Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Why Write A Letter To The Editor?
Writing letters to the editor is an enormous tool of public opinion, reaching the masses with the possibilities of being an advocate for change. The letters to the editor is usually one of the most widely read sections in newspapers. Politicians have been known to gauge the public’s reactions to various topics based on public input-which has the potential to influence legislative dialog. Editors on occasion use quotes from letters written to this section.
The action of submitting a letter to the editor alone can speak mountains. The Muslim opinion is often silent in the media and left out of the dialog processes concerning pertinent issues of the day. Writing a letter to the editor gives you a voice. Sometimes letters are used as a gauge to determine what is hot and what is not. Editors have to face specific issues when many letters are received supporting a particular idea. What might have gone unnoticed has a stronger chance of getting published just because many readers decided to write to the editor on that particular issue.
Read the entire 'Letter to The Editor"
Read the entire 'Letter to The Editor"
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Iqra! Newspaper Website
We tried to design the website with mac so it could be accessible on mozilla and other operating systems, InshaAllah- http://iqranewspaper.com . We found a web designer who will be redesigning the website completely , InshaAllah.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Highway 59 Blogging in Houston - Justice for Palestinians
Mini film about how the state of Palestine was created, cartoons from a famous political cartoonist named Carlos Latuff, and the Mandell Bridge bloggers
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Need Research Team for a Book Project
Iqra! Newspaper is looking for a team of up to 5 researchers for an upcoming book project. Team members will be assigned to the book project, but also might be called on to work in a support capacity for Iqra! Newspaper and our media watch program.
Proposed payment:Pay $10 - 15 hourly or we will pay one flat fee per project. We are still working on the pay issues.
How the team will be divided:
Research: Book Project only
Research: Flexible (Miscellaneous projects)
Research: Media Watch
A Team Leader will be assigned to the group
Main Project: "The Invisible Media"
Background:Sr. Karema, (chief editor , Iqra Newspaper) says:I recently started working on a revision of an article titled "The Invisible Media." The pages kept increasing as I began to do my own research. The article reached 8 pages for part 1, and 6 + pages for part 2. I told sis Amatullah "I am writing and writing and just can't seem to stop." At this point I realized I had a book on my hands.
Requirements:You must have a passion for research and reliable internet connection. Experience is a plus.Those interested, please e-mail your CV along with a writing sample to amatullah.abdullah@iqranewspaper.com
For more information, write to: mail@iqranewspaper.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Iqra! Newspaper supports various Islamic Publication
Add your news publication to our list of Islamic newspapers for our upcoming edition of Iqra!
Iqra! Newspaper is working on our next edition’s “List Page.” In each edition we create some type of list that is helpful to our readers. We would like to create a list of Islamic publications for the next edition, especially in the U.S.A and Canada. Each newspaper needs to be mailed in good condition, (please do not send photographs, only hard copies will be accepted). We will have our in-house photo department photograph each paper for this section and inform you via e-mail once your paper has been reviewed and accepted.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
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
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
Friday, May 25, 2007
Calll for Submission!
Iqra! Newspaper is now accepting articles /poems/ stories, etc for the coming issue. Please read our submission guidelines carefully before submitting your paper. For more information, please email us at: mail@iqranewspaper.com
Submission Guidelines
Iqra! Newspaper warmly welcomes submissions of personal or journalistic articles, poetry, cartoons, and photography.
Iqra! Newspaper is also interested to hear from those who would like to make feature suggestions or propose an article or feature for commission. If there is a topic or news story that you believe would be relevant to our readership and would like to draw our attention to this, please contact Iqra! Newspaper at [articles-in@iqranewspaper.com].We will endeavour to forward any suggestions to the relevant editor but must forewarn that, due to the high number of emails, a reply may not always be prompt or possible. For such instances we apologize in advance and thank you for taking the time to consider us.
The team at Iqra! believe firmly in the importance of developing a strong, committed and successful Muslim media and endeavour to contribute to this. While the newspaper serves the Muslim community it is also committed to interfaith as well as inner-faith dialogue. To this end, we also welcome submissions from non-Muslims who believe that their work may be of relevance to the readership of Iqra!
We embrace open discussion and understand that the rich diversity of the Muslim community can often nurture differences. Disputes deriving from such differences need not always be viewed negatively. However, we believe that the Muslim community should aspire to move forward within an environment of mutual respect so that we may more fully fulfil our responsibilities and capabilities, inshaAllah. At Iqra! we believe that our central concern is to ensure that the newspaper is based on the Qu’ran and Sunnah and we pray that Allah assists us in meeting this goal. We do not ascribe to conservative, progressive or modernist labels but to fundamental Islamic beliefs and believe that the hijacking of the term ‘fundamentalist’ by some media should not deter us from embracing it as we understand it: ‘adherence to the basic principles of Islam’.
Our team is comprised of sisters and brothers of diverse nationalities and backgrounds. We welcome submissions from interested and talented individuals wherever they reside.
Please consider the points below when submitting your work to Iqra! (Please watch for guideline updates)
Resume not required but helpful, please tell us about yourself, what are your interest
We request that submissions enquiries be emailed.
Please inform us if the work has been published before and if so where and when it was published.
We request that anybody proposing a feature for submission or interested in becoming a regular contributor to Iqra! send 3 examples of previous work.
With the exception of just a few articles, most articles do not extend beyond 1000-1500 words and some are significantly shorter. Please keep this in mind when submitting work.
Please also be aware that where necessary articles may be edited.
Please send articles as a MS Word file.
Please read our Mission statement
The editors at Iqra! read all submissions and ideas with interest and endeavour to reply wherever possible, inshaAllah. If you share our vision and would like to contribute to Iqra! Newspaper we would be delighted to hear from you.
Download this document
Iqra! Newspaper is also interested to hear from those who would like to make feature suggestions or propose an article or feature for commission. If there is a topic or news story that you believe would be relevant to our readership and would like to draw our attention to this, please contact Iqra! Newspaper at [articles-in@iqranewspaper.com].We will endeavour to forward any suggestions to the relevant editor but must forewarn that, due to the high number of emails, a reply may not always be prompt or possible. For such instances we apologize in advance and thank you for taking the time to consider us.
The team at Iqra! believe firmly in the importance of developing a strong, committed and successful Muslim media and endeavour to contribute to this. While the newspaper serves the Muslim community it is also committed to interfaith as well as inner-faith dialogue. To this end, we also welcome submissions from non-Muslims who believe that their work may be of relevance to the readership of Iqra!
We embrace open discussion and understand that the rich diversity of the Muslim community can often nurture differences. Disputes deriving from such differences need not always be viewed negatively. However, we believe that the Muslim community should aspire to move forward within an environment of mutual respect so that we may more fully fulfil our responsibilities and capabilities, inshaAllah. At Iqra! we believe that our central concern is to ensure that the newspaper is based on the Qu’ran and Sunnah and we pray that Allah assists us in meeting this goal. We do not ascribe to conservative, progressive or modernist labels but to fundamental Islamic beliefs and believe that the hijacking of the term ‘fundamentalist’ by some media should not deter us from embracing it as we understand it: ‘adherence to the basic principles of Islam’.
Our team is comprised of sisters and brothers of diverse nationalities and backgrounds. We welcome submissions from interested and talented individuals wherever they reside.
Please consider the points below when submitting your work to Iqra! (Please watch for guideline updates)
Resume not required but helpful, please tell us about yourself, what are your interest
We request that submissions enquiries be emailed.
Please inform us if the work has been published before and if so where and when it was published.
We request that anybody proposing a feature for submission or interested in becoming a regular contributor to Iqra! send 3 examples of previous work.
With the exception of just a few articles, most articles do not extend beyond 1000-1500 words and some are significantly shorter. Please keep this in mind when submitting work.
Please also be aware that where necessary articles may be edited.
Please send articles as a MS Word file.
Please read our Mission statement
The editors at Iqra! read all submissions and ideas with interest and endeavour to reply wherever possible, inshaAllah. If you share our vision and would like to contribute to Iqra! Newspaper we would be delighted to hear from you.
Download this document
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Attention! Chaplains
Iqra! Newspaper gives out free newspapers to inmates communities needing more Islamic reading materials in their facilities. Please let us hear from you while supplies last (from latest edition) Our newspaper is an excellent dawah 
Consider purchasing Iqra! Newspaper in bulk and donating to prisons, Masajid, MSA’s, libraries and universities. Ad value to your fundraiser with Iqra! Newspapers, retail price is $1.50 for 28 pages, discounts offered. View our current index of articles. Iqra! Newspaper 3rd Edition Now Out!!!
3rd Edition Now Out!!!
90+% Content, 28 pages of a diverse selection of articles
We are happy to announce that Iqra! Newspaper thrid edition is out!We would like to personally thank our friends, supporters and staffs for your prayer, ideas, submissions,etc
Total Pages: 28Cost: US$1.50
Total Pages: 28Cost: US$1.50
Articles:
“In the Eye of the Storm” a survival story about hurricane Katrina
Life of the Prophet
“Why Seerah”
“A Tiger Disappeared”
The story of Tipu Sultan of India
Questions and Rulings on Horoscopes
Poetry
The Glorious Book-Bilal the Poet
Muslim Mothers
The Joys of Adversity-Saaleha Bhamjee
Good Health is Wealth—ja’Meelah
I Follow the One– Julinar Diab
Death of a Puppeteer-Julinar Diab
A precious Jewel-Mai El-Sadamy
Health
“Dates”
“Health, Hygiene and Discipline” by Fatmah Azam Ali
Misc:
“The Defining Moment in America History, Hurricane Katrina” Karema Akifa Saleh
“Was Islam Spread by the Sword?”
Dr. Zakir Abdul Karim
“The Truth about Polygamy”
Dr. Zakir Abdul Karim
“ Youth Volunteers in Kashmir”
Bibi-Aish Wadvalla
“Hindu Man of Muslim Heritage”
A.U. Asif
Editorials
“Media Trickknology” Karema Akifa Saleh
“A Solution for the Danish Cartoon Publications”
Jennifer Fayed
Political Asylum
“Islamo Fascism” is an Oxymoron– Enver Masud”
“Politics or Principles? Democracy or Fascism”
Karema Akifa Saleh
“Islamic Fundamentalist? Fact or Fiction?”
Mirza Yarwar Baig
“Dowry in Islam? Choosing Culture Over Religion”
Amatullah Abdullah
Life in Islam
“An Indian Family’s Journey to Islam”
Thursday, December 21, 2006
What people are saying about Iqra! Newspaper
Many people from various faiths and backgrounds have read Iqra! Newspaper. We often hear statements such as “this paper is very well organized, professional, and unique.” “I don't feel uncomfortable, or alienated reading Iqra!” “I have learned so much about Islam in a welcoming environment.” We send free copies of Iqra! To incarcerated individuals upon request.
Iqra Newspaper would like to
· Increase communication channels in various communities, bring our Ummah closer
· Incorporate Dawah through teaching the fundamentals of Islam with practical articles we all can understand
· Media Watch Project: to inform, and fight against media distortion of Islam, Muslims, Islamaphobia
All welcomed to participate in our media watch project Download document here.
· Build: the international community
· Syndicate Muslim news assist with syndications of action alerts and breaking news from other organizations
· Build a stronger Muslim Multimedia industry
· Promote Muslim Journalist
· Encourage more involvement in the community
· Promote Halal Muslim businesses
· Highlight a different community each edition (international, regional, local)
· Promote Muslim Unity through example, (we do not cater to a particular culture or ethnicity
· Keep an open door to interfaith dialog
· Incorporate Dawah through teaching the fundamentals of Islam with practical articles we all can understand
· Media Watch Project: to inform, and fight against media distortion of Islam, Muslims, Islamaphobia
All welcomed to participate in our media watch project Download document here.
· Build: the international community
· Syndicate Muslim news assist with syndications of action alerts and breaking news from other organizations
· Build a stronger Muslim Multimedia industry
· Promote Muslim Journalist
· Encourage more involvement in the community
· Promote Halal Muslim businesses
· Highlight a different community each edition (international, regional, local)
· Promote Muslim Unity through example, (we do not cater to a particular culture or ethnicity
· Keep an open door to interfaith dialog
Our Mission & Golas
It is important that more Muslims actively engage the public dispelling many myths and fears towards Islam and Muslims as a whole. Our plan is to proceed in a intellectual way to cause our readers to ponder on many hidden assumptions compiling in their minds by the onslaught of actions by those with ominous objectives to tarnish the Islamic faith and to render it’s followers as dangers to society for political reasons. A real face needs to be given to the Muslim people, a people of fervent passion in living a modest life, practicing principals of morality at the highest standards, fearing God (Allah) and aspiring to educate themselves at the beyond the minimum level. Before this true face can be shown to the world we need to address much of the baseless attacks against Muslims replacing stereotypes with our true Muslim identity.
The first goal on our list is to counter act Islamaphobia with well written articles that sheds light on our religion and people from Bosnia to Palestine, from Africa to America. We welcome “Friends of Iqra” and conscious thinkers to support our efforts though submissions of thought provoking articles as well as donations and advertisements. You can also support us by joining our online e-group, sharing your thoughts on today’s issues as it pertains to Muslims, Islam, politics, our environment, business, law…..
We captures the life experiences of Muslims through a variety of sections: religion, history, culture, health, and poetry to name a few. We hope to bring stories of real people with real experiences.
Each edition of Iqra highlights a community we visited in the United States or abroad. So far we have covered Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, India, Dubai, and San Jose / San Francisco area. It is our hope to continuously visit communities and meet sisters and brothers around the world. (insha’Allah)
Politics
Today’s events forces us to continuously monitor events around us that affects our daily lives. Policies are changing at stealth speed relating to this “war on terrorism” which we have found is no more than high tech propaganda to keep people divided, scared and ignorant. We need to know our rights, we need to understand the laws governing the lands we live in.
Seeking justice should be a common goal of humanity.
O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your witness or refuse to give it, verily, Allah is Ever Well Acquainted with what you do. ( سورة النساء , An-Nisa, Chapter #4, Verse #135)
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