Feb 18, 2016
Thank you all for taking the time to consider this text.
For me, as a historian, it is my most exciting project - to tackle the faith of Islam in its formative years and lend an eye to elevating the realities at play at the time.
Most students of the religion realize that the early Muslims were actually outcast due to Muhammad’s open rejection of idolatry. However, most don’t choose to emphasize the simple fact that the Muslims were boycotted by the powerful syndicates that ruled the caravan trade along the spice routes of the day. My question is, what did that boycott look like in its earliest phase??? And that is what Part 1 of Departure - Texts Written on the Sky - was meant to discuss.
The fact that tax levies were increased to minimize the group’s influence is more or less considered a small, internal fight without much consequence. However, it should be considered a massive cause whose effects included the faithful Muslims pushed into an empty quarter of Mecca as a punishment and eventually forced to flee (first to Abyssinia, then to Medina) and of course the first battles of Islam which targeted caravan routes.
So, when we consider these facts we can begin to draw an empathetic understanding of how the faith was ostracized and begin considering exactly what that shunning and discrimination looked like.
On this score, most historians simply say Islam was founded in a "mercantile age" but the truth is, mercantilism was not a reality in 7th century Arabia...mercantilism as a geopolitical form of development and trade was literally centuries away. On that level, then, the correct description would be "Islam was founded in an age in which the success of markets and caravans determined the success of a society." In that sense, Mecca was developed around a system of wells and its commerce was largely dependent on the Kaaba, which served as a magnet for religious figures of all stripes, who recognized the importance of the Abrahamic tradition. For Muhammad to strike at idolatry was literally a step away from the Mecca marketing model, which called for all faiths to pray at the Kaaba.
Now, thus far I have not received that much feedback from the community on the text. I don’t know if that is due to the newness of the material or because it isn’t well crafted. So, at this point, since I am relatively pleased with the form that it has taken, I will place my faith in the former rather than the latter.
If you notice, the text begins with a quote from an Islamic tradition...and my innovations on that tradition are what bring this text to life. As an essayist and philosopher, I believe in exegesis - unpacking the material to get at first principles. So, when I begin any new part of this text, I will do so with the aim of exegesis.
Part II of Departure - Phanuel’s Gate - will begin with another tradition. Rather than Ibn Ishak, a Muslim historian of serious import, this section will begin with a hadith of considerable impact to every single Muslim: Tidings of Two Lights.
The value of the Tidings of Two Lights to the average Muslim is immeasurable. If I were to hazard a comparison, imagine that the Lord’s Prayer as well as the comforting "Now I lay me down to sleep" bedtime prayer were rolled into one revelation by Christ himself...that is what the tradition represents to observant Islam.
It goes like this:
“While Gabriel was sitting with the Prophet, he heard a creaking sound from above him, so he raised his head and said: “This is a door in Heaven that has been opened today, and it has never been opened before today. An angel descended from it, and this angel has come down to the Earth. He has never descended before this day ever. So the angel gave the salutations of Salaam and said: ‘Receive glad tidings of two lights that have been given to you that were never given to a Prophet before you: The Opening Chapter of the Book (Al-Faatihah), and the closing verses at the end of Al-Baqarah. You will not recite a single letter from them but you will be given reward.”
-Imam Muslim (Hadith #806)
Notice the angel that descends is not named - Departure will identify that angel as Phanuel...and unpack what happens in the scene.
I will try to pen the whole of the text by the 25th and have it edited by March 1st...I may send a few excerpts to each of you here and there to keep you updated, so that you might tell some of your friends about the project, and that some of you might hazard a quick word on whether or not the text is solid or where you are left grasping.
Best in all things,
Gary H. Johnson, Jr.