Significance of Each Chapter Title
3/3/12
I realized about halfway into my reading that each chapter’s title seemed a little similar to the last. They all began with, “The year of…” I understood immediately that this must be some important sign that I am just not catching onto or that the author really liked placing a timeline for each chapter. To my surprise the author didn’t do this only for a timeline but wrote his work trying to imitate an Islamic memoir. Since Maalouf is portraying the work to seem like it is coming from Leo Africanus’ view he labels each chapter with years because it is part of the Islamic culture. In pre-Islamic times, the years were marked with a special event that had taken place over the whole year. The Year of the Elephant, the year in which Muhammad was born, was named after an unsuccessful raid by Abraha. The following years were marked by the life events of Muhammad. The first ten are as follows; the year of permission, the year of the order of fighting, the year of the trial, the year of congratulation on marriage, the year of the earthquake, the year of enquiring, the year of gaining victory, the year of equality, the year of exemption and the year of farewell.
Maalouf’s titles of all his chapters make sense seeing that he was trying to create a narrative coming from a devout Muslim. It also makes sense considering his titles give both Islamic and Gregorian years. By doing this, Maalouf is establishing a preface to his work, the difference between Islam and Christianity, even in the smallest sense. It allows the reader to understand the difference between the Hijri calendar and the Gregorian calendar; even with minor details such as AH, which stands for ‘the year of’. It also allows the reader to understand that the Islamic calendar runs differently than the Gregorian calendar (which is based on the seasons), such as their years fall differently based on the lunar cycle.
