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Chicken soup
for the Muslim soul Page 50 The
chicken soup for the soul anthologies offer warm fuzzies of
encouragement to readers. So when series fan Sana Khatib saw books aimed at
Christians and Jews, she wondered why there was no book for Muslims.
Don’t we have souls too? I decided to e-mail the Muslim society at my university to tell them about this new project and asked them for story submissions. I received many replies of encouragement and became very excited about the book. I decided to get straight to work on my Chicken Soup book proposal. A few days later, I received an e-mail from a friend named Shabina Khatri telling me that she had sent in a proposal to the Chicken Soup Company a few years earlier and was rejected. I felt discouraged by this information but was hopeful that I would not suffer the same fate. I decided to call the Chicken Soup headquarters and ask them why Shabina’s book proposal was rejected before I pursued a new proposal. I spoke to a representative on the phone and told her about my interest in becoming a co-author for Chicken Soup. She was very kind and willing to help but requested that I fax her a release form that would legally permit her to talk more specifically to me about the title I had in mind. I immediately went to a local Kinkos and sent the fax and then called her up again to discuss my title. The moment I mentioned the words Chicken Soup for the Muslim Soul, I noticed an immediate change of tone in the lady’s voice. “We have received that title several times before and it is always rejected,” she said tersely. Several minutes of questioning the reasons for rejection yielded no satisfying answer. It could not have been due to low market potential because they had published a Jewish book and there are much fewer Jews than there are Muslims here. What could it be? I kept questioning her and trying to figure out why they would not accept my book title, but the only response I received was a “Sorry, but I’m just being honest with you. Writing this proposal would probably just be a waste of time because our publishers are just not interested in it…it doesn’t even matter what your marketing potential is.” This last statement was a complete slap in the face. Was she telling me that no matter who I was or how many books I have written, the company was not going to publish a Muslim Chicken Soup? I told her that I felt they were discriminating, especially in light of the fact that there was a Jewish and Christian book out there, but she just denied it and refused to give me her publisher’s number so that I could talk to him directly. I was not going to just accept this rejection. After doing my own research into the matter, I discovered that the Chicken Soup publishers had no say in what book titles were accepted or rejected. In fact, a representative from their publishing company was shocked that Chicken Soup had treated me in such a way and suggested that I try and write my own book without using their name. “What a great idea!” I thought to myself. I did not need Chicken Soup. I could put the book together on my own and get it published on my own. So that is exactly what I decided to do. I am determined to get my book out and with the help of Allah we will soon have a collection of short stories written by various Muslims that we can read, relate to, and be inspired by. I feel that such a book is much needed and would be a stepping stone for many others inshallah. So far, I have received many e-mails of support and encouragement as well as quite a few amazing stories after less than one month of working on this project. Stories include struggles to embrace Islam and submit to Allah, the challenges of wearing hijab, performing acts of kindness for the sake of Allah and many more. I hope to receive more submissions from all of you talented writers out there in the near future. I kindly request that everyone who reads this article make dua’ that the book becomes a success because I think that it would be extremely beneficial for all people, not just Muslims. |