Have a passion for writing? Ever wondered what it would be like to live your dream as a professional writer? If so, meet Sr. Suma Din, she is a published author changing the world with her words one book at a time. Read on to find out more about the writing profession, find inspiration and how remaining true to your passion can lead to success, bi’ithn Allah.
1. Sr Suma, we’re interested in finding out how began your journey on writing?
Ever since primary school, writing has been a personal habit of filling pages of home-made diaries. In secondary school when I thought 12 was a sophisticated enough age to have nice stationary, I bought pretty covered blank books and kept a daily diary. I now have a stash of roughly 25 years worth of daily musings to cringe at.
Formal writing began with student magazines at University and other Muslim youth articles in the 90’s. When my three children were quite young I decided to compile a selection of hadith and Qur’an verses to motivate women using Islamic sources and photographs. The idea evolved into more than a compilation and I wrote sections for each chapter, the result was Turning the Tide, Reawakening the Woman’s Heart and Soul. All the writing I started off with and continue to do today is borne from needs that I see going unfulfilled.
2. What kind of impact are you seeing your books have on the Muslims and non-Muslims who read them?
Over the years, many women have got back to me about
Turning the Tide saying they found it uplifting and motivating. Recently a Christian woman’s spiritual reading group chose Turning the Tide for their group and found it helped them explore their spirituality from a female perspective. The school books and resources, from what teachers & RE coordinators have said, helps them access accurate information from a global dimension. It’s still hard to believe how much misconception there is out there. I wanted to give children an up-to-date presentation of what it means to be a Muslim today. So sarees, samosas and ‘70’s wall paper don’t feature highly in the latest primary school series on world faiths I devised called Special Times, for which I wrote A Journey through Life in Islam.
3. You’ve got a new exciting series on ‘Muslims in the Modern World’ which starts with a biography of the Founder of Islamic Relief, Dr Hany El-Banne, tell us a bit about the aims of this series?
Siraj Wahhaj, Imam of Masjid Taqwa in New York is well known among Muslims in North America as a dynamic speaker and tireless supporter of Islamic causes.
Imam Zaid Shakir is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggles, he has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work.
