This Ramadan marks the first anniversary of the launch of The Muslim Paper, a free monthly newspaper founded by British Muslim entrepreneur Khalid Sharif and created and written by third generation British Muslims. It describes itself as the only lifestyle newspaper for UK Muslims. The Ramadan 2010 issue of the newspaper is, at 20 pages, the largest issue to date. It has a striking cover design by the artist Teakster and contains a lively and varied mix of articles on topics including faith, community, fashion, cookery, art, reviews, and what to look for in a potential marriage partner. The issue carries Muslim-oriented advertising from entities including the Shariah banking services of Lloyds TSB, the Executive Muslim Marriage bureau, Asda supermarket, and Aab – which sells by mail order abayas and hijabs made of natural fabrics. There are also some government messages, such as a notice from the Islington branch of the National Health Service (NHS) on a new free “Somali Stop Smoking: Community Clinic”. And there is an advertisement from the Mosaic Talent Programme 2010, asking for nominations of inspiring individuals or organizations in 12 categories from science and technology to media. Mosaic was founded by the Prince of Wales in 2007 to address issues facing young British Muslims in deprived areas. Sharif is a Mosaic Business Ambassador and a member of its Speakers Bureau. Sharif, who is editor-in-chief of The Muslim Paper, faced challenges in getting the publication off the ground. There were several existing British Muslim publications, and the Muslim Paper had to offer something new and different to attract readers. And as a free newspaper dependent on advertising for its revenues it had to prove to companies and institutions that it was a suitable advertising vehicle for them to contact Muslim audiences. Sharif describes the first year of publication as a pilot phase: “The idea was to see how it goes for a year and see if it meets its aims, and if it is profitable.” He adds “we started quite humbly”. It took time for advertising to build up, and “the first few issues were very difficult.” One thing that has attracted certain advertisers is the finding that the newspaper has a large Muslim women audience. Up to 70 percent of its readers are female. The newspaper has a woman deputy editor, Rumki Chowdhury, who was educated at universities in the UK and US and has over the past seven years worked as a journalist and editor, and in publishing. She is also a fiction writer: her novel “Her Feet Chime” was published in 2008. Set in Bangladesh it is a reworking of the story of Cinderella. In addition to her role at The Muslim Paper she writes for LondonBangla, Britain's only free English-Bangla newspaper. The newspaper now has a circulation of 35,000 printed copies. In all, including the free subscriptions that can be downloaded from its website, it claims to have a readership of at least a quarter of a million. The printed newspaper is distributed across Britain in areas of Muslim concentration. It is distributed after Friday prayers at 140 mosques by Muslim Paper “muppies” – young people who wear the newspaper's branded jackets. Other copies are distributed at events and to hospitals, Muslim organizations, newsagents, council offices and police stations. There has been a request from the imam of London's Belmarsh prison for copies for Muslim inmates. The readership of the newspaper includes many non-Muslims. “One of them said to me it's like a little window on the Muslim community”, Sharif says. The newspaper's coverage of the community has included highlighting certain problems such as drug and alcohol abuse. Sharif's goal now is for the newspaper in its next phase “to expand into different countries, both in print and online.” He is seeking a partner or investors to help carry the paper into this next phase and “grow us internationally”. Such a partner could be an existing publication from the Middle East, he suggests, especially as that region has a young audience. The Muslim Paper is read by a young and educated audience; nearly 80 percent of its readers are aged 18-35, and 75 percent are graduates or professionals. Sharif is from a family of Indian origin with roots in Bombay and Bangalore. He studied IT at City University, London, in 1992-96 and for a time worked for the UK-based international IT and management consultancy company Logica. His job took him to Riyadh, where he worked with banking IT systems. He also worked in Singapore, Thailand, Norway and Finland. Sharif first made his mark as an entrepreneur when he founded the halal chocolate manufacturer Ummah Foods in 2004. This London-based company, of which he is managing director, produces a range of five types of halal chocolate sold through outlets including several major supermarket chains. Ummah Foods attaches much importance to being an ethical business that supports and serves the local community. Its home page has links to its community activities in nine sectors: youth, women, education, enterprise, science, environment, research, arts and communication. In 2007 the judges of the annual Muslim News Awards for Excellence bestowed on Sharif the Ummul Mu'minin Khadijah Award for Excellence in Enterprise. Sharif has been involved in numerous community, education and environmental projects. In founding The Muslim Paper he wanted to help the community of up to 2 million Muslims in Britain which is facing hostility in some quarters, at times amounting to Islamophobia, and which has a generally poor image in the media. Rather than react with anger and negativity to the sometimes unfair attitudes towards Muslims, Sharif wanted to take a constructive and positive approach using humor where appropriate. The stated aims of the newspaper include to promote community cohesion and peace building efforts in the UK; to promote identity, citizenship and faith amongst Muslims; to provide a forum for Muslims and non-Muslims to express their concerns, opinions and experiences, and to raise awareness of Islamic issues among Muslims and non-Muslims. There are still few Muslim journalists working in the British media, and The Muslim Paper is trying to help fill this gap through training young people in journalism and other media skills so as to prepare them to enter the mainstream media. Sharif sees the newspaper as an “incubator” to nurture young Muslim media talent. The newspaper's own team mentors budding journalists, and specialists also come in from outside to give advice. So far the paper has trained up to 20 journalists, artists, photographers and video reporters. Those who would like to become journalists for the newspaper can apply via the website. There have been around 500 applicants, of which 100 have been selected as an initial pool. The newspaper's desire to interact with its readers is reflected by its Facebook site which has attracted nearly 3,300 followers and is an arena for constant comment and debate. Sharif welcomes the encounters between people holding very different opinions that the Facebook site offers. The newspaper also interacts with readers through its website, and visitors to the site are invited to fill in an online form saying what they would like The Muslim Paper to write about. The Muslim Paper is now working on plans for forthcoming issues, Sharif says one future feature will focus on “infamous Muslims in the UK”, assessing whether their bad public image is deserved. As for the choice of which “infamous” Muslims will be included, Sharif says: “We are going to let our readers decide.” Candidates for inclusion include the Islam Channel which has been much criticized by sectors of the British media and the blogosphere. There are also plans for the “Baby Sharks” children's section of the newspaper to take control of an issue, and for more video journalism on the website.
