IN January of this year, a new magazine, targeting an untapped audience, appeared in North America. Muslim Girl, a bi-monthly magazine for young American Muslim girls and women, is a publication that empowers its target audience and focuses on issues of substance.
“The response to Muslim Girl has been overwhelmingly positive,” said the magazine’s Editor in Chief Ausma Khan to Arab News. “Muslims from across North America write us daily to tell us how much they appreciate a magazine that represents their stories and points of view in an honest, authentic and positive manner,” she added. They have also received positive feedback from American schools, libraries, the press and from non-Muslims who support the magazine. Khan, a writer, human rights lawyer and activist who left a teaching job at Northwestern University to become editor in chief of the magazine, was recently featured on CNN where she spoke about Muslim Girl and its goals. Al-Jazeera International in its Everywoman program has done a short documentary on the magazine.
The idea for the magazine came about at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) annual conference in 2005. At the conference, many Muslim girls and young women spoke about their experiences as American Muslims and about a sense of isolation from the larger culture and society. “These girls felt they were marginalized or not represented in positive ways in the mainstream media,” explained Khan. They needed a forum to speak and connect with one another and with the larger American society, and that is what Muslim Girl provides.
“Muslim Girl is a wonderful alternative to other teen magazines,” said Khan. It is the only teen magazine published in North America that is specifically for and about Muslim teens, but it is not limited to a Muslim audience. “We have many interfaith stories and we address a lot of issues that all teens wrestle with such as identity, belonging, acceptance and their uncertainty about the future. We do our best to keep our magazine as inclusive and pluralistic as possible, while remaining true to our editorial vision,” Khan explained.
Part of the magazine’s mission is to help readers to embrace their identity as Americans and as Muslims with dignity and without fear. Pointing to the mainstream American media that is generally very negative in its portrayal of Muslims, tying them to images of war, terrorism and destruction, Khan believes that it is essential for Muslims to take part in, and help shape, the national conversation about Muslims in America. She finds that Muslim youth are disheartened by the negative images of Muslims in the media, which affects their self-esteem, sense of community and pride in their values. Thus, showcasing positive stories about Muslim girls and women who serve as role models provides hope and inspiration to them and encourages the girls to take pride in their values.
The magazine covers all aspects of a Muslim girl’s daily life from sports to spirituality. “We have a responsibility to provide guidance to girls on the difficult questions they face in their daily lives. We must learn to tell our own stories so that others are not telling them for us,” said Khan. The magazine’s main features are profiles of real girls in North America who stand out because of their accomplishments in a particular field. “Our editorial vision is to empower Muslim girls, to build a strong sense of community and carry on an open, affirmative dialogue with other communities and increase mutual respect and understanding,” she said.
The theme for the magazine’s July/August issue is “Embracing Change.” The major feature in commemorates the anniversary of the July 11th Srebrenica massacre it talks to four Bosnian-American girls whose families survived the massacre. The issue will also feature a summer-themed fashion spread, profiles of Muslim musicians/artists Sofia Baig and Zeina Al-Khalaf as well as a profile on Yasmine Hafiz, author of the soon-to-be-released American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook. The magazine has also launched a “Muslim Girl Goes 2 Class” program, in which the magazine is made available for use in libraries as well as school and university curricula. “We provide the magazine free of charge to any school, university or library that will use Muslim Girl to educate their students about Muslims and Islam, and to emphasize cultural pluralism and diversity,” said Khan.
The magazine has offices in New York, Chicago and Toronto. The staff is multi-ethnic and from many different cities with freelance contributors who are primarily Muslim women writers and Muslim teens. They hope to reach as many Muslim girls and young women as possible. The main challenge they face is advertising and distribution, but Khan says that they are on their way to overcoming those challenges. Other challenges they face are editorial in nature. “How can we talk about the important issues facing our community – especially women and girls – in a way that is consistent with, and respectful of, Islamic values? That’s the barometer of everything we do,” said Khan. They examine such things as girl’s education, access to employment opportunities, adolescent health, the sexualization of youth culture in America, the absence of positive role models for Muslim girls and issues of class and race from the American Muslim perspective. They also look at issues outside America such as violence against women, access to education and healthcare, civil rights and political freedoms, trafficking in girls and the ongoing poverty and AIDS crises. The goal is to instill a sense of responsibility as Muslims by pursuing justice and equality for all. “Getting all of that into a magazine that doesn’t preach but hopes to lead by example is the real challenge,” said Khan.
The magazine plans to expand to other titles and other markets and to develop resources that Muslim families can use to bring up safe, healthy children who are in touch with their values in America. It is in the process of developing international subscriptions to make the magazine available in Muslim countries. It is available online at www.muslimgirlmagazine.com