20th Jun 2009 Official Report on the FOSIS Annual Conference

The June weekend of FOSIS Annual Conference saw over 500 Muslim students gather in the leafy campus of Birmingham University; to listen, learn, meet and share their experiences. Students came from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and even as far off as Germany...and far flung institutions from across these Isles that you wouldn’t even imagine Muslims resided!

The conference included talks, food, entertainment, stalls, NUS accountability and the famous FOSIS Video Competition. Speakers included a line up representing many shades of opinion in the spectrum of Islamic thought – many of which are often opposed to each other, but here shared a platform - reflecting the diversity of the Muslim student populace itself.

Some old FOSIS-volunteers from previous student generations came to reconnect and help with the conference and the Annual General Meeting – the forum of discussion and democratic election for Isoc representatives from across the UK & Eire, which included debating organisational policy and electing representatives to the Executive. It was a living example of democracy in action among British Muslim youth.

Faisal Hanjra, the re-elected president FOSIS said after close of conference: “This conference has been one of the best attended conferences of recent years; it was inspirational seeing and speaking to Muslim students from a variety of different backgrounds…Their work is testament to the positive role Islamic Societies continue to play at campuses up and down the country.”

A testament to upholding the values of free speech and transparency, was that members of non-student organizations; who have in the past criticized FOSIS publically; attended the conference, including the Quilliam Foundation and the Centre for Social Cohesion.

The overall impression made was one of energy, openness, diversity and an upholding of the values of free speech and fair play (traditional British values, as it happens!). They were, as the conference title suggested, “Preserving the Legacy, Shaping the Future”.