Altmuslimah continually seeks fresh and insightful voices, whether Muslim or not, that can add to our growing body of work. If you are thinking about writing for us, please review this style and submission guide below before submitting your article for consideration. Adherence to these guidelines will increase your chances of publication.

Word Length: Submissions between 700 and 1000 words will be considered. If the article does not meet these requirements, but is still worthy of publication, we will suggest changes to make it fit within this length.

Submission Status: All articles are recommended to be original pieces that have not been published anywhere else. However, we will consider reprints on a per-article basis and only if reprinting rights have already been secured.

Authorship: Articles are to be identified by the real name of the writer - no pseudonyms, blog handles, etc. are allowed. Your article will gain much more respect and readership if published under the name "Omar Muhammad" as opposed to "Cwy2ee MuzL3M".

Subject Matter: We welcome any articles that analyze issues relating to gender or spirituality and Muslims/Islam. We generally avoid single issue news stories unless they can be incorporated into a larger context. We strongly prefer writing that is driven by personal experiences. We do not reprint press releases, promotional items, or official statements from organizations. We reserve the right to refuse to publish articles for any or no reason.

Reading Level: While we respect deep scholarship and academic rigor, we aim for a reading level that is similar to that of the Economist. Please keep obscure references and footnotes to a minimum, define terms that non-Muslims (or Muslims for that matter) may not immediately understand, and eschew academic jargon (e.g. words like "eschew").

Fact Checking: We require that authors fact check their own work and whenever possible, hyperlink to relevant sources. For example, if you are going to state in your article that 44 percent of Americans favor curtailing civil rights for Muslim-Americans, then you should hyperlink to supporting evidence (as we have done in this sentence).

Unique Perspectives: Everybody wants to comment about the 2008 presidential race or the war in Iraq, but not everyone has something new to say about them. Consider examining issues that are overlooked elsewhere or may be rooted in your own particular area of interest. We prefer our writers to analyse subjects that others ignore.

Imagery: We try to use photographs and artwork to accompany all articles at altmuslimah. If you can provide some of your own, please verify that they are suitable for publication (i.e., appropriately licensed) or ensure permission has been granted from the owner. A good source of suitable images where permission is easily obtainable is Flickr.

Writing Style & Tone: Altmuslimah accepts blog-like pieces for its Readers' Blog, but is otherwise not a blog.  While we greatly respect the work of bloggers, we are trying to strike a tone that is more conventional than a blog entry. This means that articles should be well structured, with a thesis or central point, arguments that support that point, and a conclusion and/or recommendation. No preachy manifestos or polemical rants, please. Our published opinions tend to avoid black-and-white worldviews, preferring instead to keep an open mind about the topic.

Blog submissions: Altmuslimah recognizes that much of our interaction with gender issues occurs at a profoundly deep and private level.  Many of these personal reflections cannot always be expressed in the form of structured articles, and instead need a more free-form space like a blog.  As such, Altmuslimah welcomes your blog-like pieces for its Readers’ Blog.  Blog submissions will be vetted and, if accepted, may be edited. 

Compensation: As Altmuslimah is a volunteer effort, we unfortunately do not have the resources to pay our contributors (or ourselves, for that matter). However, published contributors can identify themselves as writers for Altmuslimah for their own promotional purposes. If our revenue model changes, however, we may offer a small per-article honoraria in the future.

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Enter the text of your story. Limit your entry to one paragraph only. Do not paste entire stories from established news sources as this violates copyright restrictions. You can use basic HTML to add links, or if you don't know how, paste the link at the end of the story and the altmuslimah editors will format your post. Expect your post to be edited for clarity and content by the altmuslimah editors.


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