In order to retain its relevance and impact, a publication needs to step back and re-assess its vision. After all, survival is ideal but not quite a sufficient reason for continued existence. The founders of Q-News have always understood this - this is the nature of the media beast. Our aim has always been to be the best. The 24 hour shifts and sleepless nights of teamwork (naps on the office carpet, included) that have gone into preparing this issue bear witness to that.

The new look issue in your hands reflects the new vision of Q-News: we’re marching boldly into the future. Our change of design is more than paper deep. Behind Aiysha Malik’s award-winning talents is the determination to create a magazine that is unique and engaging. This is a magazine we are deeply committed to and we want it to be something you can be proud of. With this issue we are upping our ambitions, role and quality. We want to be the best - in the world, Inshallah. We want to both break and make the news and trends that affect our lives and those of our neighbours. We want our pages to infuse readers not only with facts and figures, arguments and answers, but also with love and humanity, compassion and passion. But perhaps more importantly we want to be agenda setters and active participants in the ongoing discourse about Islam and Muslims. It is what we have done best for over a decade. We recognise that part of our challenge is to strive against the movement to 'Muslim-ise' Islam. We are convinced that discussions about Islam must not only be broad and deep but also relevant to the rest of humanity. Holding Islam hostage to myopic issues and utopian dreams is an idiocy we just cannot afford.

Our choice of Malaysia as our 'foreign outpost' is deliberate: our re-launch there during the OIC conference will be an affirmation of our commitment to the interests of the global ummah. We admit - the idea of moving the focus of Islam from the murky waters of the middle east to the clearer skies of the far east has been tempting. Not to mention, the exciting notion of a future of Islam based on a union of the West and the Far East.

Sidek Ahmad, our man in Kuala Lumpur, is a bundle of experience and enthusiasm. A lot rides on his dependable shoulders and on the goodwill of the people in the region. In London, our team of almost thirty fantastic volunteers, headed by Waheed Malik and Saba Zaman, continue to organise sold-out Q-Events. Over the last two years, they have become the most skilled and tightly-knit Muslim event organising team in this country. We bid farewell to our dear friend and and former Editor, Shagufta Yaqub who has moved to Birmingham to take on the prestigious post of Publications Co-Ordinator at Islamic Relief. Fuad Nahdi, by far the most skilled journalist and visionary this country has seen, has resumed his post as Editor-in-Chief after being away for almost three years.