We are fundraising to create a bi-annual magazine created for young Muslims by young Muslims.  

The Khidr Collective Zine will provide a voice to young Muslims across London and the UK more broadly to contribute to conversations, showcase our talents and take back control of narratives about us.  

Who are Khidr Collective?

Khidr Collective brings together Muslim artists and organisers seeking to create spaces and platforms for Muslims to express themselves.  

Some of us have been organising with Decolonising Our Minds, having spent two years working in the university and in communities.  As Muslims, we feel that our communities require the infrastructures and space to speak truth to power.  

We are planning a range of events and projects over the coming months, including the zine which we are fundraising for.  

We chose to name the collective after the character of Khidr from the Holy Qur’an -- the mysterious wise man who leads Prophet Moses through various difficult trials -- because he represents a guiding voice of wisdom at times of confusion and darkness. The message of Khidr extends beyond the rich, spiritual traditions within Islam and into the realms of other faiths and narrations. We are all in need of a guide. A space to be heard, a space to express and a space to listen.

Why a zine*? Why is this important?

*A zine is a self-published magazine.

Muslims are underrepresented in media and in cultural production more generally.  The result of this has been catastrophic. Some have taken our stories and ripped them to shreds to our detriment. We also find ourselves locked out of conversations about our own communities while others theorise on our behalf.

This has to change. We’re starting with the Khidr Collective Zine. We want to facilitate this bi-annual zine as a sustainable form of creative community journalism. Where your voices matter.  

We want to use language everyone can understand. We want to work hard to distribute the zine across grassroots communities in London.  Our ethos is, we can make space for ourselves.  

But we need your help to make the zine a reality.

What is the zine about?

This zine will explore joy, love, identity and cultural evolutions happening across our varied communities. Our communities are not the same, which is why we’re gathering a wide range of contributions. So far we have:

• Photography series on Black British Muslim Women.

• A personal essay by National Union of Students Women’s Officer, Hareem Ghani, on being a Muslim woman in politics.

• Poetry by Jamal Mehmood and Momtaza Mehri.

• A personal essay examining the Government’s Prevent Act and its effect on our communities.

… with plenty more fiction, non-fiction and illustrations to come.

Why are we crowd-funding?

As a group of young Muslims, we cannot make this happen without resource or funding. We need your help to cover costs like printing, paying contributors, event fees and production costs.  

How will your money be spent?

The money spent will broadly cover:

• Costs of printing: £3,000 for a first print run of 1000.  

• Contributor fees: We’ll be paying all the amazing writers/poets/illustrators for their quality contributions.  

• Operational fees: We’ll be paying for the planning, management and distribution costs incurred as we build this exciting project.

  
  

  How else can you help?
  

  There are many things you can do to help make this happen!

  • Take advantage of some of our really exciting rewards and tickets

  • Tweet about us @KhidrCollective and use the #KhidrZine

  • Share the link on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat

  
  

  

  Poster & illustration by Derkan Dogan

  
  

  
  

  Meet the Team

  
  

  

  Co-founder and Organiser at Khidr Collective | Hadi is a Politics graduate with an interest in History and Political Economy. He has previously set-up a bakery with his wife selling baked treats all across London and likes to counter the cakes with a few sessions in the gym. He's also a slight geek and watches NASA or Brian Cox videos in his spare time.

  
  

  

  Non-fiction editor at Khidr Collective | Zainab is the joint editor-in-chief of a comment website called The Platform. Her writing focuses on arts and culture, local history and global politics. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @zainoted.

  
  

  

  Events & Arts Direction at Khidr Collective | Rui is a music producer by the name of DA (https://soundcloud.com/010da), an illustrator and an organiser.  Interested in arts and culture.  Follow him on Twitter @ProducedbyDA or Instagram: @010DA

  
  

  Photography Editor at Khidr Collective | Nishat is a film photographer and museum worker with an interest in art and history. Follow her work on instagram; @notnishat

  
  

  Fiction Editor at Khidr Collective | Warda is a fiction writer and researcher with an interest in politics.

  
  

  Co-founder and Organiser, Poetry & Fiction Editor at Khidr Collective | Zain is a writer, poet and organiser based in North London.  You can find his poetry on www.wordsapart.blogspot.com.  Zain is also one of the co-founders of Decolonising Our Minds Society. 

  
  

  

  History and Cultures Editor at Khidr Collective | Raeesah is a writer, researcher and linguist interested in early Islamic intellectual history.  She enjoys researching and translating early Islamic texts and marginalised histories.

  
  

  

  Illustration editor at the Khidr Collective | Nur Hannah is an artist and documentary film maker with an interest in faces, places and people. She currently runs a project documenting diaspora, with specific interest in Malay communities in London.