President Blog - July 2009

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

As-salâmu 'alaykum wa rahmatuAllâhi wa barakâtuhu,

Brothers and Sisters, I start by praising Allah (SWT) and then sending peace and blessings upon His messenger Muhammad (SAW), the Companions and all the righteous believers until the Day of Judgement.

I pray that this email finds you in a state of good health and emaan!

My name is Faisal Hanjra and I was elected at the recent FOSIS Conference as President of this wonderful organisation for the next year. Please remember me and the rest of the organisation in your du’a. I have just finished a medical degree at Queen Mary, University of London. I have been involved in this organisation for a number of years now, and  this is my second year as President.

It has been just over a month since our elections and it is amazing how much work has been done and after thanking Allah SWT I want to thank all the brothers and sisters for their tremendous hard work. The executive have already met and have outlined priorities for the year to come. We hope to share these with regional councils and in conjunction, collectively to come up with a mix of priorities which FOSIS workers across the country can aspire to. I look forward to sharing some of those with you in the near future.

What I hope will encompass our work this year are three letters: R I E

R – Radical: Students are meant to be radical and for too long Muslim students have shied away from taking on controversial issues or difficult discussions mostly as a result of the climate post 7/7. As students we have a proud history of introducing vigorous and controversial debates on campus, sharing ideas and discussing our individual utopia. Let’s go back to our roots, not just as Muslim students but as a collective student body.

I – Innovative: Enough of the old and in with the new. How many Islamic lectures do we have a week and for how long have we been doing the same thing! Let’s re-look at our events and see if we can develop a newer and more innovative approach to engaging with both Muslim and non-Muslim students!

E – Excellence: Our religion commands us to be excellent in all that we do. Let us aspire to work to that hefty responsibility. Let us look at quality and not quantity, not how much we do, but how good we do it. When was the last time you went to an event hosted by Muslims that ran on time? Can’t remember….well I can…FOSIS Annual Conference 2009! The point though, is that we need to aspire to be excellent! That’s running events on time, getting firsts in our degrees and being great neighbours! And that’s all just for starters. May Allah SWT help us, ameen!

All in all we’ve set ourselves some challenging goals,  aspiring to work our hardest and produce our best results. However, we need your help and I would encourage you all to get involved in your local Islamic Societies and then after that get involved in FOSIS! Volunteers are always needed. Right now we are at a critical stage of the year where we are planning for the academic year 2009 – 2010. If you have an idea or a suggestion, a criticism or a comment, get in touch and let us know.

I look forward to meeting or hearing from most of you over the coming year inshaAllah!  An amazing ayah of the Qur'an I came across which I wanted to share:

“Whoever works righteousness — whether male or female — while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) verily, to him We will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision), and We shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter)” - [al-Nahl 16:97]

Wa- salâmu 'alaykum wa rahmatuAllâhi wa barakâtuhu

Your brother,
Faisal Hanjra
president@fosis.org.uk