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Head of Media Blog

Head of Media - July-September 2010

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,

I begin in the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. May Allah send His peace and blessings upon His final Prophet, Muhammad (saw), and upon his companions and followers until the Day of Judgement.

I just realised the other day that I had been Head of Media for over 2 years, subhanAllah how time has flown! In that time I've seen many many things, but the one thing that truly inspires me is the amazing work done by Muslim students up and down the country. That sounds so patronising but I absolutely mean it, despite all the hurdles, difficulties, stereotypes, Muslim students just go out their and carry on doing amazing work, be that as part of an Isoc, students' union or community projects. That for me should be the story that gets out there, not just all the negative stuff that gets regurgitated again and again. That for me is going to be a priority as Head of Media this year, to really focus on pushing out all the amazing things that are happening all over the country, from Portsmouth to Dundee, from Cardiff to Norwich. With that in mind, there are projects being planned which will hopefully allow us to be able to showcase the fantastic efforts of Muslim students, more on that in future blogs inshAllah.

"...despite all the hurdles, difficulties, stereotypes, Muslim students just go out their and carry on doing amazing work. That for me should be the story that gets out there..."

As for what's been happening over the last couple of months, well, I was involved in the Medication for Pakistan campa ign. Dr. Faisal Hanjra (you may remember him as being the ex-President of FOSIS) setup a fantastic initiative to travel out to Pakistan with a team of doctors and work in a medical relief camp. When Faisal mentioned his idea, we thought it would be great if FOSIS could setup a fundraising initiative whereby money could be raised for the urgent medication required by the flood victims. Alhamdulillah, the efforts and donations were amazing and you can relive Faisal's experience through the video diaries that he prepared whilst he was out there, all of which are viewable on the FOSIS youtube channel, www.youtube.com/fosischannel (there's even an interview between Faisal and I as I question him about his experiences).

Other than that, I've been involved in a couple of interviews, I was recently on a Radio 4 documentary entitled "Foreign Bodies" discussing the role of international students, and I was discussing how the situation had changed following the alleged Easted bomb plot and alleged Christmas day attack. Was also on LBC discussing the effect of Schedule 7 on Muslims and the need for an intelligence-led approach when enforcing the act as opposed to the current scatter-gun approach at the moment. Zin's done some excellent work on that front, his research has been amazing and FOSIS inshAllah will lead the way in making Schedule 7 more transparent and less random.

I was told that the blogs had to be roughly half a page and I think I may have gone over my limit, in which case I think I will have to end it here but will hopefully have an interesting installment next month inshAllah. Until then, wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

Qasim Rafiq,
Head of Media

Head of Media- March & April

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.

I begin by praising Allah (swt), the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, and send peace and blessings upon His last and final Messenger Muhammad (saw).

So much has happened in these past couple of months it's difficult to know where to begin.

It's probably worth starting with the FOSIS Media Conference which took place on Saturday April 10th. The Conference itself was entitled "Muslims are in the media...what next?" and was aimed at generating discussion about the perception of Muslims in the media and whether negative perceptions are justified, and if not, how can these be changed. Invited panellists included Anas al-Tikriti (Cordoba Foundation), Dr. Noureddine Miladi (Lecturer at Northampton University), Syed Haider (Khayal), Faisal Hanjra (President of FOSIS) and Mohamed Ali (CEO of Islam Channel). It was great to hear their thoughts on the issue and the overwhelming consensus that emerged from the event was that Muslims should continue to engage with the media, but Muslims from every background, age group and occupation should get involved and utilise the "new social media" tools we have at our disposal. The conference was designed to be interactive, with case studies aimed at students and also general members of the Muslim community, providing participants with an opportunity to air their views and provide strategies for issues that Muslim communities face.

In addition to that, I've been interviewed and spoken on a number of issues, some still relating to the alleged Christmas day attack, whilst others focussing on issues such as the City Islamic Society prayer room dilemma. However as the academic year comes to an end, things tend to settle down in the student arena and it appears that exams seem to be the main focus of students across the country. I pray that all of you taking exams do well inshAllah!

It's also worth pointing out that Faisal Hanjra was recently provided an opportunity to post a Comment is Free piece (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/22/student-islamic-societies-radical) essentially looking at the real role of Islamic Societies and their importance in challenging extremism, whilst maintaining FOSIS's commitment to freedom of expression.

I've also been involved in the ISOC101 training in the North region, providing a media training aspect to the course, I would like to thank the organisers of ISOC101 for doing a fantastic job and giving myself the opportunity to provide training on such a pertinent issue.

As we draw close to the end of the year the focus now shifts on committee building, recruitment, handover plans etc. so please do get in contact if you would like to be involved. Now is the ideal time to show interest and by all means feel free to get in contact head.media@fosis.org.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Wassalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,

Qasim Rafiq

Head of Media- October 2009

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.

I begin by praising Allah (swt), the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, and send peace and blessings upon His last and final Messenger Muhammad (saw).

Alhamdulillah things have been moving along very nicely in the media committee. A fully functional committee has now been established and we're getting underway in terms of the projects.

The communications committee have established the FOSIS Youtube Channel which is a great feature and we now have the opportunity to showcase some of the fantastic work that Muslim students, Isocs and FOSIS do, and if you check it out (www.youtube.com/fosischannel) you will be able to view a range of videos including ones produced by Isocs, a collection of vidoes showcasing FOSIS events from years ago and some of the recent interviews FOSIS members have partaken in. Currently in the process of uploading more videos inshAllah, so do check out the channel.

On that point, FOSIS Media arranged to have Faisal Hanjra (President of FOSIS) onto Islam Channel last week (28/10/09) to discuss some of the issues that Muslim students face on campus. Also included on the panel was Gwen Griffith-Dixon (Lokahi Foundation, Tarek Anchassi (Queen Mary Isoc President) and Bellavia Ribiero-Addy (NUS Black Students' Officer). What concluded was a fascinating discussion regarding campus life for Muslim students, the increasing pressures Muslim students are put under, but more positively the shift in mentality for many Muslim students in recent years as a result of such pressures. A video compilation of the entire discussion will be uploaded shortly to the FOSIS Youtube channel so keep an eye out for that.

In addition to this, we have been regularly contacted by various media outlets for comments and views on a range of issues including the gap between white students and those from black or minority ethnicities as highlighted in a Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/27/white-students-black-asian-gap

Over the next month or so the Media Committee will be involved in quite a bit, from organising workshops through ISOC101 to larger events, but I don't want to comment too much on the projects just yet, you'll just have to wait and see what we've got lined up inshAllah...more details to come in next month's blog inshAllah.

So for now, I guess that's pretty much all I can say. If you ever need to get in contact with me please do, my email address is head.media@fosis.org.uk.

Wassalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,

Qasim Rafiq

Head of Media Blog - July 2009

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,

I begin by praising Allah (swt) and by sending peace and blessings upon His Prophet Muhammad (saw), the companions and all the righteous believers until the Day of Judgment.

My name is Qasim Rafiq and I was recently co-opted as the Head of Media, a position which I held last year, and I pray this year will be more successful than the last.

I thought it might be good to give a brief description of the work and

Head of Media Blog - November 2008

Assalaamu alaikum,

Muslims remain firmly in the media spotlight, and FOSIS and Islamic Societies - being the representative Muslim student bodies - have come under undue criticism from various hostile quarters. Therefore, a dedicated media committee was setup this year in an attempt to not only react to many of the issues that Muslims are curretly facing, but to also positively influence the discourse surrounding Islam and Muslims. To that end, a series of articles and seminars

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