We have, over the years, written several young adult books, two of which were published in the Islamic Republic of Iran early in the days following the Islamic Revolution, in an attempt to offer Muslim youth a stepping stone, a light, a rope to hold on to, in order to extricate themselves from the confusion and to provide them with the knowledge that truth is justice, justice is love and others believe as they do. We tried as hard as we could to get subsequent books published, but it seemed they were made of hot blazing fire. No one would come near them.

Muslims have access to an array of books with all sorts of Islamic themes, the vast majority, or almost all, of which are non-fiction. There are quite a few children’s books, as well, although more are needed. But Muslim young people have been left in the dark when it comes to quality moral reading material, such as novels, short stories and poetry. No one seems to dare publish for this age group, unless it’s a simple non-fiction how-to-be a good Muslim book, full of do’s and don’ts, rules and responsibilities and threats of Hell, or a handful of glossy magazines.