Alif the Unseen

The main story takes place in the modern-day Persian Gulf. Alif, a “gray hat” hacker, waits impatiently to hear from Intisar, his aristocratic girlfriend. A gray hat hacker is one who may violate laws or ethical standards (unlike a white hat hacker) but who does so without malicious intent (as contrasted with a black hat hacker). As a half-Arabic, half-Indian member of the lower class, Alif knows his relationship with Intisar is unlikely to last, but he wants to believe it will. He hears a knock on his bedroom wall, the signal his friend and neighbor Dina wishes to meet. Alif journeys up to the roof, where Dina returns a book she borrowed from him. Alif is surly, and the two get into an argumentative debate about images and metaphors that ends with Dina proclaiming that “calling something by a false name is dangerous” (11).

Still grumpy from not having heard from Intisar, Alif checks on his encryption network. For years, the government’s internet policing has denied people “free access to the economy of information” (15). As a gray hat, Alif provides protection to anyone with an internet presence the government doesn’t approve of. NewQuarter01, the first local blogger, who disappeared from the internet years ago, nicknamed the government’s destructive program the Hand of God.

Alif receives a text message from Intisar. She does not want to see him, but she relents after Alif insists. They meet at their usual tea shop, which is “neither attractive nor memorable” (20). Intisar informs Alif her father found a suitor for her. His name is Abbas Al Shehab (Abbas the Meteor). Alif begs Intisar to flee the country with him so they can be together, but Intisar refuses. Before leaving the tea shop and Alif’s life, she tells Alif to “make it so I never see your name again” (23).

At home, Alif places a note in a box with the sheet containing Intisar’s blood stain from the first time they made love. He asks Dina to deliver the box. While apologizing for how he acted during their earlier disagreement, he thinks back to Dina’s announcement, at age 12, that she wished to veil her face—despite the fact that with her low-class status, her wearing a veil would appear to be “putting on airs” (29). Dina is wary of Alif’s request but acquiesces. Alif visits his friend Abdulla, a fellow gray hat. Alif wants to take Intisar’s final demand to heart and needs to brainstorm ways to hide his internet presence from her. Abdulla surmises that a computer program may be able to track a person’s individual way of typing. Alif takes the idea one step further to consider word choice and language used. The implications of the government getting ahold of the program terrify Abdulla. He tells Alif not to waist his noble purpose “on the whims of his prick” (36).

Alif disregards Abdulla’s warning. He creates the program and names it Tin Sari, “a veil of tin for a wayward princess” (37), in honor of Intisar. He connects it to Intisar’s computer, which he gave himself remote access to long ago, and waits for results.

Tin Sari produces no results over the next several weeks, which deepens Alif’s depression over losing Intisar. When the program does come back with data matching Intisar, Alif tries to trick it, but the program is relentlessly accurate. Alif wonders “how much of the soul resided in the fingertips” and if, no matter what name someone takes, it is truly impossible to become another person (44). Alif uses Tin Sari to make himself invisible to Intisar but cannot bare to make her invisible to him.

In October, a sandstorm hits, and Alif shelters a black and orange cat that lives outside his apartment building. An alarm goes off on his computer. The Hand of God found him. Alif scrambles to disconnect his computer from the people he protects but remains connected to Intisar before going dark. That night, Alif dreams of sleeping with a mysterious woman with black and orange hair.

Alif visits Abdulla’s, where he learns the Hand of God is actually a prince. On his way home, Alif sees Dina carrying the box he asked her to give Intisar. Intisar instructed Dina to deliver the box back to Alif. Alif wonders why, since Intisar said she never wanted to see him again, but can’t help opening the box. It contains a copy of the Alf Yeom (The Thousand and One Days), the book of the jinn.