Comments on: Hey Emel, what have you done to my avatar?

By: africana

africana — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:05:50 +0000

that is just awful! was never that into that magazine.

By: A. Hussain

A. Hussain — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:46:37 +0000

Emel has often been shunned by mainstream Muslims because of its lack of grounding on its views and perspectives. Many have dubbed it a Pakistani lifestyle magazine as opposed to a Muslim one. People of Pakistani decent and converts to Islam are over represented in its features, regardless of whether they characterize Muslim, Islam or the Muslim community of the UK. Features on Anila Beig, Saeeda Warsei and James Caan, are some example of individuals who have very little to do with Islam or the Muslim community but yet heavily featured on Emel. Anila Beig known more for her anti Muslim articles in the Sun newspaper by the Muslim community often mocked the hijab a symbol of Islam.

There are many Muslim communities that are hardly featured on Emel such as the Somali community or the Bangladeshi Muslim community that form the largest Muslim community in UK or Turkish community living in Hackney. This is not surprising when looking at the team of people behind the magazine who hardly reflect the diversity of the Muslim communities in the UK. This is further exacerbated by the fact that Emel is based in East London where people of these different Muslim communities are heavily concentrated and readily available.

The magazine is often too glamorised for a community that forms a large part of the lower working class populace, and often does not deal with issues faced by the Muslim community. Despite having the free publicity from CNN, BBC and many of the media cooperation in the western world, who the Muslim community are already suspicious of, the magazine has a meagre 20,000 subscription.

By: Rafael

Rafael — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:57:43 +0000

As salam `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Nevermind, they’re going to send me a print copy after all.

By: Rafael

Rafael — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:59:44 +0000

As salam `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Ugh. I’m a little frightened to think what they included for my side of the feature. You think you could scan it, Sidi?

By: Bytes, Blogs and Believers: My Interview with Emel Magazine « Margari Aziza

Bytes, Blogs and Believers: My Interview with Emel Magazine « Margari Aziza — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:49:25 +0000

[…] I thought my picture would be rendered into a digital avatar as Indigo Jo pointed out in “hey Emel, what have you done to my avatar?” So, I didn’t ask my husband to do a professional head shot.. I try not to abuse my wifely […]