Dune - Arrakis Prayers

Arrakis Prayers

[qtarokujo]

I'm glad Villeneuve included scenes like this as not only did it capture the spiritual elements of the book, it also felt nostalgic as someone who grew up in a community with a lot of Muslims and Catholics

[Despotic_Waffle]

As a book reader, I thought from the trailers that they would shy away from the islamic imagery and themes due to fearing backlash or misunderstandings. Glad this scene captures the spiritual feel of the fremen which is somewhat based on Islamic middle eastern culture (along with a mix of christianity and buddhism, just like the rest of dune). As a muslim myself it's pretty trippy to see such a scene which is so familiar be portrayed in a scifi, to western audiences this probably seems exotic as hell.

[nomansblog]

if you listen closely, you can hear the words "Bene Gesserit" and "Kwisatz Haderach"

[unclegene]

Those poor harkonnens/sardaukar/ everybody else. Part two is gonna be huge

[BLooDCoMPleX]

I need a longer version of this. I hope Denis gets to do Dune Messiah and we get to see the prayers for Alia scene in a similar fashion before Paul meets Bijaz.

[srbrant]

God created Arrakis to train the faithful.

[Joshua]

Got chills in the theater during this part.

[CarpeVeracity]

Given the real world origin of Mahdi, and how much Dune drew from Arabic base, it was really good to see that portrayed 1000% better in this film.

[hllwknight]

Lyrics in Chakobsa (Taken from books):
Mu Bene Gesserit thisa kogya suma Arrakis iye maza Shai Hulud
Azera shan oghaman orahan Kwisach Haderach

[ragingexodus]

These scenes make the religion of Arrakis feel like they have history

[Abdullah_Khan]

sunlight filtered through a designed wall(Its called a Jalli Patterned Wall quite common in Islamic architectures etc.), Light Incense smoke for fragrance(Quite a common practice here), Mysteriously clad people with blue eyes chanting (Common to see here.) this movie managed to make all these sights look exotic

[matienazemy]

After my 4th watch, I kinda understood what the prayer was saying. I definitely heard Bene Gesserit and Arrakis. I think I heard kwisatz haderach as well.

[nahidbethehonoredone]

Alongside the obvious and predominant Arabic and Islamic influence, which many Arabs and Muslims noticed with the Fremen, I have also noticed bits and pieces of Christian, in particular Catholic, influences sprinkled all over the Fremen of Arrakis and even the Bene Gesserit themselves. For starters, in this very scene, the Fremen pray in their temple (which resembles a typical masjid so much) while squatting, prostrating, and kneeling. Prostration is easily associated with Islam, but ancient Eastern Christian Churches such as the Greek Orthodox do this in their prayers too, and of course kneeling and genuflecting which has been seen as a European practice is of course Roman Catholic. The Fremen also chant in a manner almost identical to the Muslim "adhan", but somehow has a few elements similar to or resembling that of Byzantine chants (to the unfamiliar, listen to those too) of the Orthodox and Gregorian chants of us Catholics. I know those are chimes, but they very much sound like bells, and I don't know if Muslims use bells but we Catholics use bells all the time in the Church Liturgy (Holy Mass), bells everywhere especially in the Consecration Prayers, which is most important to us. And the formula of how this Arrakis Prayer, it's called Tooth of the Shai-Hulud, is constructed reminded me of the Roman Canon or Eucharistic Prayers, which to us Catholics is one of the smost important prayers of the Mass (so basically if you look up the lyrics of this OST, you see mentions of the Bene Gesserit, the Shai-Hulud, and the Kwisatz Haderach, important figures in the Fremen religion, similar to how Catholics in the Roman Canon of our Mass mention and pray for the Pope and bishops and all clergy [Bene Gesserit], all the Saints and the souls of the faithful departed [Shai-Hulud], and the Offering we give to Our Lord Jesus and we wait for His Second Coming [Kwisatz Haderach]). Finally, this one's actually a scene from Dune 2, Paul had a vision of the Fremen worshipping his father Duke Leto as essentially a deity figure since he is the father of the Lisan al-Gaib, and has an image of him in great reverence; the image of Duke Leto being venerated by the Fremen is very very similar to Catholic iconography of the saints, and how Duke Leto had a prominent place among the Fremen religion and Atreides Empire speaks to the parallels with that of either God the Father for being adored and worshipped through His Son, or Saint Joseph the literal Protector and Patriarch of the Universal Church (basically means he is the primary patron of the entire Christian Church). Jessica Atreides has also maintained and established herself a very prominent role as spiritual leader and matriarch of the entire Fremen religion as Reverend Mother, probably an allegory to the Blessed Mother, Holy Virgin Mary, who in life supported her Son's ministry in the same way Jessica pushed for Paul to become Muad'dib all the way, and even after Christ died the Blessed Mother remained an important and revered figure amongst the Apostles and the Church, even to this day. And of course, who would not forget the Bene Gesserit, these women are literally the Jesuits but female. How the Jesuits predominantly, alongside other religious orders like the Dominicans and Augustinians, appropriated and inculturated the native customs and folk traditions, like the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci integrating the Chinese "Huang Di" or Emperor of All Heavens to that of The Christ, or Christ as The Eternal Tao (in Dune universe, the Fremen already believe in the Messianic figure even before the Bene Gesserit, but it was their prolesytization and appropriation that gave birth to the idea of Lisan al-Gaib).

[SamarKhan-ylyg]

Lyrics:

Mu Bene Gesserit thisa kogya suma Arrakis iye maza Shai Hulud
Azera shan oghaman orahan Kwisach Haderach

[zvigomez]

This has been stuck in my head ever since I saw dune for the first time in theaters. Thank you for posting it

[ruben]

Those who know Dune's full lore, also know how the beliefs of the Fremen escalate into universe-wide invasion in Muhadib's name and in his name the excesses of religious zeal find sanctity

[MMAmini]

Fun fact: Lisan al-Gheib(لِسانُ الْغِیْب), nearly translates to tongue of The hidden. Arabic nickname of one of the greatest Persian poets, Hafez. His spiritual-religious poets inspired goethe (the greatest and most influential writer in the German language) to write West–östlicher Divan.
Al-Mahdi (ألْمَهْدِی) translates to the Guided. Nickname of a prominent figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the End of Time to rid the world of evil and injustice. Twelvers believe in him as their last infallible Imam, Mohammad al-Mahdi (a.j.).

[davidellis]

Why is no one talking about why this song isn't on the official movie soundtrack? Where is it? Seriously, there's 4 or 5 hours of score across the official movie soundtrack, the companion book soundtrack and the sketchbook soundtrack and none of it contains this. Same with Duncan Idaho's theme.

Edit: I've recently found a snippet of Duncan Idaho's theme 30 seconds into "Burning Palms" however, I'm sure that version of it isn't quite synonymous with the theme behind his original introduction in the movie or behind Paul's salute before the Jamis fight.

[cpegg]

I wonder what those who perpetrated the Butlerian Jihad would have thought if they caught a glimpse 10, 000 years into the future to see the Fremen Jihad and eventually Leto II’s long despotic reign...

[EJLM]

This chant is relaxing AF, If a longer version of this chant exists, can someone please show me where I can get it