for a Creation of the Universe for the benefit of Humankind, the corruption of Humans by an Antagonist, and a tempestuous battle, at some predetermined but unspecified End, between Creator and Antagonist The Fremen identified Shai-Hulud, the worm-snake-dragon, with Satan, a legendary "evil one ', they feared demonic possession (Taqwa) Duucan/Hayt told Sulgar that the Naib "wears a collar' , Aha's Abomination disqualified her as a Fremen leader Such great struggles between opposites were part of the Fremen tradition The ancient model of specific Beginning and Ending would be peculiar even if it were consistent and all-inclusive When it thrived, however, the model was neither Each solar system, usually each separate satellite, and sometimes different communication groups on a single satellite, believed mat its population alone would survive the climax-battle The different "sects' of "all-believers" -calling themselves "The Chosen' or "The People ' (Misr)-reinforced then- community through prejudice against strangers (the "unwashed ' or the "infidel") who did not accept their metaphysics and rituals This tendency to splinter instead of embrace is noteworthy because as the Wanderers illustrate, a heritage of persecution and en slavement and flight can compress a culture of believers into patient fanatics Defeat and exile were transformed by the faithful Wan derers into seeking-hajr-and eventually into vengeful triumph-jihad-where the true believers struck back and justified the long-nurtured reciprocity of faith in the Creator and Creator s faith m The People The desert exile-tnbe heritage is the Sunm component of the Zensunni tradition of the Fremen The apparent theology has been discussed Important practices and customs (jiqh) are also traceable to the Sunm back ground Most important probably is the basic understanding that the group is more important than the individual 'for the good of the tribe" was justification for otherwise distasteful acts Tribal leaders-until Paul Muad Dib questioned the ritual-were select ed by challenge and combat a standard survival feature in threatened cultures Jus tice was dispensed by the leader on petition from a wronged party, in accordance with the ancient shan a or code of conduct Loyalty was a cardinal virtue The sacramen tal Water of Life was shared by the entire sietch after the ntual of miraculous transfer mation by a Reverend Mother Infants sipped their ammotic fluid, children had to nde their own sandworm before being accepted as full fledged members of the tnbe The Ourouba tradition their distrust of self-styled keepers of mystery kept a priestly class from taking control of the shan a from the pragmatic leader survivor All these customs and ntu als are essentially preservative, conservative communal m a harsh environment where cooperation is essential, any change from what has-always worked is extremely risky The old ways are the best as Naib Stilgar recalled, for the safety of the community P