Note from the Editor: About Iqra’s transition

About Iqra’s transition

The third edition of Iqra! Newspaper proved to be the hardest of all. We not only relocated from New Orleans to Houston, we had to replace much of our lost equipment, which flooded during Hurricane Katrina. Alhamdulilah, our computer was saved. The next obstacle was to stabilize ourselves. Moving from place to place in the beginning took a toll on our forward progress.

This current edition of Iqra! Newspaper celebrated our triumph and new beginning. We were able to implement many new ideas and add them to the 3rd edition of the paper. Part of our mission changed. We were no longer a community based paper. Iqra! Newspaper became an international publication, with support from various regions, and even support from Christian friends who knew us in New Orleans. It is a great accomplishment when Muslims from various races can work together for a common good.

We met some of our long time supporters on our trip to India. Sister Amatullah, br. Mohammad, and Sujeel. Meeting new friends was a delight. We spoke at a college, visited a special home for women, and spoke at a Masjid to an eager group of sisters who wanted to hear our story, especially the Katrina story, since it was still fresh on the minds of many. The headline of the 3rd edition reads “From Katrina to India.” Some who really do not read the paper see India and think the paper will be a “Muslim India “newspaper.

This is why the second page is so extremely important. It outlines our mission and goals for this edition as well as future editions. Our goal is to travel to different communities and bring the world to you. Muslims in India or Arabia can now know what is going on in New York or California and Muslims in Texas can read stories about Muslims in Mali or Nigeria. The purpose is to show the world the unique diversity of our Ummah. It is a welcoming facet to our Dawah efforts.

Many non Muslims will not be inclined to pick up an Islamic newspaper targeting specially to a Muslim audience, especially an immigrant population. There is nothing to really draw them. We addressed this issue by designing the paper to engage non Muslims. We have a definition page which defines many terms found in our newspaper. What Christian will know what Alhamdulilah means? Or “insha’Allah?”

Another draw is our culture, history and recipe sections. If one looks at our recipe section (for example). We visited India so quite naturally we included some popular recipes as well as a little history about their exotic spices and cuisine. The Cultural section discussed Palestinian embroidery. This immediately drew in readers looking for non religious or political articles. Many have told us “I read Iqra from cover to cover.” We received some feed back from readers even in the inmate community.

I was asked by a brother at a convention, “what is your mission, I know you have been working on Iqra for some time, but what do you really want to gain, and how do you measure your success.” I will answer that question. Our mission is to please our Creator by doing something positive to defend our religion and combat much of the negative sentiments found in the media, the disinformation and ignorance about Islam. It doesn’t take rocket science to realize that Islam is under attack from all directions. Is it really necessary to have to defend the purpose of the paper to a Muslim? Excuse my bluntness, but a person has to be living in a cave not to see the writing on the wall. We are under attack. We truly need to not only have newspaper or magazines to convey the message of the Quran, but we need radio shows, television shows…….I once told a board member in Northern California, if there were 100 Islamic publications, it still would not be enough. It really surprises me that so many people just don’t “get it.” While they go about business as usual, the Muslims world is imploding atrocities against Muslims continue to go on in Iraq in the name of “freedom” and “democracy.” There are deeper issues we would like to address if only we can encourage more Muslims to read and support our newspaper. We are not living in a time where complacency will come back to bite us.

We ask that you support us. Purchase a newspaper, link to our site on your blogs and websites. Donate, and tell others about us. Also support other Muslim publications. But what ever you do, please don’t ignore what is going on around you. We hope to groom and grow from edition to edition, please pray for us.

Karema Akifa Saleh