Preview: ‘Allah lets us have fun’

January 30th, 2009

Assalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

We are hard at work preparing the next 2 or 3 books fo release insha’Allah, though even after they go to print, it may take another 2-3 months before they will be on-the-shelves, as it were.

Buying our books should be easier soon insha’Allah, as the Seerah Store, is in development, and may be online by the end of February. Insha’Allah this will allow you to buy books directly from us at the click of a mouse. We will post the news when it goes live.

Here, to show you what’s been happening behind closed doors at StoneFaruq, is a preview of artwork from our forthcoming book ‘Allah lets us have fun’, which will insha’Allah teach children to appreciate the many gifts Allah has give us, that we easily take for granted. Here are the first 2 pages in the book, set in a playground (click to enlarge):

Preview of Allah lets us have fun

The artwork is in a similar style to ‘Time for Isha’a’, with characters made from torn card and paper, scanned in, and mixed with other collage elements using Adobe Photoshop (version 7). Here are 2 pages from the middle of the story, from a classroom (click to enlarge):

Preview of Allah lets us have fun

The book size will be a larger format, closer to the size of ‘The Jolly Jamaat’, and insha’Allah the first print will be published in hardback. There will still be minor changes, text rearranged, faces added, but the book is close to ready now, and may go to print in a few weeks insha’Allah. Half the book was finished by Ramadhan 2008, but in the meantime I had to spend about 2-3 months getting all these sites live, and getting other books into shops.

We will post more previews of other books in the weeks to come insha’Allah.

Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullahposted by Faruq

All images are copyright © 2009 StoneFaruq

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Encyclopedia of Seerah - Print Status

January 25th, 2009
Insha’Allah, from now on all news concerning the Seerah Foundation will be posted on this Blog to, just to make things easier, as it’s me who updates both websites anyway.

 

We have been recieving a high number of requests to buy sets of the Encyclopedia of Seerah, but unfortunately we do not have any complete sets in stock at the moment.
Out of the 8 Volumes, we currently only have Volume 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 in stock, with no date as to when the missing books will be printed.

Insha’Allah, any progress on this front will be posted here, and also emailed to those who have made enquiries by E-Mail.

Jazak’Allah Khair. Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullahposted by Faruq

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A little help…

January 10th, 2009

Assalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

A reminder to our readers, which is also up on the Seerah Foundation site, on 3 simple ways you can help out our publishing endeavour insha’Allah.

1. Recommend our books, tell your friends about them, and our website. Spread the word!

2. Reserve/request our books at your local Public Library. If you ask for our books, the library will have to get them, and more people can read them insha’Allah.

3. Write reviews and rate our books on major book selling sites like Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smiths, etc. (which they are listed on - even if it’s just a sentence or two). This will get those pages more hits, and get the books noticed by more people insha’Allah.

Jazak’Allah Khair.  Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullahposted by Faruq

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Who will buy?

January 8th, 2009

Assalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

We have been in print for just over 2 months now, with our first 2 children’s books, (The Jolly Jamaat + Time for Isha’a), and things are going slow and steady. Don’t get me wrong, people who see the books, Allhamdulilaah, will buy them, but bookshops seem to be a little more reluctant, unless we go and visit them in person, which we have been doing a little, but it’s not that easy to get around them all, or go much further than London.

If you live in the UK, at the moment around London, shops in Whitechapel and Walthamstow have both books in stock, and also one in Leicester, maybe a few others here and there too. Some books have just made there way to Illinois (USA), but we need to get in touch with major distributors in North America to reach a substantial audience there.

We want to make it easier for people to get our books, so our own online e-commerce enabled shop will help insha’Allah. So lookout for the SeerahStore, in development, coming soon insha’Allah.

In the meantime, if you want to buy online, visit Amazon, Waterstones, or other online retailers.
Google is your friend. :)

Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullahposted by Faruq

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Where do I start?

December 18th, 2008

Assalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

I start in the midst of uncompleted websites, a couple of unfinished books, maybe close to completion (more of these later), and 2 other books (The Jolly Jamaat + Time for Isha’a), now printed, piled up in boxes and waiting for bookshops to take them from us. We’re still at the beginning of this publishing endeavour, but it’s taken some time to even reach this stage.

In short, where it started from, was a dissatisfaction with the choice of books that are available to Muslim children, not to say that there are no good ones, there are many from publishers like The Islamic Foundation and others, but there are not enough. We hope to make a positive contribution to our children insha’Allah, and provide a range of books that will entertain and educate insha’Allah.

The ‘we’ I refer to are the Stone (the missus) and Faruq (me) of StoneFaruq, this operation is a 2 person show right now. Time for Isha’a and The Jolly Jamaat are out of the door now, but insha’Allah we hope the standard of books will only get better, and I feel many of our best books are still to come. It was just chance that the first 2 books we released happened to be rhyming/counting books. The 2 that are near completion now, insha’Allah, are also pre-school books, but on different topics.

Allah lets us have fun is done is the same torn paper collage style as Time for Isha’a, but the rhyme speaks about the kind of everyday things we (or the kids in the book), can do, the blessings of Allah we all take for granted. Time to Pray is the other book nearing completion, done in simple sillouette illustrations, emphasises the importance of prayer, in this particular case, praying Fajr in jamaat.

Insha’Allah I will do my best to keep you updated about the latest goings on at SF, which will be easier once I actually have an internet connection at home, and particulatrly on the first books for older children, which we hope to get out sometime in ‘09 insha’Allah.

Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullahposted by Faruq

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