Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing's Second Year Anniversary
Blog Post 25
October 30, 2019
Al-Hamdulillah, we’re celebrating our second year in business! And it’s all because of Allah’s Subhanahu wa ta’ala Generosity, Blessings and Help, along with the insight, encouragement and love from you all that we’ve stood our ground and begun to make an impact out there. Words alone can’t express our appreciation and indebtedness to our Sustainer and our earthly supporters for this success. So we’re offering a tiny incentive so you can purchase books at a reduced rate and, inshallah, pick up some one-of-a-kind bookmarks and tapestries as well for yourself, your family and friends. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala continue to bless you all and Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing with everything that is good.
Looking back over the past year, in particular our blogs, it’s interesting to see what Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing chose to blog about. Three posts were about our latest publication, Woke & Loud: A Faith-Based Medley of Muslim Poetry & Spoken Word. This book is, Al-Hamdulillah, a great accomplishment, not just because it features inspiring and revolutionary poetry and spoken word, but because it showcases the amazing talent, spiritual and super active Muslims within the Ummah, especially those of us living in the west. For more information on Woke & Loud, check out Blog Post #19 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/150-woke-loud, Blog Post #18 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/149-woke-loud-a-faith-based-medley-of-muslim-poetry-spoken-word and Blog Post #14 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/145-an-anthology-of-muslim-poets-and-spoken-word-artists. And take a look at our new menu item, Woke & Loud @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/woke-loud.
If you haven’t already gotten your copy, now’s the time to do that, inshallah.
Of course, we wrote about our first year anniversary
which morphed into what people and countries choose to celebrate and how that says a lot about their values and interests. Check out Blog Post #13 @ https://www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/144-we-made-it-al-hamdulillah. We wished everyone Eid Mubarak for Eid al-Fitr and our break from work for a while in Blog Post #20 @ https://www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/151-eid-mubarak. Al-Hamdulillah, that break was a back home trip for my husband Ali and me to his birthplace of Trinidad and Tobago, something he’d looked forward to since retiring at the end of June 2017. And we broke down and wrote about being a better Muslim with a spin on looking at a “better Muslim’s” daily schedule to help us with ours, along with a bunch of questions and true and false statements to think about. See Blog Post #24 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/158-what-kind-of-muslim-are-you.
The history of Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing,
in a narrative form, shows up in Blog Post #21 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/152-inked-resistance. Censorship and why Muslim voices aren’t heard in the mainstream publishing world and how Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing can broadcast our voices is discussed in Blog Post #17 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/148-why-our-voices-aren-t-heard.
A spiritual blog on birth and death
talks about the loss of Sister Farzana (Jagani) Khetia and her newborn at birth, the wife of a local convert alim, and how her funeral coincided with Ali’s and my 33-year marriage anniversary; the birthday of Sister Zahra Nima, a Muslimah Anishinabek convert who passed away after the deaths of her two young sons; and the violent murders of 12 Nigerian Muslims by the Nigerian Joint Task Force while protesting and demanding the immediate release of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife Muallima Zeenah; and how “Every breath is a step towards death,” as Imam Ali, peace be upon him, says. Read Blog Post #22 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/153-birth-and-death.
The remaining three blog posts focus on oppression
and make up the bulk of the word count (almost 50% of the almost 21,000 words) for the year’s worth of posts and besides the last Blog Post #24, they’re, of course, also the longest. The blog trio covers: zionism and how it’s felt in the US in Blog Post #15 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/146-collusion-interference-and-yanking-the-chains; Press TV correspondent Sister Marzieh Hashemi’s arrest and incarceration in the US and Islam’s power in Blog Post #16 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/147-sextuple-whammies-in-the-eyes-of-the-great-shaitan; and America’s white supremacy, poverty, violence and mass incarceration in Blog Post #23 @ www.inkedresistanceislamicpublishing.com/our-blog/154-nothing-new.
And while lots of other important events took place during the year - including, but not limited to: white supremacist terrorist attacks against Muslims in New Zealand; India’s crackdown on Kashmiri Muslims; China’s detention, forced labour, ethnic cleansing of and atrocities towards Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang; the US/Saudi/Israeli war on Yemen; ISIS; Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh; banning the Islamic Movement in Nigeria; Islamophobia, harassment, hate crimes and violence against Muslims around the world; Trump’s ongoing antics, hatred and lies; as well as Arbaeen and the world’s largest gathering rarely covered by non-Muslim media, the Prophet’s Birthday, Ramadhan, Hajj, Eid al-Adha, Ashura and Arbaeen again - Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing’s mandate is to stay informed about what’s happening, to speak out against injustice, oppression and lies and lay out what’s really going on to our readers, inshallah.
Our role must be as upholders of truth and justice
and we have much to offer those who desire to walk upon
a holistic spiritual path and engage in resistance against evil, inshallah.
We hope through our blogs, young and new adult Islamic fiction books, bookmarks and tapestries, we’re meeting those expectations and, inshallah, will continue to do so. And we hope you’re in for the ride and encouraging others to join it, inshallah! For we cannot tread this path back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala all alone. It requires each one of us holding onto each one of us holding that firm rope our Sustainer has extended to us, inshallah. For there is nothing on Earth that satisfies that mysterious desire we all feel as we come upon a fleeting glimpse of joy and sorrow when engaging in a good book, gazing at a breathtaking landscape, focusing in on the windows in a beloved’s face, that “imprint of the wave on the sand” (Brown, 2013, p. 129), except that return to our Creator, well-pleasing to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala for a life well-lived, a life of vicegerency, and well-pleasing to Allah for the ultimate action of turning over our most precious soul to the Mighty Hands of Allah, The Most Loving, to do with us what He Wills, for we understand we are not self-sufficient, just weak beings at the Mercy of The Most Merciful. (See the Holy Qur’an: 89:27-30)
Because it is truly our Creator whom we really desire,
achingly desire to be blissfully reunited with, not the distracting creatures
and items of this dunya which harken to us to turn away from Allah toward ourselves, loving only ourselves, admiring only ourselves, caring only for ourselves,
we walk steadfastly, trustingly, lovingly and authentically toward that goal
contented with what comes our way from our Sustainer
Who calls upon us to unite under the banner of La ilaha illallah
(There is no god but Allah) for we are not our own (Brown, pp. 133, 147).
We constantly ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala not to leave us alone and we constantly ask that we be pleased, content and satisfied with Allah, His Decrees and whatever is sent our way, that Allah will forgive us our sins and grant us a place in Paradise. (See the Holy Qur’an: 89:27-30, again) Al-Hamdulillah!
Thank you again for your support of Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing!
May Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala keep us believing, loving, woke, strong and resisting!
Reference
Brown, Devin. A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C.S. Lewis. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2013.