09 June 2009
I've painted a believable case for the Islamic world to want to get rid of the Djinn and the library, or scrolls that they have. The Djinn are mentioned in the Quran as having been created by Allah. If a scroll predating Mohammed by nearly a millenium recorded in detail the creation of the djinn by Ptolemy I as a secret army, then that would cast doubt in the minds of some regarding the infallibility of the Quran. That would be enough to drive some factions to seek to destroy the offending scroll.
But the Djinn pose a more universal problem. It seems that in every part of the world, there are two sometimes opposing and sometimes cooperative forces. One is the force of national government and the other is the force of religion. Both of these forces lay down laws and rules that people must live by. In the United States, there was a governmental founding that separated church and state - a direct reaction to the British system in which the head of the state is also the head of the church, even though both operate separately. In some Islamic countries, we see the state ruled out as a force in government and the laws of the religion being the only guide needed for government. In China, we see the opposite in which the state is the only ruling force and church or religion is scarcely tolerated. So what if there were shown to be a third force that obviated both Church and State?
My original thought was that the Djinn had made the library a type of religious institution - a sort of temple, if you will. But the real danger is that it holds the potential to supplant both the religions and the nationalistic governments. Some people have held up science as this end-all, but I submit that it is knowledge. The Djinn have developed universal access to all knowledge in the form of a non-religious institution that crosses all national and religious boundaries. It is non-temporal, non-geographic, non-deistic knowledge. It is called The Library. That makes the Djinn the enemies of nationalism, religion, and political/economic theory. A very Vulcan sort of institution.
The librarians are truly the ones who rule the world.
But the Djinn pose a more universal problem. It seems that in every part of the world, there are two sometimes opposing and sometimes cooperative forces. One is the force of national government and the other is the force of religion. Both of these forces lay down laws and rules that people must live by. In the United States, there was a governmental founding that separated church and state - a direct reaction to the British system in which the head of the state is also the head of the church, even though both operate separately. In some Islamic countries, we see the state ruled out as a force in government and the laws of the religion being the only guide needed for government. In China, we see the opposite in which the state is the only ruling force and church or religion is scarcely tolerated. So what if there were shown to be a third force that obviated both Church and State?
My original thought was that the Djinn had made the library a type of religious institution - a sort of temple, if you will. But the real danger is that it holds the potential to supplant both the religions and the nationalistic governments. Some people have held up science as this end-all, but I submit that it is knowledge. The Djinn have developed universal access to all knowledge in the form of a non-religious institution that crosses all national and religious boundaries. It is non-temporal, non-geographic, non-deistic knowledge. It is called The Library. That makes the Djinn the enemies of nationalism, religion, and political/economic theory. A very Vulcan sort of institution.
The librarians are truly the ones who rule the world.
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