1/ Who were the earliest women converts to Islam and what was their experience of conversion?

In our new sourcebook, Sean Anthony (@shahanSean) and Keren Abbou Hershkovitz profile several women who were alive at the Prophet's time #ConversionToIslam

https://t.co/00XpFCjXtP

2/ In the first entry, @shahanSean translates and comments on the conversion of the Prophet's first wife Khadīja as portrayed in one of the earliest and most famous biographies, the Kitāb al-Maghāzī of Ibn Isḥāq (d. 767)
3/ According to tradition, Khadīja was a widow and wealthy merchant of Mecca, who married Muḥammad after initially hiring him as her agent. She was reportedly the first person to believe in his prophethood, underlining the centrality of women in the Prophet's life
4/ Ibn Isḥāq tells us that when Muḥammad first received the revelation from Gabriel, he came to Khadīja frightened and confused. She reassured him, "God would never allow anything but good to befall you, for I know you are a man who only speaks the truth...
5/ "Rejoice and remain steadfast! By Him whose hand Khadīja's soul resides, I hope that you will be the prophet of his people (umma)!"

Khadīja then consulted with her cousin Waraqa, a Christian, who verified that Muḥammad's experience was true.
6/ He said to her, "Holy! Holy! By Him in whose hand my soul resides, if you have told me the truth, Khadīja, then he is a prophet! Let him be steadfast!"
7/ Abbou Hershovitz then profiles women converts in the great biographical dictionary of Ibn Saʿd (d. 845), the Ṭabaqāt. One is the Prophet's paternal aunt Arwā. Interestingly, only one of his paternal uncles became Muslim (Ḥamza), whereas several of his aunts did
8/ Arwā's brother was the Prophet's uncle and fierce opponent Abū Lahab. She tried to convince him to convert as well, saying, "Take the side [of Muḥammad]... If he is victorious, you will have the choice of either joining him or keeping your religion...
9/ "If he fails, you will have an excuse as he [is a relative]."

In other words, for Arwā, conversion was about building strategic social ties; family loyalty was everything.
10/ Stay tuned for more highlights from our sourcebook in the coming days and weeks!

The Editors (Nimrod Hurvitz, Christian Sahner, Uriel Simonsohn @culXl8fYioHzt8O, and Luke Yarbrough) @ucpress

More from Culture

Best books I read in 2020

1. Atomic Habits by @JamesClear

“If you show up at the gym 5 days in a row—even for 2 minutes—you're casting votes for your new identity. You’re not worried about getting in shape. Youre focused on becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts”


Good Reasons for Bad Feelings

https://t.co/KZDqte19nG

2. “social anxiety is overwhelmingly common. Natural selection shaped us to care enormously what other people think..We constantly monitor how much others value us..Low self-esteem is a signal to try harder to please others”


The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

https://t.co/uZT4kdhzvZ

“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents...Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without a believe in a devil.”


Grandstanding

https://t.co/4Of58AZUj8

"if politics becomes a morality pageant, then the contestants have an incentive to keep problems intact...politics becomes a forum to show off moral qualities...people will be dedicated to activism for its own sake, as a vehicle to preen"


Warriors and Worriers by Joyce Benenson

https://t.co/yLC4eGHEd4

“Across diverse cultures, a man who lives in the house with another man’s children is about 60 times more likely than the biological father to kill those children.”

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“We don’t negotiate salaries” is a negotiation tactic.

Always. No, your company is not an exception.

A tactic I don’t appreciate at all because of how unfairly it penalizes low-leverage, junior employees, and those loyal enough not to question it, but that’s negotiation for you after all. Weaponized information asymmetry.

Listen to Aditya


And by the way, you should never be worried that an offer would be withdrawn if you politely negotiate.

I have seen this happen *extremely* rarely, mostly to women, and anyway is a giant red flag. It suggests you probably didn’t want to work there.

You wish there was no negotiating so it would all be more fair? I feel you, but it’s not happening.

Instead, negotiate hard, use your privilege, and then go and share numbers with your underrepresented and underpaid colleagues. […]