EDITOR’S DESK
THE MUSLIM VOICE VOLUME XIV NUMBER 2
EDITOR Sheikha El-Kathiri ASSISTANT EDITORS Naveed Islam, Taus Shah LAYOUT Rifa Tahsina, Naveed Islam Taus Shah, Syed Omar SECTION EDITORS Mahmud Moallim, Zainab Shaikh Saadia Jamil, Javeria Ahmad WRITERS Hashi Mohamed, Taus Shah Taha Ghayyur, Farhan Raja Farhana Rahman, Hodan Osman, Asna Ahmad, Fathima Cader Arzoo Zaheer COVER DESIGN Photography Contest Winner Daanish Afzal FAITH IS PEACE SPECIAL RECOGNITION Photography Contest Coordinators Salma Shickh, Farhana Rahman The Muslim Voice is a non-profit magazine published by the Muslim Students’ Association at the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus and sponsored in part by the University of Toronto Students’ Union (U.T.S.U.). CONTACT US The Muslim Voice 21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 405 Toronto, Ontario M5S1J6 tmv@uoftmsa.com DISCLAIMER The ideas and opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of The Muslim Voice or the Muslim Students’ Association.
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In the winter of 2007, The Muslim Voice held its first photography contest. The premise of the contest was unique – rather than focusing only on technical or aesthetic merit, we asked students to relate their images to what faith meant for them by completing an associated caption for their photo, “Faith is.....” As I waited anxiously for submissions, I wondered whether I should have chosen far simpler and more standard submission criteria for a premiering initiative. Then, the submissions arrived. Image after image, we were impressed by their creativity, their careful compositions, but most of all, by the spiritual symbolism they contained and that was expressed through the captions. Despite the wide range of subject matter, from the serene to the seemingly mundane, each submission had found a link to faith. We believe that not only do they demonstrate the connection between art and spirituality, but they also show how faith is manifest all around us. The selection process proved to be a challenging task for our judges. In the end, we chose to showcase as many images as we could in a special colour insert (another first for The Muslim Voice), and use the winning photo as the cover image. All credit for the arrangement of these images as well as the entire TMV layout goes to the brilliant, dedicated members of the layout team, who have made this edition possible, and whom I cannot thank enough: Taus Shah, Naveed Islam and Rifa Tahsina. In this issue, you will find a series of articles demonstrating some of the ways our readers see faith in their lives. From professional development to personal insight, I am sure you will find at least one connection that will inspire you to reevaluate what “Faith Is”. Sheikha El-Kathiri TMV Editor, 2007-2008 THE MUSLIM VOICE
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