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A Muslim British Editor: Telling the Story through People
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Sarah Joseph was the first female editor of a Muslim magazine in the United Kingdom
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I’ve
been involved with media in some way or another for well over a decade now. I
didn’t plan it, but I slowly got drawn into it. I suppose it started because I
lecture widely on Islam, and from that I was asked to appear on radio and I did
a lot of work for the World Service and then for BBC radio. This then evolved to
doing a TV program. It’s hard to know whether this has had an effect, but I
have had many letters from people all over the world to say that a particular
script I had written touched them in a human way and that makes it all worth
while. I’ve also worked in the media as a specialist researcher on the BBC Islam
Season in 2001 and that was an excellent experience. I really do feel that
having a practicing Muslim on the programs allowed for a much more authentic
presentation of Islam than would otherwise have been achieved.
My
work with magazine media began in 1994. I was asked to edit a magazine called Trends.
Trends was an amazing magazine for its time, as it was the first magazine
to target young Muslims in the United Kingdom, to use images in a big way, and
to cover issues in a popular way. I was its third editor, and taking up that
position made me the first female editor of a Muslim magazine in the
United Kingdom
. I still get people coming up to me—successful people who were young students
10 years ago—and they say, “That editorial helped me through a bad patch”
or “That article really inspired me.” It is a privilege to have been in a
position where you might have helped someone, and truly all praise is due to
Allah for allowing me that opportunity. It was a lot of hard work, but it was
the foundation of my current work as editor of emel magazine.
Emel
is a very different magazine and groundbreaking for today’s market. It is a
100-page full-color glossy magazine. It covers Muslim life in today’s world
and celebrates Muslim life. As Muslims, we get a lot of unfair and hostile
coverage from many quarters—be it a bad program, a negative newspaper piece,
or the continued vitriolic attack from certain journalists. However, we also
need to create pro-active projects that contrast with the negativity of the day.
With
emel we wanted to create a magazine that Muslims could be proud of and
that would reflect the positive aspects of Muslim life as well as look at the
difficult issues that face us. We know that Islam is broad and that Muslims are
interested in every aspect of life, but we are often seen in a very
two-dimensional way. We hope emel dispels the misconceptions that Muslims
are only interested in politics or religious rituals. Also, Islamic civilization
has had so much influence in so many key areas of culture, but that is rarely
seen. We hope we will manage to reflect our history as well as how Muslims are
creating a British Islamic culture.
We have spent a lot of time on the design of emel and making sure that it
is visually attractive. We did not want pages and pages of bland text. The
writing is fast and punchy. Also, the issues we are addressing are diverse:
there are the current affairs, yes, but we cover health and education, parenting
and relationships, finance and environment. There are the lifestyle sections as
well—interiors, food, gardening, clothes, sport, art, and music. Emel
is also very people focused, so we have a lot of interviews with big names and
ordinary people. We want to tell the story through people. This is very much a
Qur’anic method, as we can identify with the stories of other human beings.
We
are a very small team with very few resources, but with Allah’s barakah
(blessing) we have managed to create something bigger than our small team and
better than our meager resources. We pray that it succeeds as a project, and we
have plans for expansion internationally. We have been asked to duplicate the
magazine for the
US
and Middle Eastern markets, as well as to make an emel television
program. We don’t have the resources for such expansions at the moment but
hope that in the future we will.
We
have had three great program reviews made about emel. The BBC did a film
on us, as did CNN’s Design 360 show, as well as CNN’s Newsnight. The
positive feedback we have had from non-Muslims and Muslims has been
overwhelming.
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| Emel is a very different magazine and groundbreaking for today’s market |
I
really feel that although there are problems out there and there is a lot of
negative media coverage about Muslims, we can overcome it all with positive
projects. There is no point just moaning about problems; we need to reach within
ourselves and find solutions. I believe at times of greatest difficulty the
human capacity for good rises up and produces beauty. I see so many examples of
this at the moment: we have growing art and music movements in the UK right now,
we have tremendous Islam Awareness Projects, we have major Muslim contributions
to the peace movement, as well as Muslim contributions to the environmental
movement, as that is a very serious danger to our planet. Everywhere I look I
see Muslims participating in mainstream society in a powerful and energetic way,
and that is wonderful. The creation of a British Islamic identity based on
justice is growing, and that is so welcome. It doesn’t matter that the Muslims
of the
United Kingdom
have all come from so many different ethnic backgrounds (there’s probably at
least one of every type of Muslim in the
United Kingdom
). In a way that can be a strength because we will unite under a new culture
based upon Islam rather than hanging on to cultural baggage.
We
need to talk to the people. That is what the prophets did. And we need to speak
in the language of the people. When I look at the stories of Musa and Yusuf
(peace be upon them), I feel they are very connected to our present situation as
Muslims in the West. We are here in the West, some of us indigenous white
Muslims, and certainly most of us British-born. We have to talk to the people in
their own language and, like Yusuf, be of real benefit to the society we find
ourselves in.
I
suppose as a person born into an English family who then chose Islam I feel a
special responsibility to build bridges between the two worlds I love—the
world of my birth and the world of my choice. I feel the people in
Britain
will respond positively to that which is good. The British people are a
benevolent people, and they respect differences and usually help the underdog.
As
Muslims throughout the world we face challenges. But challenges are there to
enable us to grow as human beings. We have to open ourselves up and decide that
we want to create a civilization based upon righteousness, justice, a love for
the people of the world and an understanding of our responsibility to the planet
as vicegerents on Allah’s earth. We have to stop feeling like victims and
start feeling empowered to do good and work righteousness. Truly all power
belongs to Allah, so we should never feel that we have no power; instead, we
should concentrate on changing that which is within our hearts so that Allah may
bless us and change our situation.
**
Editor
of Emel magazine, a new UK based, high quality lifestyle magazine with a Muslim
focus.
Lectured on Islam both within the UK and internationally for twelve years.
Appeared on variety of British television programmes including the current
affairs programmes - Panorama and Johnathan Dimbleby.
Scripted and recorded for variety of BBC and independent radio productions
including Pause for Thought, Nicky Campell, Late Night Live.
Worked as a Specialist Researcher for the BBC's Learning Zone in the BBC's 2001
Islam series. First female editor of a major Muslim publication: Trends Founding editor of Muslim Council Britain's The Common Good Consultant on
Islamic Affairs - exploring issues with, and providing diversity training to,
employment, education, health bodies, police etc on the beliefs and needs of
Muslims in the UK. BA (hons) in Religious Studies from King's College London.
Post graduate research into Britons Embracing Islam.
Winner of the 1999-2000 Prince of Wales Chevening/King Faisal Foundation
Scholarship
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