I recently came across a couple of exciting and innovative book projects by Muslims seeking crowdfunding and thought I’d share them for those of you who are looking to diversify your investments in your Afterlife (i.e. voluntary charity). Please note I have no personal insight into these projects, so this is not an endorsement. I am simply highlighting them and you can decide for yourself if it’s something you want to donate to.

1) The Simple Seerah by Sh. Asim Khan

A couple of years ago, Sh. Asim published his commentary on Surah Yasin and it immediately caught my attention due to its creative use of colour, diagrams and accessible language. He is now working on a new book, which aims to tell the story of the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in a way that appeals to young people and that they can identify with.

He spoke about this project as well as his wider motivations for his books in a recent episode of Islam21C Unscripted podcast here.

Crowdfunding page here.

2) Abraha – Muslim graphic novel

This is quite an exciting new project and I’m personally very much looking forward to getting my hands on a copy. Taking inspiration from Japanese manga and American superhero literary traditions, Furqan Jabbar aims to bring people from our Muslim heritage to life through graphic novels. In particular, he hopes to give more context and detail to the stories of less renowned people. He is starting with the story of Abraha, the general who decided to attack Makkah with an army of elephants, which we are all familiar with from Surah Al-Fil (the Chapter of the Elephant).

From the crowdfunding page:

Far too often, those who learn about this amazing story do not realise that there is more to the story than Abraha simply wanting to destroy the ka’ba with his elephants. As well as highlighting the precursors to the story of Surat al-Fil, ABRAHA: The Story of Surat al-Fil details the events which took place for Abraha to mount his attack on the ka’ba.

You can find out more about this project and the writer’s motivations and passion in this episode of The Mad Mamluks podcast.

Crowdfunding page here.

I’m sure there are others that I haven’t come across, but I’d love to hear about them. Do you know of any interesting or exciting book projects that are currently seeking funding? Share them in the comments!