Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. The Messenger.
Commentary to the poem “The Messenger”.
The poem and songs presented in this section relate to Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, who is spoken in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (chapter 54, verse 5), “...the God of the whole earth shall he be called.” In this book, it is also spoken about him in verse 22 of chapter 8, in verse 2 of chapter 9, in verses 7 and 10 of chapter 52, and in verses 1 ‒ 5 of chapter 65. The appearance of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, is similar to the appearance of One who is like to a son of man on the allegorical picture drawn in the Revelation to Saint John (chapter 1, verses 12 ‒ 15).
As the epigraph to this section, there can be used the God of the Earth’s words: “We’ve gotten what to eat, what to wear and where to live, but we must consciously renounce all this.”
The poems and songs of this and next sections call to mind the story “The White Seal” (1893) from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” (1894), where Kotick symbolizes the awaited messenger, and his father Sea Catch symbolizes Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, and Jack Schaefer’s novel “The Canyon” (1953), where the awaited messenger and the God of the Earth are symbolized by Little Bear and his spiritual father. Also, in Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea” (1952), the old man symbolizes the God of the Earth, and the boy whom he taught to fish symbolizes the awaited messenger. And, in the tale “The Gnomobile” (1936), Upton Sinclair narrates about the old man and his grandson.
Here also come to mind the novels “The Two Captains” by Veniamin Kaverin (1944) and “Kim” by Rudyard Kipling (1901), where Kim symbolizes the awaited messenger, and his spiritual mentor symbolizes Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him. The four other men who are close to Kim — Mahbub Ali, Colonel Creighton, Lurgan Sahib and Hurree Babu — symbolize the four major religions of the world — Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism respectively.
And, as it is noted in the commentary to the song “The Hill”, the repentant former robber from Tabor Island, Tom Ayrton, and the captain of the ship “Duncan” Robert Grant, who rescued the colonists, from Jules Verne’s novel “The Mysterious Island” (1875), symbolize Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, and the awaited messenger.
And, of course, there is a commonality between the ideas and the way of life of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, and the ideas and the way of life of Ernest Darling, Jack London narrated about in his story “The Cruise of the ‘Snark’” (1911), in the chapter “The Nature Man”.
The author of this publication shares the supposition of the creators of the site “Discovering Islam”, that the sign of Allah taken place in Dagestan — see the article “Miraculous Russian Boy” presented on this site — indicates that the appearance of the awaited messenger is near at hand. There are the two signs that confirm his conviction: one of them is that the name of the boy is Ali, and the awaited messenger, what is known from the Hadiths, will be a descendant of the designated successor (the issue of the succession to power after the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is covered, for instance, on the Russian site “The Successor of the Great Prophet (peace be upon him)”, or in Ibrahim Amini’s book “What Everyone Should Know about Islam”), cousin and son-in-law of the Holy Prophet Muhammad Ali and the daughter of the Holy Prophet Fatima, peace be upon them all; and the other is that on one Friday on the body of the boy appeared the words “Blessed Servant”, and the awaited messenger, what is also known from the Hadiths, will come on a Friday.
And Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, who appealed to make ready the way of the messenger to come during many years, wrote in his diaries that he will arrive in the near future.
The official article of the Council of Muftis of Rossia (no other religious organization has taken an interest in this miraculous phenomenon) “The Delegation of the Council of Muftis of Rossia Has Collected Evidences about the Nature of Inscriptions on the Body of a Child from the Kizlyar District” (2009) (this article is in Russian) says: “... On the basis of the conversations, comparing the facts and evidences about that which accompanied the appearance of the inscriptions on the body of the child, the delegation of the Council of Muftis of Rossia has concluded that all known to date evidences indicate that these inscriptions are miraculous. ... At the press conference, the head of the delegation, Abdul-Wahed Niyazov and the head of the Department of Work with Local Religious Organizations of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of European Rossia, Arslan-hazrat Sadriev declared that they have considered this phenomenon to be a sign of the Most High, addressed to the Muslims of Dagestan, Rossia, and the believers around the world. ... All collected during the visit of the delegation of the Council of Muftis of Rossia documentary photo and video evidences of the nature of the inscriptions on the body of the child, given by religious and official persons interviews and commentaries can be provided to the Rossian and foreign media, religious and non-governmental organizations by the Islamic Cultural Center of Rossia upon official request.”