The Book of Alia

The Book of Alia is the holy book of the Cult of Alia.

Authorship
The author is unknown, but it is believed to have been composed by someone who had access to considerable historical data concerning both Alia Atreides/DE, Leto II/DE and the rest of their family. As the Oral History did not contain the wealth of detail, and only thoe affiliated with the religion of the God Emperor had access to the written histories, it is believed that the author was one of them. The most likely candidate is Cyris Nels.

Excerpts
Concerning the divinity of Alia: "Muad'Dib, we see, was a messenger, a prophet. Great powers of divination and prophecy were his, but not for use on his own behalf: it was his glorious duty to prepare the way for the Womb of Heaven. If the seeker doubts this and would see Muad'Dib as a god in his own right, let the prophet's own life provide instruction. He was unaware at birth, an infant like any other. While some degree of prescience was within his power from his youth, not until Blessed Mother Jessica gave birth to his sister did he realize how dim were his feeble peerings into the future. He submitted to the Water of Life/DE to brighten them. Even with the knowledge of the future thus gained, he permitted himself to be blinded, made a widower, and abandoned to the desert where he wandered for eleven years before his return to Arrakeen/DE and his execution by his sister's priests. Contrast this pitiable existence with that of our Lady, divine and aware from her earliest months in the Blessed Mother's womb, dying only to return when the cleansing of her people is completed, and it can clearly be seen by all that Muad'Dib was no god. Woe to those who persist in believing that he was!"

Concerning her humiliative "funeral": "Her servants, all unknowing, were performing the Lady's wilt in ensuring that neither her body nor its water would be preserved. For when the Time of Trial is ended and the Usurper removed from his position of slavemaster to her people, the Womb of Heaven will return to sit in judgment over all in a divine form bearing no relation to that she occupied in life. Reminders of that shell of flesh would serve no purpose."