Introducing: Nuun Magazine

The Quest for Renewal, and a Call for Submissions

Nūn. By the pen and what everyone writes!

— Qur’an 68:1

For some time now, an idea has lingered at the heart of Nuun Collective, an idea too central to ignore, yet too ambitious to rush. It has waited, taking shape through our talks, our gatherings, and our restless conversations. Today, it takes form as Nuun Magazine.

If one surveys the landscape of our communal life, one finds it thick with lectures, conferences, and educational programs, which are all noble, all vital. They have given us grounding, preserved continuity, and built an infrastructure of learning. Yet it seems that this frontier has been thoroughly explored, if not completely settled. The next horizon lies elsewhere: in culture itself. It lies in the realm where ideas are born, refined, incubated and shared. It lies where faith and tradition encounter new modes of living, and where art, criticism, and reflection become instruments of renewal (tajdīd).

Nuun Magazine is a small but deliberate step into that space. It is our attempt to revive a culture of reading and writing that once animated the Muslim world. A culture in which writers, scholars, and poets engaged the full range of human inquiry with confidence and depth. Where faith and reason were not opposing forces but parts of a single conversation about meaning, justice, and beauty. Where thought moved freely across disciplines and languages, drawing from revelation and experience alike to produce work that was at once grounded in tradition and alive to the unfolding world. We do not seek to mourn a lost golden age, for nostalgia is too cheap a comfort. Our task is to build anew, to fashion a living tradition capable of speaking to this century’s anxieties and hopes.

Our inaugural issue, with its slate of essays, short stories, translations of great works, and poetry - each contributing to a wider milieu of constructive dialogue and inquiry - will unfold over the course of several months. Our aim is not sheer volume but vitality - works that prioritize rigorous exploration and remain anchored in the Islamic tradition while facing the world as it is.

This magazine is, in truth, an experiment, an effort to build a space where writing becomes a widespread communal practice, where ideas are not merely passively consumed but cultivated with great care. It belongs to all who care to think seriously and feel honestly about what it means to live faithfully now.

We invite you to join us. Subscribe, read, and - most importantly - write. The pages of Nuun are open to those who wish to participate in this collective act of renewal.

Call for Submissions

We welcome submissions in the following categories:

Essays: Analytical or reflective writing that advances understanding. Essays should explore ideas with intellectual rigor and stylistic clarity.

Journalism: Reportage or commentary grounded in fact and moral awareness. We are especially interested in stories that document overlooked lives, movements, and transformations across the Muslim world and its diasporas.

Poetry: Verse that listens deeply to language and experience. We welcome work that draws on the cadence of our tradition while finding new forms for contemporary expression.

Translations: Faithful and thoughtful renderings of texts that deserve renewed attention. Introduce forgotten thinkers, poets, or reformers to a new audience through translation and brief contextual reflection.

Short Stories: Fiction that captures the human texture of our moment. We are drawn to stories that reveal the moral, spiritual, and emotional dimensions of everyday life.

We trust that Nuun will, in time, become a gathering place for minds disciplined in thought, generous in imagination, and steadfast in purpose. Thank you for walking with us into this new frontier.

---

Follow Nuun on Instagram and Substack.