Introducing Iqra Post

Peace be upon you,

I've started Iqra Post on substacks here. The goal is to try and separate my personal writings from own readings. Iqra Post will be a periodic newsletter containing readings from politics, to AI, to technology, great threads from Muslim Twitter and more. It is intended to be a sort of companion related to the themes covered in Iqra Files. I believe the separation is necessary - Iqra Post can ultimately be a type of repository of the works of more insightful writers than myself and Iqra Files can be just my own random rambling thoughts. In this way, it allows the reader an easier time to navigate and select what it is useful for them.

One may wonder why I chose Substacks as a platform and not simply make another Listed blog. I like the Listed and in general the whole Standard Notes ethos of privacy and minimalist software - I believe it is the sanest way to write. I write without any access to any of your data. I have no idea how many people have subscribed, there is no data analytics functionality with Listed and there is no way of keeping tabs on how many people are actually reading my pieces or opening the links etc.

This in a way is incredibly liberating in so far as it frees me from such data monetarist considerations. However, like most things in life there is give and take. Listed is brilliant for simple clean writing but does not offer as of yet the media functionality of Substack. Iqra Post is designed to capture not just articles but tweets, podcasts, YouTube videos, tables, graphics etc - this is simply not viable on Listed as of yet. So, far now Substacks will do.

I am forever grateful to readers who email with suggestions, insights and reading suggestions. If you have suggestions on the sort of themes and fields you would like covered in Iqra Post please let me know inshallah. In any case, check out Iqra 000.