Our Upcoming Projects that Need Your Support

Br. Yahiya’s mission, for the last 25 years, has been to produce the learning materials and children’s literature that our community so desperately needs to help fire the imagination of the young, bring rewarding enrichment to all, and to provide curious seekers of knowledge with a complete overview of the spiritual path of Islam. Your support will go a long way to continuing this work. To date we’ve published over 50 books and e-books for use by children, adults, Muslims and non-Muslims, the curious, schools, masjids and for da’wah.

Below are some of the many projects on our drawing board, in various stages of completion. If you would like to contribute towards any of them, please use the donation button below, and add a message if you want the funds for a particular project. The projects that receive the most funding are most likely to move forward faster, inshallah. May Allah bless you for your support. Ameen!

There are quite a few other projects that filter through my mind. From time to time I will add them here, inshallah. If I cannot get to all of the above dream projects perhaps others who follow after this time might take up the challenge. For me, thinking about how to modernize, repackage and make relevant the image of Islam for our young Muslims in the wider world, and also how to expose its beauty to interested seekers - that literally keeps me up at night, but in a good way. inshallah may our Lord guide us all into whatever service we can best render for Him. Ameen! Allahumma Ameen!

Please Consider Supporting these Projects in the Following Ways:

Zelle: amirahpbco@aol.com

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Donations of stock can also be made through Fidelity to :The Islamic Foundation of North America, a sister organization that wholly supports this work of ours

10 Volume Muslim Story Anthology

When I was about ten or eleven years old, I had this exact set you see to the left. It was chock full of adventure stories, poems, vignettes from history, inspirational tales, stories of heroes and more. For years now, I’ve thought of how such a thing was needed in our community for children to be inspired and to be exposed to the rich traditions of our stories and poetry. The project is currently underway. I have all ten volumes started at once: as I gather and rewrite tales, or write original ones, I sprinkle them among the volumes. My goal is each volume to be about 500 pages or so, fully illustrated. The biggest expense is illustrations. Each volume will take about $5000 worth of illustrations, typesetting and such. That means around $50,000 to produce the entire series. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 are now available, alhumdulillah. I hope to have the collection, or most of it, done within two years or so, inshallah. Please donate to help this project along! See the current volumes here: https://amzn.to/3mZXIFv

A Workbook for the Qur’an translation for Children

So alhumdulillah, this full translation of the meaning of the Qur’an for kids is well-received. I would love to create a workbook to go along with it so parents and schools can treat the Qur’an as a course of study, and have enriching and relevant exercises for the young to internalize the message in a unique and fun way. Activities will include: reflection exercises, stories to illustrate major points, word searches, mini-projects, including art, puzzles, poems, anecdotes from Muslim history, ahadith and so much more. I estimate it will take about $4000 to produce it fully, inshallah. It is currently in the conception stage.

Other Projects on the Drawing Board

1. A fully dramatized reading of my Qur’an translation with sound effects, different voices and all the bells and whistles. Estimated cost: $40,000 (for voice actors, sound engineering, etc)

2. Ahmad Deen and the Castle of Doom - I’ve been wanting to finish this for some time. I already have the entire story mapped out - just need to sit down and write it! Estimated cost to produce: $1000

3. Layla Deen and the Mystery of the Jagged Spire- A fun story in the Layla Deen series that would take Layla on a whirlwind adventure all her own. Estimated cost to produce: $1000

4. My First Book of Emaan. This is a grade 1 Textbook. I’ve actually had the text for it done for some time, but have had no funds for the illustrations. Estimated cost to produce: $5000 (illustration costs mostly.)

5. The Qur’an in Literature. There is a book I had to take for a college class long ago called “The Bible As/In Literature.” It basically showcases literature about the Bible, such as poems, inspirational stories or discourses, examples of classic commentary, and such by theme. I immediately thought of the rich literature in the Muslim world across the centuries and how cool it would be to collect a lot of that together in a similar way in one place by theme. Estimated cost to complete: $12,000, mostly to buy the rights to use large excerpts of existing literature from established authors and/or publishing houses.

6. Bedtime Story Qur’an book. I know, I know, there are a bunch of these already, but I think I can make a worthwhile contribution here also. Estimated cost to complete: $5000.

7. The Compete Mathnawi of Rumi in more modern, free-flowing English. No, I’m not a sufi, but I appreciate good poetry with Muslim themes and imagery. Many people have actually come into the orbit of Islam by reading his poetry. Most of what is out there now is either way too dry, or it is made so flowery that it’s not really what Rumi wrote or intended. I have some very good (and rare) works on the Mathnawi from an academic perspective that literally discuss line-by-line the original Persian vocabulary and how Rumi used it. I think I’m pretty good, inshallah, at stringing words together in a flowing way, and I think this would be an excellent project to complete. You can see how I handle the subject matter in my book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Rumi Meditations.” Many people have written me and expressed their appreciation for how I rendered some of Rumi’s poems there, with many compliments on my accuracy. Estimated cost to complete $50,000. I have the work underway, but it will probably be at least a 4-5 year project to finish, inshallah.

8. Muslim Classics Illustrated. There are so many great works of literature from the Muslim world and from the high point of classic Muslim civilization. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a dedicated series with a different volume for each one in a standardized format? Think The Conference of Birds, The Island of Animals, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, Taghribat Bani Hilal, Layla and Majnun, Nozhat al Majalis, Rabia’ al Adawiya’s poetry, and so many others. Estimated cost: $3000-$5000 per volume. I foresee maybe 10-15 volumes in total.

9. A Fully Rhymed translation of the Meaning of the Holy Qur’an. This has been on my mind for years. I know there is one out there already, which is very hard to find, but its rhymes are forced most of the time and sound unnatural. Why do I think this is important? Well, the original Arabic is mostly rhymed or follows measured meter. It sounds beautiful, mesmerizes the listener and makes it ‘easy to remember.’ How can you have a translation that does not capture at least a sense of this most important element of the ‘flavor’ of the Qur’an? I’ve tried to make my existing translation rhyme whenever possible, and I am proud of the many places I was able to do that, and still make it sound natural and remain faithful to the meaning of the text, but to really do the entire thing as much as possible and print it nicely, would require me to devote a lot of resources to it, and that would mean at least $100,000 to cover the costs of the typesetting (which would have to be really amazing) and proofing, (which would need to be done by at least a dozen people drawn from all types of backgrounds). The rhythm of rap and hip hop has captured this generation, and while I would not do the work in the lingo of the street, the fact that it would flow easily from the tongue would revolutionize our outreach to the entire youth subculture and beyond. I think it would take me about five years from start to finish on this, inshallah. I know it’s a pipe dream, but I just wanted to include it here so you know what sorts of flights of fancy pass through my mind.

10. The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an: Extended Study Edition - In Spanish! I’ve worked with Latino populations for about 15 years now as part of my day job, and they are some of the nicest people you will ever meet - and they are hungry for a spirituality they can believe in and have confidence in. The stranglehold of the Catholic Church is almost gone now, and Latinos can literally ‘breathe’ spiritually for perhaps the first time. Protestants have been exploiting this and have substituted one flavor of Jesus worship for another. I truly believe that if my monumental work were in good, solid Spanish, it would change Latin America for the better in a big way. Estimated cost: $120,000 and would take 3-4 years. (Major costs would be translators, proofing, and production.)

11. The Taqwa Tots. This is a series of readers for young kids I dreamed up that would help transition them to independent reading with a Muslim flair. Simple but engaging stories and great illustrations are what I have in mind. These would have to be full color and I see them being about 3o pages each. Estimated cost: $1500 for each volume. I think about 10 books in the series would be good. Imagine an animated tie-in, toys, plush dolls, stickers, an interactive APP like the old Blue Clues software for kids (Blue’s Birthday, Blues Art Time Activities, etc). Oh, but I get ahead of myself!

12. Teen Study Qur’an, Women’s Study Qur’an. There are Bibles specifically geared towards teenagers, women, men, etc, that focus the commentary on issues of interest to those subgroups. I’ve thought that if I ever had millions of dollars, I would produce the same for Muslims.

13. Muhammad, (p) the Complete Saga. I’ve been thinking about this project for many years now, and have been doing preliminary work on it in fits and starts. What I envision is the entire seerah (life story) of the Prophet (p) completely integrated with every single ayah of the Qur’an, in chronological order, woven into the seerah itself so the reasons for revelation are understood both in context, and in time and place - with a copious amount of ahadith and Sahabah tie-ins to make it such a large saga that the reader will get as much of a complete story as possible - as if they were there within the story themselves. I estimate such an undertaking would take about five years to complete, inshallah, with a current estimated cost of around $250,000. The major costs, beyond a multi-volume printing, would revolve around the legion of editors and reviewers who would need to be brought on board. If you would like to support a really grand project, then this would definitely be it!

14. A series of English/Literature reading books for grades 6-8. This series will be based off my series “In the Gardens of Delight,” but it will be packaged like a textbook with activities, lessons, etc. School children already use textbooks in every grade for reading literature, but none of them have stories from the world of Islam and Muslims. This would not be meant to replace such textbooks, but to provide supplemental literature so our Muslim kids don’t view the literary achievements of Islamic civilization as something of a black hole. The estimated cost for three volumes from start to finish would be about $50,000. With funding, I could have these three books done, inshallah, in about 1.5-2 years.

15. The Beautiful Qur’an. This is a graphic intensive translation of the Qur’an presented in an artistic and pleasing format for modern readers. Major costs are images, typesetting and production. I think it will take between $25,000 and $30,000 to finish this work from start to finish, inshallah. I think it will take about 6-12 months. I have it underway, alhumdulillah.