Head of Media Blog - September 2008

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.

Before introducing myself, I would like to begin by congratulating everyone on the auspicious occasion of Ramadan. I ask Allah (swt) to allow us to benefit from this blessed month and I encourage myself and others to

ensure we take full advantage of what this month really has to offer.

I'll begin by giving a brief background of myself, my name is Qasim Rafiq and having just completed my MEng at UCL, I will be undertaking a PhD at Loughborough University in Regenerative Medicine inshAllah. I was the UCL Islamic Society President from 2005-2006 and became the Isoc Ameer from 2006-2007 (we have a weird system...but it works!) :D

Looking back over the last couple of months, we saw the release of the "Islam on Campus" report produced by the Centre for Social Cohesion, which suggested that over one third of Muslim students felt it was justified to kill in the name of religion. There were a number of other statistics highlighted by the report, however the report was widely discredited by a number of organisations inculding FOSIS. The report was completely unrepresentative (only 600 Muslim students were interviewed out of a possible 90,000!) and the questions (and the interpretations that followed) were highly ambiguous. Out of the 32% that said they felt killing in the name of religion was justified, 28% felt that this was only the case when the religion itself was being attacked! This could mean a number of things, however for the report's authors, it was concluded as being an extreme response and hence this grabbed national headlines. However I must commend Alison McCullam from the Sunday Herald, who produced probably the fairest article on the report http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2410443.0.divisive_study_on_muslim_attitudes_comes_under_fire.php unlike other national newspapers who jumped onto the "attack Muslims at every opportunity" bandwagon. A joint statement was produced in response to the report entitled "A Divisive Study for Divisive Ends" and was signed by the NUS, the MCB, UNISON, the British Muslim Forum, the National Assembly Against Racism and FOSIS, a copy of which can be found here:

http://www.fosis.org.uk/index.php?view=article&catid=21%3Apress-releases&id=341%3Ajoint-statement-a-divisive-study-for-divisive-ends&option=com_content&Itemid=493

In addition to this, the NUS and FOSIS prepared a separate joint statement which can be found here:

http://www.fosis.org.uk/index.php?view=article&catid=21%3Apress-releases&id=339%3Afosis-a-nus-criticises-report-by-centre-for-social-cohesion&option=com_content&Itemid=493

However, it was the joint statement between FOSIS and over 50 Islamic Societies across the UK that was most pleasing as it highlighted the fact that in spite of the unwarranted, negative criticisms that Islamic Societies are facing, we will stand tall and not be disheartened by the efforts of those who wish to vilify the Muslim community. I recommend everyone to read the statement, a copy of which can be found here:

http://www.fosis.org.uk/index.php?view=article&catid=21%3Apress-releases&id=343%3Ajoint-statement-between-islamic-societies-and-fosis-in-response-to-islam-on-campus-report&option=com_content&Itemid=493

Also this month, we witnessed the banning of 5 British-based charities by the Israeli Government due to supposed links to Hamas. This was highlighted by an article in The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4678132.ece and FOSIS responded by issuing a press release which can be found here:

http://www.fosis.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=354:fosis-condemns-decision-to-ban-five-british-based-charities-in-gaza-&catid=21:press-releases&Itemid=493

Those were some of the key stories from FOSIS's perspective over the last couple of months, however please feel free to contact me head.media@fosis.org.uk if you feel I have missed out anything!

There are always so many issues which we need to work on, campaign against and speak out about. What is always the limiting factor is man power, if you have some time (and we all know how much time university students have!!) please do not hesitate to contact us and get involved!

Jazakamullahu khayran. And I conclude by praising Allah, Lord of all that is in the Heavens and the Earth.

Wassalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

Qasim Rafiq
Head of Media