Shahid G.

Ibn Sirin once said something that has not aged a single day: "This knowledge is a religion, so consider from whom you receive your religion." (Mishkat al-Masabih, 273) That was centuries ago. The warning still holds today, maybe more than ever. Scroll for five minutes and you will find no shortage of Islamic content. Reels, blogs, captions, courses, each one promising closeness to the Deen. Sit with it a little longer, though, and a different picture starts to show. A lot of it says much and means little. Publishing something Islamic is easy. Making sure every word in it can be traced back to something true is not. So who writes it matters. Just as much as who teaches it. That is the responsibility I have built my work around. My name is Shahid Gulzar. I am an Islamic copywriter and researcher based in Kashmir, India, and I write for academies, apps, platforms, and organisations building something for the Muslim community, work that cannot afford to get it wrong. Not just in quality. In authenticity. In sourcing. In the trust that comes with putting words about the Deen in front of people who are actually trying to learn. Let me show you what that has looked like in practice. I completed a three-year Dawah and Teaching programme, studying under 12 qualified scholars from Islamic University of Madinah. We were not just handed content and told to study it. We were taught how to carry it, how to verify it, and how to deliver it responsibly to someone else. That training shaped everything I do as a writer, and it has never really left me. I still teach Quran and Islamic studies at my local masjid, and if I am honest, that is what keeps the rest of my work grounded. Sitting with real students reminds you what people actually need. Not what sounds good on paper. For four years I served as Editor of a weekly Islamic magazine at Marakazu Tarbiyah Li Duat Wal Muallimeen. Every article that came through my hands had to earn its place, and it earned that place by answering a few uncomfortable questions first. Was the source authentic? Was the language clear enough for an ordinary reader? And after someone finished this piece, would they feel closer to Allah, or further away? I asked myself those questions so many times that they stopped being questions. They became instinct. They still are. At AMAU Academy, a UK-registered Islamic education company, I wrote blogs, animation scripts, social media content, course material, and Arabic to English subtitles. But the work closest to my heart there was AMAU Jr. I would sit with dense classical texts, sometimes hundreds of pages of them, and ask myself one question before writing a single word: what does a child actually need from this? Then I would write. Short sentences. Real stories. Language that breathes instead of lecturing. Simplifying Islamic content without diluting it, I came to learn, is one of the most honourable and most difficult things a writer can attempt. I would like to think I have learned how to do it well. Since 2022 I have also served as Head of Content Management at Iqra Wartqi, an Islamic academy in Kashmir founded by a senior scholar of the region. Alongside content writing, I support the founding scholar with student handling and day-to-day academy operations. That role taught me something no writing course ever could: how Islamic institutions actually work from the inside, and what content genuinely needs to do to serve scholars, teachers, and students all at once. When I research, I go straight to the sources. Maktabah Shamilah. Turath. Waqfeya. Dorar. I understand hadith gradings, the real difference between sahih, hasan, and daif, and I will not quote a weak narration when a stronger one is sitting right there waiting to be used instead. I also use AI tools, Claude included, to help refine and polish my writing. But here is the part that never moves: every Islamic claim, every reference, every quotation is checked against authentic classical sources before it ever leaves my hands. That will never change. Here is what I can write for you: - Islamic blogs and long-form articles - Educational content and curriculum material - App copy and onboarding content for Muslim audiences - Animation and video scripts - Arabic to English subtitles and translation - Social media content for Islamic platforms - Student notes and course material - Proofreading and editing Islamic content for accuracy and tone I am not a writer who happens to write about Islam. I live this deen. I study it, I teach it, and only after that do I write about it. That order matters, and I think it shows in the work, every single time. If you are building something for the Muslim community and you need a writer who understands the weight of that responsibility, you are in the right place. Let us build something that lasts.