New Magazines Reflect Muslims' Diversity

The magazines have something in common with many others in print: financial pressures.

"Like any magazine, we've been on the brink of collapse several times in the last few years," Ahmad said. But Islamica's chances of surviving, he added, improved with the recent arrival of a publisher and a switch to a nonprofit model.

Muslim Girl hopes to make money from advertising. The Fox network and Oxford University Press have bought ads, and Khan believes more big advertisers are on the way.

"One of the great untold stories here is that the American Muslim market is where the Hispanic market was five years ago, on the verge of a major breakout, and there's enormous potential to market to this audience," said Khan, who left a teaching position at Northwestern University to run Muslim Girl.

A 2004 Zogby International poll found that one in three Muslim Americans earns more than $75,000 per year.

Barnes and Noble, which carries Islamica, has announced that it will carry Muslim Girl in all but about 20 of its nearly 700 stores.

Azizah has relied mainly on Muslim-owned businesses for advertising, especially from the fashion sector. "We felt that it was very important for Muslim businesses and Muslim designers to be showcased. If not here, then where?" said Taylor, the publisher, who, with a partner, launched the magazine without bank loans.

Although many Muslims have welcomed the magazines, there has been criticism. Some Muslims have complained that Azizah features only women who wear the hijab, or head scarf, as cover girls.

Taylor's response: "We wanted the magazine to be instantly recognizable, kind of iconic as a Muslim women's magazine. And even though many Muslim women do not wear hijabs in public, when they stand to pray, they all do.

"If I have an African American woman or a Pakistani woman on there without [a] hijab, it might be any Pakistani magazine or any African American magazine. But with a woman who's covered, people know instantly."