South Blog - January 2008

Never in my short and humble time at FOSIS have I experienced such a buzz within the ranks of the Muslim Student population in the UK. The past few months have been tremendously active; spirits have been high and the unity beyond imagination very strong. It is the collective work that has made all this possible. By the grace of Allah we had Br James ‘Yusuf’ Yee former Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, speak on the following dates and at the following venues:

Fri 30th Nov 07 – University of Kent
Sat 1st Dec 07 – University of Sussex and University of Portsmouth
Sun 2nd Dec 07 – University of Exeter and Bristol University

Br Yusuf thoroughly enjoyed his time here and he was very well received by the crowds both by non-Muslim and Muslims not only in the South but across the whole country. His arrival in the UK sparked off numerous media attention, where he gave a number of BBC interviews. He also got involved with Save Omar Campaign in Brighton. A hefty schedule, but was a warm up to what was lined up for us in January 2008. We later on had Br Hisham Mahmood from USA to give another a nationwide tour with a big presence in the South to talk on the topic of: The Gospel according to Muhammad

Fri 25th Jan 08 – Reading University and Surrey University
Mon 28th Jan 08 – Oxford University

Simultaneously we had Norman G Finkelstein a leading Jewish academic scholar who is against the Zionist state of Israel. He came from USA and got engaged in a tour that would criss-cross the country. He spoke at the following dates and venues in the South:

Fri 24th Jan 08 – University of Sussex and Oxford University.

Finkelstein was very much overwhelmed with the response he got from everyone and very happy with the treatment he got from FOSIS.

Inshallah we will be having Br Idris Tawfiq, a former priest from the Vatican talking at four ISocs in the South in February (ISocs at Southampton, Bath, Reading and UWE). We hope to finish off with a bang with a big South event in conjunction with Southampton ISoc IAW in early March, will keep you posted! Finally if all goes to plan we might be able to pull of a South football tournament Inshallah.

Keep us in the duas and everyone keep up the hard work.

Walakum asalaam
Ahmed Uddin
South Regional Chair