Dear Believer,

I remember growing up with weekday evening Toonami and late night America’s Funniest Home videos with my father.

I remember growing up with a stack of books that my father would purchase for me on a wide range of topics from building credit, to Ellen G. White. Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books would be my go to and C.S. Lewis would give me the Christian foundation that I needed.

One of the reasons I write is because I want my children to have access to books that speak of their values and spirituality that are found in our faith tradition. I want them to have characters that speak like her, look like her, and pray as she does.

This is why I’m so excited when I see books like Under my Hijab, or Ibtihaj Muhammad’s new book because they add a new line of content. It’s why I always suggest to Muslims to quit watching half the shows we watch and instead turn to shows like Ertugrul. Sure it’s not the greatest show in the world, but it does something special. It’s for us, by us. It reminds us of the values that we hold dear.

It’s why I love folks like Raef, Khalid Siddiqi, Br. Ali and so many others. Regardless of your stance on music, it’s a beautiful thing to know your whole family can start jamming to “It’s Jumuah, Jumuah…” or “My grandfather was a Muslim!”

We need creators. We need folks making content for believers. We also need people to support those creators, to buy their content and to share it with others.

When I went to the book fair I found a booth filled with beautiful books in Classical Arabic for children. Stories on courage, truthfulness, spirituality and so many other important topics lined the shelves. I had a hard time not buying all of the books and it was then that I got into conversation with this man, the author of the books.

I told him how grateful I was for the expertise that he put into his work and then I proceeded to empty my wallet out in his booth, why? To support him.

So if you’re a creator keep creating, and if you’re not, support your favorite creators!

You can start with my Patreon 🙂

Jumada Al Thani 4th, 1440
February 9th, 2019

Your servant,
Arthur K. Richards

You really ought to join my Patreon. I share chapters of my upcoming book and no one else except you will have access to it. Come join me, enjoy my writing, and support my craft. Join my Patreon family here!