Alif the Unseen

The idea of magic and technology being similar but not quite the same comes up throughout the novel. When Alif and his friends visit Sakina in the Immovable Alley, Alif notices a processor on a shelf. In Irem, Alif pays for a night at an inn by debugging the jinn innkeeper’s computer. If magic and technology were identical, the jinn would have no use for computers. Depending on their spiritual understanding, humans perceive the jinn differently. The human brain is not hardwired to understand magic and must be trained a certain way to comprehend the jinn.

Data encryption represents differences between magic and technology. In Chapter 0, Reza compels a jinn to share stories humans cannot comprehend. Reza copies the stories in Arabic at a time when this language was only for scholars and sheikhs. The jinn encrypt their stories so humans cannot use them, and Reza then encrypts the stories so only the chosen few humans may gain from their knowledge. The encryption of magic against the lower classes contrasts with the technological government crackdown on information during the main timeline of the book. Rather than keeping knowledge from the lower classes, Alif and his fellow hackers use data encryption to allow common people to speak freely.