The name translates to “sensible and intelligent.” The motto is “Modest and Fabulous.” The first issue features the headline “women on top.” And a model appears to be doing a sexyface. Muslim ladies, meet your new fashion mag.
There are other women’s magazines in the Arab world. But publisher Liana Rosnita Redwan-Beer didn’t see anything on the market for readers like her, what Reuters terms “young, educated Muslim women with a worldly outlook who also want to remain true to their faith.”
While the magazine, printed in English out of Singapore, features swimsuits and sex stories, it also doesn’t carry alcohol ads. Columns on “Sharia finance” and Halal-friendly travel assume at least as much independence as does a Cosmo, but with a matter-of-fact acknolwedgement of the role of faith. And despite the targeted marketing, it’s a magazine whose stories on beauty, on “fabulous muslimahs” and, yes, style, have a wide appeal to anyone who enjoys a glossy – certainly the magazine and its site are as slick and appealing as anything out there, but the “sensible and intelligent” angle is a welcome one.
Says Redwan-Beer,
This is a magazine for someone like me, like my sisters, women who have careers, who wear suits, jeans, gladiator sandals, who may or may not wear the hijab headscarf, who may or may not look like what a Muslim women is supposed to look like, but who are very much Muslims…We’re not a magazine that preaches, we don’t tell our readers what is right or wrong; but we help them live their lives to the fullest by including information about Islam in the context of modern living.
By her own admission, theirs is a niche market – explicitly aimed at educated women, and what she terms “cosmpolitan,” “affluent and influential Muslims.” It’s a publication designed to serve an existing community rather than change minds or sway society – if anything, she hopes it will alter perceptions of Muslim women, saying, “If we happen to be able to explain, or educate, a little bit about Islam or Muslims, we think that’s cool.”
“Modest And Fabulous”: Muslim Women Get New Magazine [Reuters]
Aquila [Official Site]