Ireland Blog - September 2008

Bismillah

Assalamualaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakathuh,

Ramadan Mubarak.

The Ireland Committee is working around the clock to prepare for the coming university year. Many events have been planned to capture the hearts and minds of our Muslim Student population in Ireland. However, we believe it all starts in the Freshers' Fair of each respective university. We hope to have FOSIS representation at all Islamic Society tables set up during Freshers Week to ensure we are at the first point of contact a new university student has with his or her ISoc and are able to explain our role and relevance. We have also brainstormed a new way of getting students involved with FOSIS from the getgo.

We will be signing people up to get involved in at least one of four projects that will run throughout the year. The FOSIS 4 project will be recruiting students to get involved in the areas of Charity, Campaigns, Events, and Politics. There will be various projects within each of these broad categories e.g. feeding the homeless under Charity and internships with the Union of Students Ireland under Politics. We hope that this will give students a tangible idea of what we do and we believe that the results of these projects will give us legitimacy and recognition among student groups and society at large.

Idris Tawfiq, the well-known revert to Islam, will be touring Ireland in October inshallah. We hope his easy style of explaining Islam and his background as a former priest will draw large crowds and will create a buzz on campus' all across Ireland. We also hope we will be able to solidify the relationships we have made with freshers during freshers week and show that FOSIS Ireland is doing positive things and make them feel the need to get involved. The tour will involve lectures, workshops, book signing and interfaith events, radio interviews and much more inshallah.

During the tour, we hope to have a National Council Meeting involving representatives of all the Islamic Societies in Ireland as well as FOSIS Executive members. We hope this meeting will reestablish and redefine the relationship FOSIS Ireland has with ISocs and outlines our respective roles and how we can work together towards achieving our vision of producing the Revivors of the faith and society.

FOSIS Ireland is also gearing up to participate for the first time in Charity Week which has been a huge success in universities in the UK. We hope to surpass the successes of our brothers on the other side of the sea. Keep your eye out for more details.

Alhumdulilah, there is plenty of more work going on behind the scenes and I will leave other events for future blogs. We welcome questions, comments, or suggestions. Please feel free to email us at irelandcommittee@fosis.org.uk. Thank you for taking the time to read this. May Allah sbw bring us success in this Ramadan and make our work a means to gaining nearness to Him. Please forgive us for any mistakes or shortcommings and pray for our success in this world and the next. Jazakallahu khairn.

Your brother,

Jawad Vaid
Ireland Regional Chair