The Al-Mujadilah Centre & Mosque for Women sits at the intersection of Islamic scholarship, women’s lived experience, community, and faith. The Al-Mujadilah Editorial Library brings together stories from across the world that align with our vision to foster a Muslim society where women are engaged, and their participation and contributions are recognized and celebrated. 

We are an organization that promotes dialogue and questions, stories and reflection, and thinking that changes how people understand themselves and the world around them.  

We are looking for storytellers—writers, journalists, researchers, and filmmakers—to pitch their ideas or submit completed work to join this growing archive. 

Contributors can engage with the Al-Mujadilah Editorial Library through two distinct tracks: 

The Commission Track (New, Original Work) 
Under this track, you pitch a fresh, unpublished, and original idea. If selected, Al-Mujadilah will fund and commission the piece to live on our platform. All work produced here is designated as an ‘Al-Mujadilah Production’—created for and owned by Al-Mujadilah, with full and clear credit to the contributor. 

The Submission Track (Existing Work) 
This track exists because there is an immense wealth of excellent work—films, essays, reported features—that deserves a wider audience. Under this track, you submit existing, completed work for consideration. If accepted, it will be hosted and amplified on our platform. Your intellectual property remains entirely your own, and Al-Mujadilah will clearly attribute all hosted work. 

To ensure your pitch or submission aligns with our vision, your work must speak directly to our core themes, strategic pillars, and narrative approach. 

Core Themes 

• Faith & Inner Life: Explorations of spirituality, doubt, purpose, and personal connection with God. 

• Women & Lived Experience: Authentic perspectives on identity, agency, and navigating contemporary realities and expectations. 

• Knowledge & Meaning: Understanding and applying Islamic teachings, history, and scholarship in today’s world. 

• Ethics & Responsibility: Examining justice, care, moral tensions, and individual or collective accountability. 

• Community & Belonging: Stories of finding, building, or navigating spaces of inclusion and exclusion. 

Strategic Pillars 

• Educate (Inspire Understanding): Making deep Islamic knowledge alive and accessible. This is not simplification—it is translation. We want to take research, history, the Qur’an, and prophetic legacies and make them deeply felt and meaningful to a modern reader. 

• Humanize (Foster Connection): Telling the stories of Muslim women as they actually live. Not as symbols or arguments, but as full human beings with rich interior lives, struggles, moments of grace, and distinct voices. These pieces require empathy, trust, and care. 

• Advocate (Champion Action): Engaging in public discourse. We look for pieces that ask difficult questions, challenge misconceptions, take thoughtful positions, and invite our community to do the same through op-eds, debates, and careful provocations. 

Our Narrative & Stylistic Approach 

• From Challenge to Possibility: We address the distinct tensions Muslim women face, both individually and collectively. Crucially, microlandscapes of what is being built are as interesting to us as what is missing. Your work can sit anywhere in this landscape: naming the challenge, telling the story of the response, or doing both at once. 

• Show, Don't Tell: We look for work that demonstrates rather than declares. Show us the room, the woman, the moment. Prioritize personal narratives, scenes, and specific examples over generalizations or distant, academic descriptions. 

• Authentic Care: Our audience knows immediately if a piece is performing care rather than genuinely offering it. We will not publish pieces that generalize Muslim women as a monolith, treat faith as a problem to be solved, or rely on controversy rather than substance.  

Commission Track Specs 

• Written Articles, Op-Eds & Essays: 800 to 1,500 words. Must offer a unique perspective or voice that our institutional content does not. Formats include first-person narratives, reported features, scholarly essays, or opinion pieces. 

• Short Films & Documentaries: 5 to 10 minutes OR 10 to 15 minutes. Includes intimate portraits, observational documentaries, and narrative shorts. Filmmakers must submit a creative treatment alongside their pitch. 

Submission Track Specs 

• Written Articles, Op-Eds & Essays: 800 to 1,500 words. Previously published work can be considered, provided the original publication rights allow republication. Please confirm your rights status in the submission. 

• Short Films & Documentaries: 5 to 15 minutes. Includes intimate portraits, observational documentaries, and narrative non-fiction. Work does not need to be previously unscreened. 

Language & Translation 

We welcome stories told in any language spoken by Muslim communities worldwide (Arabic, English, Urdu, Bahasa, Turkish, French, etc.). The only requirement is that all submitted work, written or filmed, must be accompanied by English text or English subtitles for our editorial review. Accepted written pieces may be adapted into Arabic by our in-house team for our Arabic-speaking audience, in close consultation and with clear attribution to the creator.

How to Pitch (Commission Track) 

We invite you to submit 2–3 pitch ideas. Each pitch should be 150–300 words and clearly outline: 

• 1. Working Title: Clear and engaging (can be provisional), with a one-line summary. 

• 2. Core Question & Pillar: What is the central tension, and which strategic pillar does it serve? 

• 3. Approach: Your creative method (e.g., personal narrative, observational film) and key interviewees or subjects. 

• 4. Why It Matters Now: Timeliness, relevance, and why you are the right person to tell this story. 

• 5. Key Takeaway: What the audience should leave with (a feeling, question, or shift in perspective). 

• 6. Fit for Al-Mujadilah: Why this story uniquely belongs in our library. 

• 7. Bio & Portfolio: A short biography and links to past work. 

How to Submit (Submission Track) 

Provide a summary of 500 words or less containing: 

• 1. Title and Description: Format, length/runtime, and an overview of what the work covers and says. 

• 2. Pillar: Which strategic pillar it fulfills. 

• 3. Why It Belongs Here: A brief statement on why this work fits the Al-Mujadilah library. 

• 4. The Work Itself: An online link (Google Docs or similar) for text, or a password-protected Vimeo link for films. 

• 5. Rights Confirmation: Explicit confirmation that you possess the necessary distribution or republication rights. 

• 6. Bio & Portfolio: A short biography and portfolio links. 

Editorial Standards & IP Note: We reserve the right to edit accepted pieces for length, tone, and house voice. Major structural shifts will always be discussed with you beforehand. For commissions, IP rights vest with Al-Mujadilah, and contributors receive a non-commercial, perpetual license for portfolio use. For submissions, you retain full IP ownership, granting us a non-exclusive license to host and distribute. 

Contributors must treat all non-public information shared by Al-Mujadilah (including internal editorial direction, unreleased research, or guidance) as strictly confidential. Al-Mujadilah handles all personal data in strict compliance with Law No. 13 of 2016 on Personal Data Privacy Protection (State of Qatar). 

Contact & Submission Details 

To submit a pitch, send a piece for consideration, or request further information, please contact: 

Muhammad Faizan Shakir 

Head of Digital Media, Al-Mujadilah 

Email: mfshakir@qf.org.qa 

Al-Mujadilah Center & Mosque for Women 

P.O. Box 5825, Doha, State of Qatar