Alif the Unseen

“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. His given name fell flat in his ears now.” 

From the beginning of the book to almost the end, Alif is the only name the main character goes by. He hides both behind his computer screen and within himself and dissociates from his given name. By doing so, Alif chooses to be unseen, even amid the seen world.

“Perhaps somewhere deep in the mind was a sort of linguistic DNA, roped helixes of symbols that belonged to no one else. For days Alif wrote nothing—no code, no e-mail—and instead wondered how much of the soul resided in the fingertips. He was faced with the possibility that every word he typed spoke his name, no matter what other superficial information it might contain. Perhaps it was impossible to become someone else, no matter what avatar or handle one hid behind.” 

This is the first instance of Alif encountering the idea that his chosen name is not, and never can be, who he is. He doesn’t yet realize hiding is a choice. His journey toward regaining himself and becoming seen once more starts here. These lines also introduce the important idea of identity being the same in the seen and unseen worlds.

“‘What you are talking about—recognizing a complete, individual personality—is something we do automatically. I recognize your voice on the phone. I could probably recognize your e-mails and texts even without seeing your address or phone number. This is a basic function for anybody who isn't suffering from some kind of mental disorder. But machines can't do it. They need an IP address or an e-mail address or a handle to identify someone. Change those identifiers and that person becomes invisible to them. If what you're saying is true, you have discovered an entirely new way of getting computers to think. One might even say that with this botnet, you have endowed your little desktop machine with intuition.’” 

This statement by Abdulla introduces the dichotomy of magic and technology. Though the two are ultimately found to be incompatible, their proximity to the unseen (technology and the internet, magic and the jinn) means they can function similarly. These lines also foreshadow Alif’s realization at the end of the book about the apparent in people being inescapable.

“All problems are simply interruptions in the transition and preservation of data.”

This line exemplifies Alif’s almost computer-like thought processes. Alif feels more comfortable in the language of code and hiding behind his screen. He thinks of the world in terms of 1s and 0s and approaches problem-solving from this viewpoint.

“He had always assumed his Anglo teachers belonged to some other, more ethereal, way of being, free from the anxieties of identity and displacement he suffered. To see the convert distressed by such things unnerved him.”

From the beginning of the book, Alif does not feel he belongs. His dislike of his mixed heritage and desire to keep himself hidden hint at layers of insecurity. Here, he begins to understand that even people from cultures he previously thought to be unbothered can feel insecure. It is a crucial step in his journey toward becoming seen.

“‘I believe that with the advent of what you call the digital age you have breached a kind of barrier between symbol and symbolized. It doesn't mean the Alf Yeom will make any more sense to you, but it may mean you have grasped something vital about the nature of information.’” 

These lines, spoken by Sakina, get at the major conflict of the Alf Yeom being coded. They foreshadow the negative consequences of attempts to make the book a computer program and outline how magic and technology are not compatible. They also symbolize an undiscovered connection between seen and unseen that later becomes apparent through Vikram and the convert’s unborn child.

“‘All translations are made up. Languages are different for a reason. You can’t move ideas between them without losing something.’”

This passage, spoken by Vikram, illustrates the principle of data encryption, which is a major theme throughout the book. The contents of the Alf Yeom were originally meant to be known only by the jinn. Once the Alf Yeom was transcribed by humans, it was written in a language for only scholars and sheikhs. The lines also build off Sakina’s observation that the digital age may have enlightened humans to how information works. Like the Alf Yeom, the internet is ever-changing. Information moves around and gets misconstrued. It loses things in translation. These lines foreshadow the failure of the Alf Yeom to be coded. The languages are different, and the Alf Yeom loses something vital in the translation that causes it to break down.

“‘[…] they say that each word in the Quran has seven thousand layers of meaning, each of which, though some might seem contrary or simply unfathomable to us, exist equally at all times without cosmological contradiction.’” 

Sheikh Bilal’s observations here help Alif realize the Hand’s intention to code the Alf Yeom. This also indicates a link between religion and technology that mirrors that established between magic and technology. Religion/spiritualism may be the missing link between seen and unseen.

“The parameters of the world felt off, his processing speed compromised.” 

This line comes after Intisar betrays Alif and harkens back to Alif’s computer-like thought processes. In addition to thinking of problem-solving in terms of code, Alif likens his inability to find answers to a computer malfunctioning. Here, Alif also realizes he can no longer hide, even though his immediate actions don’t mirror his discovery.

“‘When one is playing a video game and his avatar consumes a piece of digital pork, has a sin been committed?’” 

This question posed by Sheikh Bilal encompasses the theme of identity and whether a person taking a new name online changes who they are. It outlines the difference between being seen and being unseen and sets up a query that will be answered later on. No matter what name someone takes, they are still who they are.

“‘When two people form a relationship online, it isn't a fiction based on real life, it's real life based on a fiction. You believe the person you cannot see or touch is perfect, because she chooses to reveal only the things that she knows will please you. Surely that is dangerous indeed.’” 

This is another observation from Sheikh Bilal. It adds to the idea that people are still themselves online. These lines also foreshadow Alif’s realization that he never loved Intisar, but only the idea of her unseen perfection.

“‘The Quran is static. You aren't supposed to change a single dot. You have to be trained to recite the words correctly, because if you mispronounce a single one, it's not the Quran anymore. The Alf Yeom is something dynamic, changing. I think—I think it changes, I mean the book itself, depending on who reads it. The dervishes saw the Philosopher's Stone, but I see code.’”

These lines from Alif come just before he codes the Alf Yeom’s metaphors into the computer. Alif balances upon the cusp of understanding the incompatibility of magic and technology here. Magic, like the internet, is ever-changing, but magic and the internet are not written in the same language.

“If you told knowledge it could be anything it wanted, there was a risk it would degenerate into nothing at all.” 

Here, Alif realizes the Alf Yeom’s code is unstable. This instability mirrors his own life. He built up security based on his relationship with Intisar, but the relationship and his security were false. The stable things in his life, namely Dina, had always been there. He was too preoccupied and unwilling to see her.

“He had mistaken that secrecy for something elite, evidence that he had been initiated into a greater truth than the unseeing people around him could understand. At this altitude his self-importance seemed tawdry. He did not hide because he was better, he hid because he was afraid. It was not Intisar's 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.” 

This is an important moment in Alif’s growth. He makes the turn from believing himself strong in his anonymity to realizing his anonymity makes him weak. He also realizes that he has been the unseen one all along. He acknowledges how he hid behind his handle because it felt safer to do so.

“Our impulse to store and access data through coding languages predates computers by thousands of years, and that's really all magic is.” 

The Hand makes a false connection between technology and magic here. He assumes the two are the same, which foreshadows his failure to code the Alf Yeom and subsequent downfall.

“He had expected to feel afraid, but did not; his thoughts, though sluggish, were clear. His body remained relentlessly alive. He marveled at it, a machine more elaborate and efficient than any computer he had ever used. This was where the echoes of God lived: not in his mind but in his cells and sinews, the parts of him that could not lie.” 

Many things happen in this passage while Alif is dying in prison. He lets go of his fear. Faced with death, Alif sets aside the terrors of life and realizes what it means to be seen. He also recognizes his body as better than the computers he’s spent so much time hiding behind. At his lowest, Alif grows the most. Lastly, he discovers the soul resides in his most true self and not in the fingertips, which can change a person into someone else with a few keystrokes.

“‘You seem intent on existing in smaller and smaller spaces, filled with more and more gadgets, with the mistaken impression that this will give you more control over your lives […] Except that they're not magic, and a lot of you seem to believe they should be.’” 

These lines belong to the jinn who guides Alif and his companions to Irem. The jinn states what Alif and the others have spent the entire story discovering—that magic and technology are not the same. This passage also foreshadows the rebellion in the book’s final chapters. People must come out of their tiny internet spaces to take control of their lives and make the changes they desire.

“‘I read once that the human mind is incapable of imagining anything that does not exist somewhere, in some form.’”

This line from Sheikh Bilal comes shortly after Alif fixes a computer for a jinn in Irem. Alif and his companions were surprised to find computers in the jinn city. The line calls attention to the fact that the jinn have computers, despite also having their magic, and proves there are differences between magic and technology.

“All his efforts had been the product of fear, an anonymous finger in the face of men he would never have to confront face-to-face. He had always assumed State crushed people like him because it could, not because it saw them as a real threat. The vast, energy-leeching intelligence grid told him otherwise. This was a government terrified of its own people.”

This is the first time Alif admits he is afraid of State. Even more, it is the first time he admits that he remains hidden because of his fear. He took his handle as his name to keep himself hidden and anonymous because he feared what would happen if State knew his real name, but now he sees that his chosen name is just as dangerous. State wants Alif as much as they want Mohammad because the two are the same person.

“‘I think I am not mistaken when I say that something fundamental has changed about the world in which we live. We have reached a state of constant reinvention. Revolutions have moved off the battlefield and on to home computers. Nothing shocks one anymore. We are living in a post-fictional era. Fictional governments are accepted without comment, and we can sit in a mosque and have a debate about the fictional pork a fictional character consumes in a video game, with every gravity we would accord something quite real.’” 

Sheikh Bilal delivers this monologue after being offered a place in Irem to teach. These lines harken back to the original question of whether consuming digital pork is a sin and offer the answer that the digital world is as real as the “real” world now. These lines also call forward to the rebellion in the book’s final chapters and the change that it will inevitably bring about.

“‘It's because of people like you that we have to go unseen in order to be honest. You've made the truth impossible anywhere but in the dark, behind false names. The only thing that ever sees the light of day in this City is bullshit. Your bullshit, the emir's bullshit, State's bullshit. But that's over now. All the people you've chosen not to see are out there calling for your blood. And I, and NewQuarter, and all our friends, all the ones you've been hunting and kidnapping and shutting up in prison all these years—were going to give it to them.’” 

Alif delivers this speech to the Hand during the rebellion, showing his completed character journey. He is no longer afraid and has chosen to come out of hiding to fight in the seen world. He makes a connection between the unseen and fear. Alif feared being himself and remained unseen. With the shedding of his handle, Alif releases his fear to become himself/seen.

“‘It works because it exposes the apparent. The words you use, how you use them, how you type them, when you send them. You can't hide those things behind a new name. The unseen is unseen. The apparent is inescapable.’” 

Here, Alif tells the Hand why Tin Sari works, even though it technically shouldn’t. His discovery of the apparent and how it cannot be hidden behind a new name represents Alif’s journey back to being seen and his given name, things he never truly hid from. These lines also answer Sheikh Bilal’s query from earlier in the book. A person’s actions online have consequences in the real world. An avatar shares an identity with the person controlling it.

“Perhaps this was all freedom was—a moment in which all things were possible, overtaken too soon by man's fearsome instinct to punish and divide. State had fallen. What would replace it might be better or worse. The only certain thing was that it would be theirs.”

Alif makes this realization when he thinks NewQuarter is dead. The rebellion happened, and state lost. The people (himself included) shifted from unseen to seen, but the world didn’t change. There is still fear and uncertainty. The seen and unseen are not something to simply be overcome but a repeating loop.