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A History of Blood – Preface

This is probably the fourth or fifth version of the online version of “A History of Blood”. The first version began in August 2025, and in the time since, about a 100 chapters have been drafted, published, and turned into drafts again, as this small blog experienced growing pains. Originally, the central character of the story of Danielle Pean, but after personally spending time with her I realized that a change was drastically required.

Since the start of writing this blog, there have been three extremely important life events that have altered my perspective on life and required me to completely rewrite the story. The first, was the meeting with, and spending a decent length of time with my grandmother, Odette. Despite becoming the central character of my narrative, I’ve never actually met my grandfather. Despite not meeting him, my mother (and my aunties) have told me a lot about him. My mother didn’t really have many nice things to say about him, and because of that, I don’t actually have many nice things to say about my mother.

The second event was the start of my recovery. My current recovery date is September 11, 2025, which is about a month after I started this blog. It’s worth noting that in-between that time, I witnessed the death of Jaime Allison Morgan, an Insurance Agent whom I had the luxury of working with for a few months after I first got my insurance license, and there’s still a pervasive sense of guilt for the role I’ve had in her recovery, or otherwise the way I enabled her addiction. As of writing this, I have successfully completed my first year of recovery.

The third, and likely the most important event, was my reversion to Islam. I took my shahada on June 28, 2026. It’s worth noting that while my mom and my grandmother were Catholic, my father and my grandfather were Muslim. It’s also worth noting that I’ve never met my dad either, and unlike my grandfather, I have no actual verification of his identity. Now that I’m Muslim I don’t actually care who he is. If it’s the person whom I think it is, then he’s moved on and started a family of his own, somewhere in the Midwestern United States.

All the changes made over the course of this story have had the same purpose: to represent my character more accurately. To represent my legacy. To represent my business, my politics, and my religion. Over the course of my alcoholism and addiction, I’ve done as much harm to others as I’ve done to myself. If you think you might have a problem with drinking, or doing drugs, a problem with authority, a problem with God, as you understand Him; I am responsible for you. While the primary purpose of this book is to promote my Insurance Business and teach Islamic Finance, I hope that the personal nature of the story allows people who are not interested in the above to topics to find value. I want people to be able to say, “Daquan! Thanks to you I started a business! Thanks to you I got married! Thanks to you I got sober! Thanks to you I found God! Thank God! Thanks to you I feel a little bit better!”

Sura An-Nahl (16:125) states: Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good advice, and debate with them in the most dignified manner. Your Lord is aware of those who stray from His path, and He is aware of those who are guided.

بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

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