We're looking to brighten the lives of little Muslims - and right now, we are doing that through activity books. Noor Kids develops 28-page, professionally designed activity books that are made specifically for little Muslims growing up in North America. Our books are published quarterly... so lets do the math... we publish 4 books per year :-).
Content Philosophy
At Noor Kids, parents often ask us if we have a strategy around our content. For us, it's vitally important that our content supports our mission to promote Islamic education, Muslim culture and American integration:
Islamic education: Communicate Islamic values and fundamentals through the use of critical thought. We believe that there are a host of resources that discuss the "what" and the "how" of religion (i.e. What is Salaat and how do I perform it? What is Tawaaf and how do I perform it?); however, our books are focused on the "why" (i.e. Why do we perform Salaat? Why do we perform Tawaaf). Growing up in an environment in which many Muslim children will be a religious minority, we believe that it's integral for little Muslims to fundamentally understand the rational and reason behind their beliefs; in doing so, it will help aid in the development of confidence in their religious identity... even if it is a challenging environment.
Muslim culture: In working with mom's and dad's around North America, it became clear that Muslims are not a monolithic community. Muslims aren't Pakistani, Egyptian, Iraqi, Indonesian, Turkish, Nigerian, etc... they are in fact all of the above (+ more!). One of our goals with Noor Kids is to provide children with an appreciation of the expanse of diversity which exists within Islam. Mom's and dad's of children growing up in North America realize that the Muslim-American identity is one that informed by the breadth of diversity which exists within our community... and as a result, it makes sense for their children to have at least a little bit of exposure to it!
American integration: Vital to our success is to provide children with a sense of acceptance. Given the challenging environment that exists within North America for Muslims, our goal is to 'normalize' Islam such that children perceive their faith as one that is congruent with the culture that they are growing up in - as they should!