Dear Sisters,

Assalamu Alaikum! Welcome to the first issue of Modest Beautiful Muslima Magazine! SubhanAllah, it is miraculous to me that one month ago, MBM did not exist. I want to touch bases on a few major points in this letter, such as why I started MBM, what I hope to accomplish, and the unique features of this specific issue.

About seven months ago, I was on a total opposite path that I am on now. Instead of constantly remembering my Creator, I was too consumed in the pursuit of this life and so unaware of how this would affect my life after this one. At this point, I was not praying on a regular basis, and even when I did pray, my prayers were mere actions, rather than a meaningful, sincere connection. It was not one event that led me back to the straight path, but rather a collection of my reflected thoughts. Although I was pretty unaware, deep inside I knew I was not happy with the way I was living. Even though I was doing great in school and doing so many things for my community and campus at the time, this was all so meaningless if I was not constantly aware of my Creator. I started to deeply reflect and reconnect myself with Islam again. I never lost my belief in Islam but I definitely lost the connection at one point. Although very gradual, I found myself only moving forward, never backwards. The past four months I have been thinking about the hijab. I think it says so much that Allah SWT chose women to be the flag bearers of Islam. I have recently decided that I will begin to wear the hijab the first day of Ramadan inshaAllah. Alhamdulilah, I have reconnected myself to a religion that has always held a very special place in my heart. I pray to Allah SWT that I, as well as the entire Muslim Ummah will stay connected.

Before reconnecting to Islam, I found myself wanting to be someone I was not. That is usually how it starts—with the heavy influence we face in our society, sometimes you get sucked in without even knowing. I had always been very religious in the past but it seems as if I was letting that all go, to be part of a crowd. When I think about it now, I cannot believe how ignorant I was to run away from something I was blessed with at birth. The sad part is, many girls and women go through this. We live in a society where we are molded to be people we are not born to be. In today’s world, women are depicted in such a vulgar, worthless way—as if they are just meat. The sad part? Many women accept this and embrace this. The even sadder part? They believe they are liberated. Many Muslim girls and women are confused and as someone who was once confused, I want to be part of the solution.

My goal? To increase and strengthen the communication and connection between the women of the Muslim Ummah. Communication and knowledge are fundamental vehicles that allow us to expand our insights and accomplish our goals. Islam is such a beautiful way of life if done correctly and it makes me so upset when ignorant people twist such a religion for political reasons. It amazes me how much is written on Islam by “Islam experts”, who are not Muslim, nor do they even begin to truly reveal the religion for what it really is. That is exactly why I want to compile the voices of the beautiful Muslima community to debunk stereotypes and show how we are so full of personality. When practiced correctly, Islam is so real. I have written two poems that are featured right after this letter. I hope that you will enjoy them.

I cannot express the amount of happiness within me when a sister expresses such enthusiasm about MBM. Although it has only been a month since I have started this magazine, I have gotten such wonderful level of support and engagement from Muslim women. The women of the Muslim community are unlike any other community. They are diverse, caring, sincere individuals. I will be satisfied if I can capture even a fraction of that in my magazine—and Alhamdulilah, I can say this issue encapsulates just that.

For this issue, I asked readers to submit short profiles consisting of a sentence or so explaining why they love being Muslim women, their picture, and their information. Alhamdulilah, I think that the turn out was great and I thank all of the sisters that participated. If you did not submit this, but would like to submit it for the next issue, please do! I would also like to especially thank three sisters for submitting stories on their decision to wear hijab. Because of these sisters, this issue includes a very touching, inspirational story written by Jameela T and two wonderful, inspiring stories written by Summaiyah H and Marwa. In this issue, we also have a wonderful convert story written by Lisa Shah as well as a “motherly” issue on Religion and Life written by none other than my mother, Mona ElRouby. I am so grateful for everyone for putting in time for this. JazakAllah khair.

Lastly, I'd like to mention that even though this is a magazine for Muslim women, it is equally relevant to the non-Muslim reader. The average non-Muslim reader has such a clouded, inaccurate picture of Muslim women painted in their head. I invite those readers to read this magazine in order to get a first-hand taste of what Muslim women are really about.

Thank you for reading this! I hope you are as excited for the first issue as I am!