About The Drinking Gourd
Assalamu alaikum,
We are thrilled to introduce The Drinking Gourd, a Black Muslim literary magazine. This space is where Black Muslims can articulate their experiences, passions, and selves outside of appeals to authority or dogma — whether those are in relation to the larger Muslim community or the various colonial empires that make up the West.
Through our content, we will provide nuanced depictions of the Black Muslim Diaspora through various forms of media, including but not limited to: visual art, poems, creative nonfiction, and fiction.
The importance of Black Muslims documenting our lives and communities for ourselves cannot be understated. We seek to remove our cultural production from the control of surveillance and provide Black Muslims with a source of media that has no ties to that which seeks to harm us.
Our name is taken from “Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd”, a Black American folksong referencing both the Big Dipper and its use in locating the Northstar. By naming ourselves in this way, we bring in the memories of enslaved African Muslims and their pursuit of freedom throughout the Americas. We center ourselves within the legacies of Black Muslim liberation theology and Afrofuturism.
Many of the founders involved with The Drinking Gourd’s creations are Black queer Muslims. We unequivocally acknowledge and validate the existence of other Black queer and trans Muslims and encourage them to see The Drinking Gourd as a space to explore and articulate their experiences.
All members of The Drinking Gourd’s editorial team are volunteers. We rely on donations in order to pay our contributors. Those who wish to financially support our efforts may do so here.
Follow this link to learn about our submission process.
We look forward to seeing all that you create.
Best,
The Drinking Gourd
