UK
Students Counter Islamophobia, Anti-Hijab Drive
The
federation’s logo
LONDON,
June 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The annual
conference of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) in
Britain and Ireland wound up with a call to face the rising
Islamophobia in the West and support hijab.
Held
this year under the title "Student Life", the gathering also
urged the Muslim students to stand up to daunting cultural challenges
and participate actively in the political life to have their voices
heard in the decision-making circles, London-based Al-Quds Press news
agency reported Saturday, June 26.
The
conference further initiated a pro-hijab campaign under the
supervision of the Muslim Women Society (MWC) in Britain in view of
the ferocious anti-hijab drive across Europe,
Defending
the right of Muslim women in Europe and worldwide to wear hijab,
British Muslims launched on June 14
a
hijab advocacy group,
comprised of British and international human rights organizations.
Issues
on the conference’s table also included student loan systems that do
not contradict Shari`ah and a campaign to get proper prayer facilities
on every campus.
HSBC
banking group has become the fist high street bank in Britain
The
conference brought together a cohort of leading Muslim intellectuals,
chiefly Egyptian-born Tariq Ramadan, professor of Islamic studies in
University of Fribourg, Jamal Badawi, professor at Saint Mary’s
University, Canada and Ahmad Al-Rawi, chairman of the Union of Islamic
Organizations in Europe.
Also
attending the event were British politicians and Muslim Lord Nazir
Ahmed.
Around
600 students from 80 educational institutions attended over the
weekend.
FOSIS,
the premier Muslim student representative body in the UK and Ireland,
was established in 1962 after a meeting held in Birmingham by students
from the cities of Birmingham, Dublin, Leeds, Liverpool, London and
Wolverhampton.
