What is “reflections”?
We are a group of young Muslim girls, given the chance to develop our leadership skills so that we can become more involved in our community and increase the connection of young people with their community.

As a group we came up with the idea of a magazine aimed towards youth of all backgrounds in Australia.

Reflections is a magazine which aims to educate both the Muslim and non-Muslim members of our community about the beliefs and practices as well as the misconceptions of the Islamic religion. The magazine will also focus on the importance of culture and identity.

As the magazine is aimed at youth aged 12-18 years, it will reach out to teenagers and help them to understand the difference between religion and culture. It will also explain to teenagers the importance of being an individual and a leader within ones self.

Reflections will promote and stress the importance of unity within our community and encourage Muslims and non-Muslims to form bonds and friendships with one another.

The magazine will contain regular segments which will include articles on current issues concerning youth, a fashion segment, a pull-out containing a poster and the lyrics to a song related to the theme of the magazine for that particular issue. It will also contain facts about Islam, as well as exclusive segments, which will only feature in certain issues.

The name Reflections takes us back to the aims and objectives of the magazine. We want all the youth in our community to be able to reflect on their daily lives and past actions and thoughts and allow them to notice changes within themselves, in order for them to grow as a person, as the main focus of the magazine is to guide teenagers to their own identity.

Why the jewel?
The jewel as a whole is a representation of today’s society. However the different facets of the jewel symbolise each of our unique and often rare qualities, personalities and traits. The different colours of the light that illuminate from the jewel show that each of us will shine in different ways and will be successful in their own way, however the jewel is a sign that we all need each other in order to be successful in life.

Why the motto?
Our motto is a quote from Rumi, a Persian Muslim poet. He states in one of his poems that “ the lamps are different but the lights are the same, it comes from beyond”. This we found to fit perfectly with our logo in that it explains our belief, that as individuals everyone is different in their own unique way, but really the “light”, our souls, are all the same. “They come from beyond”