Critical Muslim publishes articles and essays, including analytical reviews and photo essays, as well as shorter reviews of individual books, films and exhibitions, and works of fiction and poetry. We seek to promote divergent and pluralistic ideas, opinions and visions; and cover all issues of interest to Muslims in a globalised and interconnected world. Each issue is devoted to a single theme; and, in the first instance, we seek articles and essays that explore that theme from various perspectives.
Articles and Essays: Contributions to the magazine, which has a distinct intellectual bias, are distinguished by the quality of writing and analysis. We are looking for narratives, arguments, debate, decisive scrutiny and thought provoking articles and essays. The recommended length for main articles and essays is 4-8,000 words. We will provide a title for your contribution, cross-heads where we think necessary, and illustrations where appropriate. Avoid footnotes at all cost; and keep citation and references to a minimum. These should appear at the end of the article, in Chicago-style citation, for example: Leila Aboulela, Lyrics Alley (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 2010). Full page references should be given for quoted material. When giving a web reference, please provide the full URL, and date of access. References are collected together and appear in the ‘Citations’ section at the end of the book.
Reviews: We are looking for argumentative, discursive analysis of the book rather than a description of its contents. Questions you might address include – does the author says something new and original and adds to knowledge and debate, or recycles old arguments and serotypes? Example and illustrations drawn from the book are often helpful, but not obligatory. Similarly, comparisons with other writers and thinkers and others works can be illuminating. Reviewers may also use the book as a launching point to elaborate their own ideas or explore a particular theme. We are looking for reviews of 2500-3,000 words, but longer are acceptable too if the books(s) or the arguments demand it. Film, television, theatre, and exhibition reviews follow the same approach and style.
Submission: Please do not try and design your pages; stick to simple word processing programme, preferably MS Word. Use Times New Roman, 12pt, double spacing, no headers, no footers and no running heads. Please do not use bold for emphasis, always use italics.
Proofs: Authors of articles are sent page proofs for checking before publication. These will normally be sent as Pdf files to your e-mail address. Only essential corrections can be accepted at this stage.
Copyright: It is not necessary for contributors to sign a copyright; the copyright of your contribution belongs to you! But we would request that you do not republish your article or essay for at least two years after it appears in Critical Muslim. We would also appreciate a citation to Critical Muslim, where the article originally appeared.
Biography: Please provide three or four lines about yourself, including recent publications and any affiliation.