Seven Earths Publishing

Its not enough for me to just write a book, self-publish it and move on to the next one. I want to build something more sustainable. I understand that my readership is out there but they just don’t know it yet. I have to reach out to them through the screen and the page so that they have that flash of inspiration that says:

“Hey, this is for me! This is something that I want. This is something that I can be!”

To build an audience I can’t just think as a single writer sitting in my study writing stories for a small audience. I have to think bigger. To build an audience, I need to build a platform. I have started doing this with Fantasy & Faith on YouTube, Substack, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I am also doing it with Musalmantasy on Substack and here on my website. I hope to do it under my own imprint Seven Earths Publications.

Seven Earths started life as an online magazine back in 2000s. This was before Substack was a thing. My brothers and I were trying to build a platform for Muslim and Ethnic Minority writers all the way back then. Unfortunately, we were ahead of our times. The only other Muslim genre fiction authors back then were Saladin Ahmed and G. Willow Wilson. We published some art, a couple of stories and a poem or two, but there wasn’t a demand for it back then. Now we have Muslim authors who traditionally published, people like Shannon Chakraborty, Hafsah Faisal, Tahirah Mafi, Intisar Khanani, Nafiza Azad and Saba Tahir. But many of these Muslim writers are writing in a mode that has a Muslim or Arabic flavour, but is still missing the “Islamic” element.

I’m hoping that after I have published the Arabian Dreams series under my own imprint, that I may be in a position to run Kickstarters for anthologies and to publish the novels of author Muslim SFF writers. Somewhere where good SFF can be written with a more authentic Muslim voice, without worrying about whether non-Muslim editors will get it, or is there an audience for that. We are building the audience today so that there is a tomorrow for proper, authentic Muslim fiction. Fiction that creates narratives for Muslim young people to explore their faith, see the consequences of poor decisions and misjudgement, see how they can celebrate their identity, develop their vocabulary whilst being grounded in a morality that is based on proper Islamic principles. Principles that haven’t changed in 1400 years, that have survived despite invasions, genocides, colonialism and orientalism.

The name Seven Earths comes from the Quranic verse:

“Allah is the One Who created seven heavens in layers, and likewise for the earth. The divine command descends between them so you may know that Allah is Most Capable of everything and that Allah certainly encompasses all things in ˹His˺ knowledge.” (Q75:12)

There are also Hadith narrations in the two sahihs, were the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, used the term ‘seven earths’ People have interpreted this term in different ways. Some have said it refers to the seven continents, or to the seven planets in the solar system. Ibn Kathir seems to disagree with the seven continents idea, stating: “Those who explained this Hadith to mean the seven continents have brought an implausible explanation that contradicts the letter of the Qur’an and the Hadith without having proof. This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat At-Talaq, all the thanks and praise is due to Allah (Ibn Kathir)”. In Maariful Qur’aan, the commentator writes that there is an equal distance between each earth as there is between each sky. The commentary goes far as suggesting that there rationally is a possibility that these earths and skies maybe populated in the way our earth is. However, it states that the Qur’an has not specified what the reality of these seven earths are, as our belief in God does not require detailed knowledge of this. It does create a speculative doorway into considering whether this pertains to a multiversal theory, or multiple populated earth-like planets. There is not enough here for scholars to go on and explore in detail. However, for writers of speculative fiction, there is a lot of potential for what ifs …

This is what Seven Earths Publication is. And it starts with the publication of Arabian Dreams Vol.1, which includes the first two books in the series, Alauddin and Ali Baba. This is why I need your support today to take the first steps. To begin building a new publishing platform that in the future will serve other Muslim writers and readers alike. You can do this by clicking on this link and pledging your monetary support and reserving your physical or digital copies of Arabian Dreams Vol.1: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1827167870/arabian-dreams-volume-1?ref=64yx1e