Welcome back to Variant Qurʾan. I'm Dr. Daniel Brubaker.
Two days ago when I made my first video answering some of your questions about
my earlier videos for the first time, I mentioned that I had an upcoming small
announcement. This video is that announcement video.
Since I started this channel six weeks ago, I've been overwhelmed by
the quantity and quality of the response to the videos, not only in the
number of views that they have received and the number of subscribers, but also
in the quantity and quality of the comments
that I've seen at the bottom, and the ongoing
discussion. As we've engaged, it's clear to me that this
audience --- you are a very smart audience
and it's just been a real privilege and surprise, and
an honor for me to be able to be engaged with you in this. And
I've been encouraged not only by the fact that
you have taken seriously and spoken about the substance of the material,
but also by the comments of well wishes and
encouragement that you've given to me personally. That's been very nice to
receive, so thank you for being here. I have been
aware that some of you have been following me, and,
amazingly, have been interested in my work and wondering when I
was going to be doing something like this for
quite some time. And it would be wonderful if everybody in the world ... I
hope that someday each one of you get to experience
what I've experienced this past month, such
a feeling of affection from so many people. (of course, the affection
hasn't been from everyone, but that's that's okay ... that's the world that we
live in.) I appreciate you. Now, over the course of
time since I started, I have received questions from several of you asking
whether I would consider starting a Patreon
account so that you could start participating with me in this work that
I am doing. And I didn't want to rush into a thing like that
but, I do feel that it's appropriate and and I do, frankly, need help from
partners in continuing to do this this work. It's
important to do it for some reasons that I'll talk
about. So, I have now set up a Patreon account,
and, there you go, that's the rollout of this announcement! So, I've set up a
Patreon account, and it's linked at the bottom of this video so
you can go there if you want to begin supporting me in any way,
in any amount whatsoever, it would be wonderful to do
that. What will you be supporting if you support me? Well,
number one, you'll be supporting supporting me, Daniel Brubaker! You're
going to be helping me to continue to do the kind of things that
I've been doing this past month-and-a-half
I'm going to try to create a steady flow of videos discussing Quran
manuscripts, Qurʾan variants, early history of the Quran, and things related to this
subject, based upon my research and then pulling in
and discussing the research of others, everything current,
and bringing in guest speakers and so forth. By the way,
somebody made mention of an interest in the Sanaa palimpsest
three days ago when I made that last video, and it prompted me to reach out
to Asma Hilali, who is one of the world's experts on
the Sanaa palimpsest. She wrote and published a book with Brill --
sorry, it wasn't with Brill -- on that palimpsest...
I'll show you the book at some point. Asma is a friend and colleague of
mine. I sent her an email and she has agreed -- the
good news is that she's agreed to have a conversation with me on
camera, as soon as she's finished up with some previous obligations,
about the Sanaa palimpsest, so you can look forward to that probably toward the end
of August or the beginning of September and that'll be wonderful to have her on.
And we'll do more things like that with other
experts in our field ... have a wide conversation.
I also have a discussion that I recorded with Gerd Puin,
who was one of the main people who was called upon to document, photograph,
and catalog the Sanaa manuscripts back in the early 70s when they were first
discovered, and he was here in my house last November, and we sat
down and had a conversation. Unfortunately, the audio is not so
good on that, but at some point I may post that up
here, because it was a good conversation, and it was
good to hear some of his reminiscences and reflections upon
that amazing time when he was first going down and doing that work
so, yes, so when you do support me, you'll be helping me to do this kind of work
and so, number one, you'll be removing the financial concerns for me
as I continue to do this, number two,
and help me to move forward more quickly with the things that I have in
my mind. Some of you are just getting to know
me, but I'm a visionary person ... I have lots of
ideas, and come up with ideas far, far faster than I can ever realize them, and
so one of the limiting factors in doing
things and getting things into reality is obviously the financial piece of
it. Projects sometimes move forward based upon
the resources, so with your help I can move things forward more quickly and
bring things into reality that I may not have (done)
or have had to pick and choose among different things.
So, yeah, that's it -- so I've created some levels of support. Just for
fun, I gave them some names ... you'll see the theme in just a moment. The first
level of support is the $1 level and I've named that the "Scholar" level of
support. So, if you want to be a "Scholar" among my supporters, you can give
$1 a month. The second level is the "Graduate" level.
It's for $5 a month, and if you give $5,
you can be a "Graduate." Third is the "Assistant Professor"
at $10 a month. Next is the "Professor" --
you can buy your way into a professorship! - for $25
a month (by the way these are not accredited positions!, so I won't be
sending out a certificate of authenticity to you, but
you will be a Professor among my supporters if you
decide to do that). Number five is the level of "Dean of Students" for $50
a month. Next up is the $100 level, which is "Vice President," followed
by the $250 level, which is "President." And
I will be honored with any of those from any of you. All of our situations vary
around the world. The incomes are different, and so forth. By the way, I'm
grateful to you if you're even just watching these videos!
I have no expectation that any of you will participate financially, although
I'll be grateful to some of you who have the
means to do so, and have an interest in being part
in that way. The good news is that I am well-equipped. I already have the basic
tools. I have, you know, the ability to make videos, and
learn how to make videos, but I also have the, well, the PhD ... I have the doctorate
in the area, and I have a great library that I've assembled over
a number of years, and built, and by the way, I built these bookshelves myself
as well as filling them with books over the years. At some point, I'll take
you around this library and show you how it's arranged; some of you
have been curious about what's around these corners, and
wanted me to discuss some of the books and the
different sections of the library so I'll do that at some
time. This sort of YouTube environment -- not only do we pull down some of the
barriers, geographically, of people crossing large
distances to be able to attend a lecture, but also economically
and in other ways. It just really makes possible a
very wide discussion among a large number of
people.
Now, I do want to say "thank you" to those of you who have been specifically
encouraging to me in the face of occasional harsh words
and ad hominem attacks that are just part of our world today.
I want you to know that, despite my gentle and mild-mannered
demeanor and approach, I'm actually fairly tough.
If you're going to do something important in the world, you're going
to face, sometimes, harsh criticism and pushback
from certain areas. That's the way life is. And, to be able to handle it, and bear
up under it (is important). But, that having been said, it's always
wonderful to have friends come alongside and say "Hey,
good job. We support you," so, thank you so much for that.
Well, that's about it! Thank you very much for taking the time to listen to this
video, that was not very much, in itself, about Quran
manuscripts, but it is relevant to the business that we're about,
and the reality of the world is that we all need to have the
provision for ourselves and our families as we go about our work,
and that's why I bring this to you. So, thank you in advance,
and I do look forward to what we will do together.
We'll talk to you again soon. Bye!
Now I know some of you, particularly in some parts of the world may be
looking and thinking, "Wow - $50, $100, $250 -- that's
an enormous amount of money and I just want to say I know that. And, by the way,
these levels are just suggestions that we've done for fun, and
there's not an upper or lower limit to this. I know that there are some
people of you out there who have the capability to do much more,
and I know that there are some people who for whom
even the smallest amount is is a real burden, so I
am just placing this before you, and we will see
where it goes. But, in reality, again, having the opportunity to have
some financial resourcing does make many, many things possible, and
if you trust me with the work, I will be most grateful for your partnership.
Thank you so much for that. Now, if you are inside the United States and are
interested in knowing how you can make a tax-deductible donation,
there is a way for you to do that, and it is
through a link that you can find at my website, danielbrubaker.com. You can click
"Donate," and it will take you to a place where you can make such a contribution.
Thank you very much. I know sometimes for people who are making larger
donations, particularly in the United States, that can make a big difference.
So, I want to let you know about that option also. Thank you!