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on 05-07-2005 16:01
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by Tavis Adibudeen
Five years ago, I never could have imagined what the Muslim Writers Society would become. At the time, the idea had not even occurred in my mind. When I started OneUmmah.net in 1999, my hope was to create a small web site to promote unity among Muslims. I had experienced the ugly side of our Ummahs disharmony with itself, and I had envisioned making some small contribution by writing a few articles and publishing them on the web.
My intention was never to undertake this task alone, so I set out to recruit others who would be much more vocal than I. Unfortunately, these "mouthpieces" soon faded into the background, and I was left alone to develop what had already been started and could not be stopped. I began receiving e-mails from Muslims all over the world with support, encouragement, contributions, and ideas.
The most promising and immediately appealing idea that was presented before me was, in the words of its founder, the "World Muslim Writers Society and Foundation." Imagine an online collective of Muslim writers who publish their treasures, in some cases for the first time in their lives, into the vast World Wide Web for the entire global community to read. I was instantly enchanted with visions of grandeur by the proposal, proffered to me by a brilliant Malaysian theorist named Abdul Latiff Junid.
I wasted no time in replying to his e-mail, and I wrote, "Absolutely! Just let me know what resources youll need, and Ill support you in your effort, inshaAllah."
His answer was, "No, Im not going to do it. I wanted YOU to start it."
Suddenly, I began to see my cyber-life flash before my eyes. It was as if, for that brief moment, I was separated from own reality, relishing in the bliss of unawareness, and the foolish pleasantries of denial. How could I possibly be in charge of something so grand? My initial visions of this "society" were much bigger than One Ummah. How could someone like me undertake this seemingly divinely inspired mission? I agreed to it, of course, but in the back of my mind, I was constantly meditating on a plan to dump the responsibility on someone else. After all, I was a busy college student who already had his hands full with "uniting Muslims."
One day I met a sister online who ran an Islamic e-mail list. She was very energetic in her approach to the religion and answered many of the members questions by seeking sources and/or scholars. She and I collaborated on several projects together before I finally decided to pop the question; no, not for marriage. I asked her to take the reigns of the Muslim Writers Society, which was withering away under my oversight.
For about a year, she handled the day-to-day work of receiving the e-mailed written works, editing them, and then sending them to me to be published onto the web. After time, her routine began to involve only forwarding any work she received directly to me. I had become the victim of my own inertness and found myself doing as much work as I had done before I "hired" her. Eventually, her e-mails stopped coming, and I again found myself back in my cyber-life-flashing stupor. But this time, it would be short lived.
By the grace of Allah, my fate soon changed. Another sister, who had worked extensively with OneUmmah.net on past projects offered her assistance, and I unhesitatingly drafted her for the task of "Administrator" of the new Muslim Writers Society. I wanted her to take over the job completely, but I did not know how to make that occur. In the then current setup, she would have to format each document in html, upload it to the server, and update the necessary pages that linked to it. Fortunately, I had just learned of new free software, released under a free software license, that allowed the publishing of articles directly from a web browser, without having to know HTML. The system also allowed users to register accounts and submit their stories online without having to e-mail them. It was called PostNuke, and I would later become very attached to that content management system.
With the new system in place and a remarkable administrator at the helm, the Muslim Writers Society finally began to accelerate. Within a year, we had hundreds of members contributing stories, articles, poems, book reviews, and biographies.
Nevertheless, all things must come to an end, and the new administrator eventually resigned in order to pursue other life ambitions. Fortunately, she named a successor who kept the ball rolling, until she had to go on indefinite leave due to health issues.
Our new and current administrator, who is also a writer like the other admins before her, has now arrived with plans to take MWS into the next phase of its development. Our original plan was not to be limited to only online publishing. We had intended to expand into print publications, both periodicals and books. With our new leadership, a new vision, and a huge society of Muslim Writers, we are now poised to make our founders vision a reality.
We now, more than ever, need your moral support and your ideas. You can discuss all MWS-related projects and concerns at the Muslim Writers Society section of Muslim Message Discussion Forum. I pray that Allah will continue to bless this amazing project, for which I can take no credit, and that He will reward all of these brilliant writers for their inspiring works each every time a person, anywhere in the world, reads them. Let our unified goal be the pleasure of Almighty Allah. Let our hearts be united in the spread of Islam through the written word. Let our voices be heard!
Last update : 05-07-2005 16:01
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