By Abdulfattah Abdussalam

At the height of the struggle to unseat the despotic regime of the Shah of Iran, the revolutionaries adopted many strategies, particularly the art of writing to etch the ideas of the revolution in the minds of Iranians and non-Iranians. Thus, by February 1979, when the regime capitulated and Islamic revolution was installed, multitudes of people had already accepted the principles of the revolution which were promoted through monthly publications such as “Echo of Islam” and “Mahajubah”

In Nigeria there are many religious publications but few representing Islamic views. Sadly, it is not as if Muslims do not need these or do not want to be involved in publishing. But their environmental situations do not support their efforts. The publishing environment requires doggedness and prolonged funding which many Muslims avoid because of our attitudes.

In general terms, Nigerians are not avid readers but ours is particularly bad. An average Muslim might not even know the meaning of Suratul – Fatiha, because most of them do not read.

Religious pubications among the Christians are a booming industry Most of their publications thrive and continue to wax stronger but most of ours die at infancy.

The Awake and Watch Tower are two popular publications of the Jehovah Witnesses. They have been published for decades.

When THE PEACE (AS-SALAAM) made its debut in 2002, other Muslim magazines also did, amongst the lot, perhaps it is only THE PEACE that still manages to stay in the market. In fact, we amaze many Muslims because the tradition is for Islamic magazines to go moribund after a year or less. In the South-West Nigeria, except for Deen communication, publishers of AN NASEEHAH and LEGACY as well as publications like the CHILDREN OF ISLAM and TRUTH BEARER, hardly do we have any functional publication that carry Islamic title. AR RISALAH came with a beautiful concept, sparkling print and a beautiful layout, but it is not very regular again.

Why the dearth? The answers are with us. How many Muslims read the words of Allah on a daily basis? Many will rather buy a Nigerian newspaper that cost an average of one hundred naira daily than purchase any Islamic publication for just two hundred naira a month.

Furthermare, rather than helping our Islamic publications to flourish through patronage, we take our money to other publications by way of adverts. For example, the famous 50th celebration of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), the Muslim organizers were ready to lavish monies on other publications while Islamic publications were ignored.

At THE PEACE magazine, we suffered persecution in the hands of fellow Muslim groups who discouraged their members from buying our magazine if we did a story on what they considered as a rival group! Many will want their unworthy events to feature on the cover of our magazine and even when their events are reported at all, the patronage is inconsequential. Again, Muslims around us hardly appreciate the little we do in the industry. Whereas in other climes, publishing flourishes and provides jobs for many. Here, some vendors would even sell your magazines and will not remit your money!

In our opinion, the Muslim Ummah needs to change its attitude towards Islamic journals. We need to sustain the present publications and encourage more to come into circulation. The Islamic groups should partner with publishers and assist to circulate the journals amongst their members. Similarly the attitude of looking down on Islamic journals should stop. While we do not encourage sole sponsorship of the journals in order not to compromise them, a consortium of individuals could invest into the magazines and turn them around. Before it is too late, there is need for an urgent surgery to be done on this sick aspect of our community.

Culled from (From Hell Fire) first published  in 2006