Complete Guide to Becoming a Patron
Complete Guide to Becoming a Patron
The how to and why of supporting Muslim Manga
This article shares with you why you should become a financial supporter of Muslim arts and media, specifically why you should support Muslim Manga and showcase how you do so, as well as what you can get for your patronage.
Why become a patron?
This will be a discussion about entertainment, education and building a Muslim identity as well as raising the future generation of Muslims. We are living in a highly entertainment-oriented society, globally and particularly in western countries.
“The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed of grain which grows seven spikes; in each spike is a hundred grains. And Allah multiplies His reward for whom He wills.”—(The Holy Quran, 2:261)
Before continuing with the article, I will share these links with you here and you can come back to them whenever you want:
Donate: https://muslimmanga.org/donate
Membership: https://muslimmanga.org/join
Western Entertainment and Muslim Education
While this discussion is a larger discussion beyond the scope of this article, it is important to note that there is a lot of entertainment in our society today. As far as Muslims are concerned, Most of the entertainment has conflict with Islamic values or has little to no proper Muslim media representation, particularly for Muslims’ who practice their beliefs.
In the education sector of Muslim societies, educating Muslim youth has always been a priority, but with the massive amounts of “entertainment” out there, a lot of which gives Muslim no identity or confidence, and of course no Islamic education, it becomes quite challenging to teach or learn about Muslims or Islam. The constant battle for our attention and, more so, our children’s attention is an ongoing battle that traditional education resources cannot compete with.
Perhaps with a balance of education and entertainment, we can both have our fun and our (spiritual) growth; however, the power of today’s entertainment, be it TV, movies, social media, etc. can have a long-lasting effect on our minds, be it in the short term or long term, so while educational resources will always be there for those who are strong enough to have self restraint against the constant influx of entertainment, can we be so certain that our children (or ourselves) are strong enough for that? I mean, really? Islamic education, particularly, has focused on traditional methods of imageless texts. While this has its strengths and uses, it poses a monumental challenge for the current generation and even more so for each generation coming up next.
Muslim Manga does the work of creating Muslim character focused stories that are both educational and entertaining. It is Muslim friendly. In boggles my mind why, but this kind of content hardly exists. And if we value the future of our Muslim society, we should invest in Muslim content. Otherwise, you lose your opportunity to make a difference and with each passing day; it becomes more challenging for Muslims to build their identity, their children’s identity, as well as having relatable content for Muslims in general. Therefore, it is vital to support Muslim Manga in this movement.
I started Muslim Manga while I was in high school because I saw nothing that resonated with me as a Muslim. I liked comics and manga, but where was I in these worlds? Where were my values being shared? No where. It wasn’t anywhere to be found. Mostly, that is the case today too, after over a decade of starting Muslim Manga. Perhaps initially, it was for me and to make the world I wanted to see, but then I realized it’s bigger than me. What drives me now is the children of the future. I feel guilt should I abandon my efforts in Muslim Manga. I don’t want to become like the generations of Muslims gone by who only focused on the material needs.
Will there be enough time?
Invest in preventative medicine, instead of reactionary medicine.
One key thing to think about is not to procrastinate on supporting. Many people may not realize the need for what Muslim Manga does until it is too late for them. To put it simply, it takes time to create and develop content, be it stories, manga, children’s books, animation, or even building community around these content for members with similar interests to grow and bond over. It takes time. All of that takes time and doesn’t happen instantly after you support us Muslim artists and writers. The mistake many people make is not planning for their children’s Islamic and spiritual growth in advance, and only think about it when it is too late.
When your children are young adults and sitting in their own room eating supper alone, while watching inappropriate content, instead of spending time with their family, then it is too late to start supporting- at least it is too late for your children. You can still pledge and support so the next generation can grow with Islamic values. But that will be done with a feeling of regret. Regret of why you didn’t help your own children.
If you want comic and halal entertainment for your 15-year-old, invest in that 5 to 7 years in advance. If you want Muslim focused children’s books for your 2-year-old, invest in that before they are born. You get the picture. Act now, instead of regretting it for the rest of your lives when it is too late.
How to become a patron
Ok, so you have read the why and you are interested in how to join and what kind of rewards you can get for joining. In this section, we shall discuss how to become a patron or financial supporter of Muslim Manga and in look in detail at the different levels of support you can give and what you get for each level of membership.
How to get started
Head on over to MuslimManga.org/join and select the membership level you are comfortable with.
There are a couple of ways to support Muslim Manga.
You may join as a Muslim Manga member, or you may find a particular series or work that you like and support that directly as a backer. Alternatively, if you just want to give with no reward, you may give monthly, yearly or one time donations.
Tiers of Memberships compared
Besides whatever spiritual and societal benefits you will get for supporting Muslim Manga, we have prepared some other rewards as gifts for your pledges to sweeten the deal for you.
There are multiple tiers of membership and, depending on what level you pledge, you can get different rewards to show our gratitude for your contributions.
Sugoi Membership
Sugoi is like wow!
At the price of one coffee per month, this membership starts at $5 per month and is the cheapest way to show your support for Muslim Manga. We will credit your name on the Muslim Manga website as one of our patrons. You will have our continued gratitude. You also get access to community made manga, early access to publicly released content by Muslim Manga as well as have access to certain exclusive content such as Hana & Love, Hana & Love 4koma, and the Tokyo Hamedo series. From time to time, we also release other exclusive content as well. A new fully colored episode of the Heart of Fawwaz will be released very soon.
Early access to comics
Access to Poji Tower in Nur City (Discord)
Monthly discord gaming sessions
Access to premium content on MuslimManga.org
Discount on Merch
Access to Muslim Manga Updates
Vote for Monthly Illustration theme
Access to purchase exclusive Muslim Manga Series products
If we get enough support, then we will also put time towards making the following possible:
Monthly Newsletter update
Click here to get Sugoi Membership!
Suteki Membership
Suteki means wonderful.
Sacrifice 2 cups of coffee in one month, and see what beautiful art and culture can be created.
Besides comic access like you do with the sugoi memberships, you can also get access to a library of line art works for you to enjoy as is or to print and practice coloring with. We are also including resources such as tutorials for future Muslim artists to learn from.
Everything from Sugoi tier.
Tutorials
Monthly Online Party (Chill and Q and A)
Photo Updates for Tokyo Hamedo
Work in Progress Images
Illustrations Library
Line-art library
Phone Wallpaper library
Time-lapse video Library
Unlocked in the future, if we can get enough support from lovely people such as you:
Omoshiroi Zone on Discord
Fonts and brushes libraries
classes on becoming a comic writer / artist
Live streaming of Editing work
Click here to get Suteki Membership!
Hero Membership
Heroes are heroes! And you can be one too.
Want to become a hero? Well, you can. Join the hero tier and see what other rewards we shall give you. Get started as a hero for only $25.
Everything from sugoi and suteki tiers
Monthly physical postcards
Additional exclusive commission discounts
Hamed’s sketches and updates
Cool calendars featuring your favorite Muslim Manga characters
locked until we get more patrons
Coming soon: Essays and newsletters by Hamedo
Coming Soon: Tips and trivia about life in Japan as a Muslim
fun opportunity to create fan dubs of Muslim Manga comics
exclusive physical merch such as postcards, stickers, and or other printable
Patreon reels / lens
Screen-tones library
speech bubble packs
manga page templates
Click here to get Hero Membership!
(NEW) Ninja Membership
We will release a new membership. It is a Ninja membership because it is available to those who are stealthy enough to get it. This is a limited membership with some pretty sweet perks. For only $35 a month, you will help make a difference in Muslim media representation while also getting some pretty slick merch.
Exclusive Muslim Manga Signature Series products (4x per year) - monthly Hero members must complete 3 consecutive payment cycles to receive; Annual Plan members qualify automatically. The products are not finalized yet, but we are aiming to make it a really cool deal for some exclusive patrons.
Beta access to Stickers and Apps we have on iOS
Click here to get Ninja Membership!
Senpai Membership
Senpai means upperclassman, who mentors an underclassman
When you are sharing this much love with us, then you must be our senpai who is really looking out for us!
everything from sugoi, suteki and hero tiers.
one time animated Muslim Manga icon
physical stickers
monthly postcards
one free illustration commission
personalized feedback on art and art and manga submissions
personal Q and A
Updates from Hamed’s Novels and Stories
Click here to get Senpai Membership!
Sensei Membership
Sensei means teacher.
Everything included in sugoi, suteki, hero, and senpai tiers
Exclusive Muslim Manga Sensei hoodie
Marked-up copy of longer comics with comments by author
Limited Run poster print
Spotify playlist
Drawings from Hamed
Click here to get Sensei Membership!
Masaka Membership
Tokyo Hamedo halal food scrapbook moments and updates
marked-up copy of episodic comics like Hana & Love 4koma, Muslim Manga Club, and Tokyo Hamedo.
VIP meet and greet
Send us an email if you want to support us in even higher amounts. We can talk about some sweet exclusive perks.
Click here to get Masaka Membership!
Rewards
There are lots and lots of rewards that we share as gifts for your wonderful contribution to Muslim Manga.
Early access to comics
We post most of our comics for free on the MuslimManga.org website. However, to read these comics as soon as they are available, you can join the sugoi tier to enjoy this perk while supporting your favorite Muslim Manga artists.
Access to Poji Tower in Nur City (Discord)
We have some special VIP channels for our patrons in our Nur. City discord community. You can hang out and chat with other patrons who are awesome like you.
Monthly discord gaming sessions
In the community, we will have monthly gaming sessions that you can join or watch.
Access to premium content on MuslimManga.org
Besides the early access content, we also have some exclusive content that is available just to patrons.
Discount on Merch
As a patron, you can get an exclusive discount on Muslim Manga merchandise.
New iPhone cases we just released. Samsung cases coming soon.
Access to Muslim Manga Updates
We share updates for our patrons, be it little sketches from our manga assistants, or behind-the-scenes story of what it takes to make the manga and illustrations that you see as a final product.
Vote for Monthly Illustration theme
As a patron, you will get to vote on themes that we illustrate or use in illustration challenges that we do on social media.
Access to purchase exclusive Muslim Manga Series products
We are working on new Muslim Manga Series products and you, as patrons, would be the only ones who can get them.
Monthly Newsletter update
We will work to release more long-form updates such as this one, pending the amount of support we can get from you, our future patrons.
Tutorials
We have been releasing Tutorials to help new Muslim artists who may struggle with finding appropriate tutorials while trying to learn to draw. As patrons, you get access to these.
Monthly Online Party (Chill and Q and A)
We will work to organize monthly Q and A online meetup with some of our higher tier patrons.
Photo Updates, complimentary to the Tokyo Hamedo series
I will release photography I have taken while in Japan and share updates to life as a Muslim in Japan.
Work in Progress Images
We have a library that we are constantly adding too, filled with snapshots of our progress as we make illustrations and comics. It can be quite interesting to look into the creative process of artists and so we share this with you.
Line-art library
We have a line-art library that we share line art works in and you can print thee and practice coloring and use them to become better artists. Or maybe you just like to look at line art as seeing part of the creative process.
Phone Wallpaper library
We have some phone wallpapers you can download and feature Muslim Manga characters on your phone. Pretty sweet.
Sandpainting video Library
We also share speed painting or time-lapse videos of creating various illustrations or comics for some of our higher tier supporters.
Muslim Manga style icon / avatar of YOU
By joining the hero tier, you can get 1 free Muslim Manga style icon / avatar made of you. This is a superb deal, even if you didn’t get any other rewards. $25 for a custom icon you can use forever.
Monthly postcards
We will work on releasing personalized postcards for some very special people.
Hamed’s sketches and updates, Essays and newsletters, and Tips and trivia about life in Japan as a Muslim
Pending how much support we get from our future patrons, I will release regular sketch updates, Updates from Hamed’s Novels and Stories, Essays, newsletters posts, as well as tips and trivia about life in Japan as a Muslim besides other rewards that we are giving.
Creating collaborative art together.
I will work to make an opportunity for patrons and the Muslim Manga team to be working together on some creative project together. Stay tuned.
Animated Muslim Manga icon
This reward is just like the custom nonanimated icon reward above, except you also get an animated version to go along with it. The animation included can be things like smiling, blinking, hair movement, and potentially some other cool stuff.
Physical Muslim Manga Stickers
We have a lot of different stickers. Depending on your patronage level, you may get some of these super fun stickers.
Exclusive Muslim Manga Sensei Hoodie.
A custom hoodie made just for our awesome sensei tier supporters. The design is not completed yet, so we will share it when it is ready.
If you have questions, get in touch with us via email, comments, or messages on social media
staff@muslimmanga.org
MuslimManga.org
instagram.com/MuslimManga
Thank you for your support.
Hamed from Muslim Manga