Crescent International

Crescent International is an international news magazine of the global Islamic movement that is affiliated with the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought. It is published in Canada, South Africa and Pakistan, and also distributed from London and Nigeria. Primarily based in Toronto, Canada, it also has offices in London, Pretoria and Karachi.

Crescent International was originally a local Pakistani community paper in Toronto, founded in the early 1970s by Lateef Owaisi and his wife Zahida. In 1980, after the Iranian Revolution, it was converted to an international news magazine by Dr Kalim Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute and Zafar Bangash, a member of the Muslim Institute who had been editor of Crescent since 1975 and remained editor until 1998. Under Zafar Bangash, it became one of the most respected publications in the Islamic movement. An Arabic edition, called Al-Hilal Al-Dawli, was published from 1986–89, before being closed for financial reasons. Between 1998 and 2008, Crescent International was edited by Iqbal Siddiqui. It is now managed by an editorial board consisting of Zafar Bangash, Afeef Khan and Imam Muhammad al-Asi.

Crescent analyses and comments on current affairs from an Islamic perspective. It also discusses issues concerning the Islamic movement, its institutions, work and its activists. After Dr Kalim Siddiqui's death in 1996, Zafar Bangash became assistant director of the Muslim Institute, London, and then Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought in 1998. Other major contributors include Imam Muhammad al-Asi of Washington DC, whose tafseer of the Quran is presently being serialised, M A Shaikh in London, and Perwez Shafi in Pakistan. Former editor Iqbal Siddiqui is now a columnist. Crescent also has correspondents all over the world, many of whom prefer to remain anonymous. Crescent International is also published on the Internet, under the name Muslimedia.

On January 4, 2010, Crescent International launched a new service on its webpage titled Daily News Analysis. The Daily News Analysis which is available on www.crescent-online.net provides news analysis from the perspective of the global Islamic movement on world events.