Video review: Khidr Collective

Picking up Khidr Collective this weekend made me realise just how secular my reading habits have become. Made by a group of British Muslims to provide a platform for their diverse experiences, this is not a religious magazine, but it places religion front and centre. (Even its name is taken from religious scripture; Khidr, or al-Khadir, is a mysterious wise man mentioned in the Qur’an).

In independent magazines religion tends to lean towards the fringes, and so we see magazines like Sabat (witchcraft) and Satori (philosophy) but I can’t think of another title I’ve enjoyed so much that is so closely aligned to mainstream organised religion. But then for the vast majority of British readers (myself included) Islam is itself on the fringes these days, intensely politicised and often demonised, and I was fascinated by a magazine that both howls in fury at the government’s Prevent counter-terrorism strategy, and takes the reader into the community and conviviality of the mosque.

Khidr Collective follows in the footsteps of magazines like OOMK (it was designed by Rose Nordin from OOMK), and it’s really exciting to see such an impassioned new title giving voice to British Muslim communities.

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