A Magazine Of Their Own

It was easy to spot Tayyibah Taylor at a recent journalism conference in Chicago. A gorgeous woman in a silky headwrap, she was clutching a copy of Azizah magazine to her chest like a guard concealing jewels from marauding thieves. "I don't want to give it up," joked Taylor, the magazine's publisher, financier and editor in chief. "I brought over 100 copies and this is all I have left."

There is growing curiosity around Azizah (meaning "dear, strong and noble"), the first and only American magazine for Muslim women. The glossy quarterly caters to a multiethnic readership--Taylor is an African-American from Trinidad; the creative director Marlina Soerakoesoemah is Indonesian; writers are of all nationalities--and offers smart stories on everything from birth control to surviving 9-11 backlash. Azizah also features profiles on professional Muslim women and tips on fashion, recipes ("There's Nothing Quite Like Rice") and gardening. "For centuries Muslim women have been defined by Muslim men or people who were not of the Islamic perspective," says Taylor, 49, who's based in Atlanta. "For the Muslim woman to be able to define herself is really important, especially now." Subscriptions have risen from 300 to 2,000 in the past 18 months, and many public libraries and universities now carry Azizah.

But luring advertisers has been tough (the magazine, at $8.50 an issue, carries ads for bridal shops, travel agents and aromatherapy products), and not all in the Muslim community are happy about the venture. "I would prefer to see beautiful Muslim women looking more Islamic," Karin Hussain wrote in the letters column. "The flirtatious smile looking directly into the camera is something men might come across at home." Taylor hopes Azizah will do for others what another magazine did for her. "I rarely saw any people of color reflected in the media," she says. "I had this sense something was wrong with us. The first time I saw Ebony magazine, it was like, 'Oh, we're OK.' It was an epiphany."