Nicely fielded 
Mua’dub worship definitely has it’s benefits. The spice works for easy enlightenment, future sight, past life regression and pretty eyes. Unlike most religions you can see their “mystical” pantheon of worms and party with their Messiah. Plus you get a cool voice activated gun. And did I mention: sietch tau orgy?
Now that’s religion I can get into.
Umm…the shape-shifters known as the Founders in DS9 were not in the Delta Quadrant. That is where the Voyager went to. The Founders were critters from the Gamma Quadrant.
ooops. my bad.
It seems that there is a consensus that intergalactic-Islam (Muad’Dibism?) is the best option on the poll. I went with Baltar, though, because I prefer a religion based on finding god in the pants of others to a religion based on carrying out the will of god by killing “infidels.”
It seems like Herbert felt that holy war was an integral component of the religious movement of the Muad’dib, but I do not think that it had to be that way. At least, I hope not. I could definitely get behind some aspects of the religion.
If I were going to choose one of the religions to belong to, the Dune one wouldn’t be it… but I think it’s the best imagined one of the lot (HeadSix notwithstanding). Perhaps it’s intergalactic-Islam, as you put it, makes it more believable as something in fiction (though I don’t want to imply that Islam isn’t believable or fictional or anything, to each their own religious belief)?
Hmm… How exactly does Muadib-ism resemble Islam?
Are you saying Islam is the only religion with a history of killing people who didn’t believe what they believe? (Crusades?)
Oh, I know, is it because the believers are commonly found in desert regions? 
That seems like the ‘Fox News’ version of Islam.
While Muadib is an ancient control system centered around body control and messiah worship… which really sounds like any religion when it comes down to it. Muadib-ism, I guess, is a amalgamation of the original Bene Gesserit Missionaria Protectiva and the Fremen lifestyle. Through the 2, Muadib-ism contains concepts resembling nearly all earthly religions; Hinduism, Christianity, Bhuddism, Tao’ism, Shamanism, etc. all feature prominently with similar elements.
I usually abhor any surrender of reason or taking to an imaginary sky buddy. But for the sake of rolling with an intergalactic religion, I think Muadib-ism is still awesome because you get kick-ass superpowers and features the galaxy’s finest mind-altering drugs. Those are REAL ‘fictional’ benefits I can believe in hehe. Plus the true “traditional marriage,” polygamy (the desert is a harsh lonely place). They practice natural selection with ‘trial by combat’. Fremen are also keenly eco-minded with their water conservation and deeply devoted to the study of martial arts. As the Bene Gesserit have jedi-like powers and Sith-like schemes.
Muadib-ism is the ‘SPIKE’ channel of sci-fi religions.
Let’s not forget, the Church of Star Trek (from Futurama) which led to the Great Star Trek Wars, which is different from the Star Wars Trek.
“And Scotty beamed them to the Klingon ship, where they would be no tribble at all…” / “All power to the engines!”
To be honest, it resembles Islam insofar as Herbert took inspiration from the Earth he had around him - the parallels between the spice trade and the oil trade haven’t gone uncommented upon. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Herbert’s Arrakis has a lot in common with the Middle East, but to a popular culture eye (though, please, let’s not call people names. Fox News? really?) the culture of the followers of the Muad’Dib isn’t dissimilar to bedouin culture. I don’t think anyone here is saying that Islam IS Muad’Dibism, nor is anyone arguing (in my eyes) for a simplistic strawman “Fox News” version of Islam. We’re just noting the similarities in that Herbert wrote Dune from within a culture that has a certain understanding of the Middle East.
I also did a quick google search, and this site is interesting - it talks about words of possible Arabic origin. Now, I’m functionally illiterate in Arabic, but it’s interesting reading, particularly the conclusion
Dune is the most prominent example of how Islam and Arab cultures are used in Western Sci-Fi books. As a closing note, it seems that Frank Herbert was familiar with the Middle Eastern cultures, and the religion of Islam. Most of the terminology he used is not in its proper place. This may be due to him not being thoroughly familiar with it, or due to poetic license and adaptation to suit his novel. I would also guess that he was exposed to Shia Islam, where the term Mahdi has much more weight than in Sunni Islam. One cannot rule out Sufi influence as well. Arabic terms are used in many places as well.
Please note that some of the above is not conclusive. It is mostly based on etymological analysis, and word/root similarities. The final say is with Frank Herbert himself, and since he is dead, we cannot know for sure what every word meant in his mind
Thanks, Casilda! TheFifth, I certainly wouldn’t say that Muad’Dibism is an exact parallel to Islam or that the only reason I drew the parallel was the desert setting, killing, and polygamy. There are a couple of indications that Herbert was consciously influenced by Islam as he was creating the religion- first and foremost some of the terminology. Before he becomes the Muad’Dib Paul talks about how afraid he is of waging jihad but appears to think it necessary and unavoidable.
Here’s an articlethat was written about this very subject.
I agree the parallels to the oil trade are quite accurate and Herbert was certainly influenced by the times. It’s a fair questioning as I’m still curious to see the parallels Islam and the followers of Mau’dib, other than notable word/name choices, but seem of cosmetic significance rather than denotative. The article is a very good read, and shows Herbert probably inspirations from Islam, but overall, the actual values and beliefs of the Mua’dib followers seem to be akin to a variety of earth religions and tough to pin down or generalize as Islam in particular. One could easily make the case for a greater Zen influence as well.
Reading the posts over again, it really does seem like the parallels being drawn between Islam and Muadib-ism are violence, xenophobia, and a divine right to kill which is I would say are rather universal to most religions I’ve studied and humanity in general. I wouldn’t take offense to the analogy, there’s no ‘name calling’ as I can see, just a questioning of that uncomfortably popular view…
What, no Bajoran Prophets in this poll?