Scotland Chair - July-September 2010

Assalamu Alakukum,

So what have me and the Scotland Committee done this summer up until now? We’ve had the usual scurry of worker ant behaviour trying to deliver Freshers Packs at the last minute, putting together the committee, getting affiliations signed off and preparing for the new year. However, by far the best thing that we have done is have a sit down with all the presidents of the ISocs in Scotland and get a chance to talk to them about the upcoming year.

I heard a man say this week – “Respect knowledge, and refrain from giving opinions.” The statement made me reflect on the position of being Chair for Scotland, and how in a position where I’m supposed to support the ISocs how and why would I refrain from giving an opinion. I looked up "opinion" in the dictionary and what I came across was “a view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge” and I think this is what the speaker meant by respect knowledge. To respect knowledge is to know our own limitations and the dangers that may cause.

To respect knowledge is to know our own limitations and the dangers that may cause

An example of something I witnessed recently, was a Muslim guy in a pizza shop who I did not know. One of his friends said, “I need to go buy booze” and the Muslim guy turned to him and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve got some at my place.” All I heard was two sentences, and already I thought I knew everything I needed to know.

I had formed my opinion.

A while later, someone asked that Muslim guy a question about why they hadn’t seen him lately, and he said, “I’ve been fasting for a month.” His friend said, “You’ve never done that before” and the Muslim guy turned and said “yeah, well, I went to Saudi this year, and I’ve always been bad, but since I’ve been there I felt something and I want to try and be good now.”

The opinion had shifted. I realised this guy was in a very different place in his faith than I first assumed. All I got was a small snapshot of his life and with this picture it’s difficult to know if I should say something sooner, or later, or not at all and leave him to naturally continue his journey towards good. Would my personal knowledge have been beneficial or harmful?

This is the position I find myself in with the ISocs, how involved should I become? At the Presidents Meeting the best part was how little input there was from the FOSIS committee - we just listened. At FOSIS, we get frequent contact with ISocs, and we’re trying to piece together these snapshots into some sort of film, trying to put ourselves in the shoes of someone in that particular individual ISoc, living in that environment and facing those challenges. We can only begin leading and serving by listening to the ISocs. We can lead by becoming what FOSIS is really about, the grassroots – the individual cities, the individual ISocs and the individual students.

I pray that we continue to lead by serving the ISocs and we have an even stronger year than last year. And I pray for the brother in the pizza shop, and I hope like him we can all aspire ‘to be good now.’