1.

The question of names in Alif the Unseen: (Lecture) What is the

purpose of Willow Wilson referring to the characters by their online
handles?
a. I believe it evident throughout the book that there is a sense
of secrecy attributed to the true/original names of characters
in the book.
b. There is this East vs West cultural issue about names. In the
East names are meanings, but in the West they dont carry the
same weight of meaning.
c. How the characters are attributed with personal reasons on
having more than 1 name. Each one is different.
d. This has some connotations with the argument of the Convent
about Islam: In the West, she observed, anything that must
be hidden is suspect; availability and honesty are interlinked.
This clashes irreconcilably with Islam, . . . where the things
that are most precious, most perfect and most holy are always
hidden: the Kaaba, the faces of prophets and angels, a
womans body, Heaven.- The Butterfly Memoir
e. http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/wpcontent/uploads/v28n1p020-021.pdf (The Arabic Naming
System)
f. The main characters that use altered names are using it in a
sense to reinvent themselves. The digital age allows
individuals to have a new sort of anonymity on the internet.
The characters in the book that are seen to be using different
names are primarily : Alif, NewQuarter and the Convert. The
Convert would seem to be the most interesting one as shes
not even give a semblance of a name any time during the
story. Shes referred to as the Convert, the American and the
plethora of other words referring to her as a foreigner. In
terms of Alif vs Muhammad, there are two possible reasons:
the first being which where he actively seeks to reinvent
himself in cyberspace to sort of negate his social position in
actuality. He is somewhat of an outcast, being of mixed
heritage and his father not being there most of the time. The
other reason would be to juxtapose the characters of Dina and
Intisar, where one would only call him by his given name and
the other by his online handle. This could be foreshadowing
from the beginning of Alif and Dinas burgeoning relationship.
The other purpose that it serves is to expand on a socioeconomical religious conflicts. One of the issues would be the
putting on of the veil which was frowned upon when Dina did
it but is expected of aristocratic females in the City.

g. Popular fiction is to do with readership as art is opposed to be

for itself.
h. The texts sort of is built around an agenda and purposes
rather than a story.
i. One of the issues WW deals with particularly with respect to
her Muslim readership is that she forces them to question
their own stance with regards to the faith. Most modern
Muslims prefer to ignore the parts of the Quran that deal with
the djinn.
i. The devotee recognizes in every divine Name the
totality of Names. Muhammad ibn Arabi, Fusus alHikam (Introduction)
ii. ..only the banu adam have the power to call things by
their right names (Reza: Chapter 0, Page 6)
iii. He had spent so much time cloaked behind his screen
name, a mere letter of the alphabet, that he no longer
thought of himself as anything but an alif a straight
line, a wall. Alif :Chapter 1
iv. Metaphors are dangerous. Calling something by a false
name changes it, and metaphor is just a fancy way of
calling something by a false name.- Dina: Chapter 1
v. Before he left the digital ecosystem for good,
NewQuarter01, the Citys first blogger, named the
singularity the Hand of God. Debate still raged about its
identity: was it a program, a person, many people?
Alif: Chapter 1
vi. Abbas the Meteor?- Alif: Chapter 1
vii. She had laughed to see his legal name, so ordinary,
lacking the edgy brevity of his screen name, the only
name she had ever called him Intisar : Chapter 2
viii. Never tell a man your given name if you dont know
his Vikram : Chapter 5
ix. Does this convert have a name? Most Probably.
Alif and Vikram
x. Thats Dinas fault, muttered Alif. She refuses to call
me anything else. - Alif
xi. Its common. Its everybodys name. I wanted to be
different.- Alif
xii. It was not Intisars fault it had begun with his name,
the name behind which he had concealed himself, a
single line seemingly as straight and impregnable as the
tower rushing skyward around him. The name without
which he would never have had the courage to approach
her. Alif

xiii. Is that name supposed to mean something to me?

Alif
xiv. I dont deal with your tribe often enough to warrant a
second name Jinn that helps them
xv. Who wants to know? he hazarded.- Alif to the
demon
xvi. Youve made the truth impossible anywhere but in the
dark, behind false names. Alif
xvii. You cant hide those things behind a new name. Alif
xviii. A peasant, like the rest of you? Oh, good. I was hoping
Id managed to fit in. I didnt want to seem like some
kind of poser. Even though I suppose thats what I am.
NewQuarter
2. What is at stake in depictions of religion or faith in Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep? and Alif the Unseen?

a. Need to discuss the religious attitudes of the authors to see

whether they manifested it in the novels.
b. Question whether there seems to be a purpose in Alif with
regards to the way WW seems to deal with religion and
religious questions.
c. What got my attention in Alif:
i. The contrast of faith between Dina and Alif this can be
seen as WW attempting to chastise progressive Muslims
who pick and choose parts of the religion to adopt rather
than embracing it as a whole.
ii. The character of the convert she has no name, focus is
taken from her past and is placed on her identity on
being a convert. Again she is also contrasted with Dina,
especially in how they react to situations, i.e. the
convert with Vikram and how they respond to danger
(passport vs prayer).
iii. The spiritual evolution of Sheikh Bilal of the Al-Basheera
mosque when Alif first encounters him, he is in full
support of the ritual law. He is also significant in the
sense that hes the most senior member representative
of the Islamic religion . Ritual law is not required to
make sense to us mortals, it is enough that it makes
sense to God. When you pray all your actions must fit
together like gears in a great machine- like one of your
computers. We can contrast it with his attitude after
they escape detention by the Hand when he sort of
rejects obstinate strict compliance with ritual law. I
have had much experience with the unclean and
uncivilized in the recent past. Shall I tell you what I
discovered? I am not the state of my feet. I am not the

dirt on my hands or the hygiene of my private parts. If I

were these things, I would not have been at liberty to
pray at any time since my arrest. But I did pray, because
I am not these things. In the end, I am not even myself. I
am a string of bones speaking the word God.
iv. In a sense readers might be tempted to think that this
seems like a contradiction of stances adopted by WW
because of how she deals with the appearances of the
djinn earlier on. She uses Dina to sort of admonish Alif
for not believing completely in the Quran. Why do you
get mad when religion tells you that the things you want
to be true are true? When its true, its not fun
anymore. All right? When its true its scary.
v. WW raises the issue of how religion (Islam) faces
difficulties adapting in the digital age. Those are real
desires manifesting themselves on the computer
screen. And even if they dont, the sheikh continued,
whos to say the spiritual damage isnt real
nonetheless? When two people form a relationship
online, it isnt a fiction based on real life, its real life
based on a fiction.
d. WW in Alif was specifically trying to cater to the readership of
Muslims

e. In Android Dick suggests that Mercerism (i.e. religion) is a tool of the

state to control the populace and curb rebellion. How is this linked
to the biases of Dick as a result of the enlightenment

f. Do you reckon it's too far-fetched to say that there is a sort of

contradiction of purpose with regards to the way WW deals
with religion in the book because of two particular incidents;
the argument between Dina and Alif about the existence of
the djinn and the evolution of Sheikh Bilal's stance on ritual
law (given his capacity as the senior religious figure).
Even if religion is fake, we still need it for the values that it teaches us.
Both the novels seem to advocate a similar stance on religion.
Talk about the differences in form how mercerism is an artificial religion