of “Shaitan,” a name for the immortal Adversary that Herbert employs, as we have already seen. This ellipsis may then provide a deliberate ambiguity, with “Shai-hulud” signaling either primordiality or rebellion in keeping with the symbolism of the dragon. 9 56 Shai-hulud We are left, then, with the name shai(kh)-hulud, or an “immortal shaykh,” with “shaykh,” as we have seen, designating a spiritual master in Sufism. Of course, only a master associated with the Water of Life could be considered to be an “ever-living master,” and such is indeed among the names of al-Khidr in the Muslim world. It is therefore of great interest to recall that the name for “serpent” in the Arabic saying quoted above – hayyah – is in essence a word for “living;” while in Dune, the Water of Life is derived from “that liquid exhalation of the sandworm produced at the moment of its death.” In other words, the finding of the Water of Life is synonymous with victory over the dragon or serpent, and both are attributes of the immortal shaykh al-Khidr who is also Saint George.11 The mysterious relationship between spiritual realization and Shai-hulud is mocked, however, through the principal plot development in Herbert’s sequels. This development even has a name, the “Golden Path,” that itself recalls the tariqah (literally “path”) of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain that includes al-Khidr. On this Golden Path, the son of Paul-Muad’Dib merges with the sandworms; but instead of relating in some way to the recovery of the primordial condition, Leto II becomes tyrannical and monstrous as the “God Emperor” of Dune, with enormous size and great longevity. To be fair, such a dark formulation of the “dragon king” also belongs to the mythology of the lands of Islam, as is clear from the example of Zahhak in the Persian Shah Nama or “Book of Kings.” With man-eating serpents rising from both shoulders, Zahhak’s monstrous form contrasts with that of the hero of the Gate of the Talisman, since the serpents are not under control but rather in control of Zahhak. Nevertheless, it is important to Very remarkably, Herbert may be confirming that he has alKhidr in mind with his reference to the “earth deity of Fremen hearth superstitions,” since this phrase so clearly recalls the Neopagan veneration of the Green Man. 11 57 Mysteries of Dune recognize that the overthrow of Leto II results in disintegration (the “Scattering”), whereas the overthrow of Zahhak brings the restoration of just rule in Faridun, a king of utmost integrity; and it is fascinating to recognize that Faridun is even able subsequently to assume the form of a dragon.12 Despite the partiality of Herbert’s point of view, there is no denying the fact that the entry immediately before “SHAI-HULUD” in Dune’s Glossary of the Imperium is actually “SHAH-NAMA.” The Persian epic holds much more concerning Dune than the account of Zahhak’s overthrow, as it is among the earliest Islamic sources of the quest of Alexander the Great. As a consequence, Herbert would have found in the Shah Nama an account of the search for the Water of Life.13 There can be little doubt, then, that the derivation of Shai-hulud suggested here belongs to the world of possibility, since the immortal shaykh al-Khidr holds the secret of the Water, just as the sandworm holds the secret of the spice.14 Unlike the East, the Western world suffers a chronic inability to recognize the luminous aspect of dragon symbolism; nevertheless, King Arthur remains in the West the model of kingly chivalry, and he belongs to the lineage of Pendragon. 13 Of course, Herbert would also have found traces of al-Khidr in the writings of Henri Corbin. 14 Still, the significance of the “missing” letter kha in Shai-hulud should not be ignored. It is, appropriately enough, the first letter of the Arabic name of the Green Man; and this letter may also stand for the Divine Name al-Khabīr, the Aware, in Islamic esoterism. Indeed, only through awareness of the spiritual master may the primordial state be won from the dragon. 12 58