Isoc established book group

The Islamic Society of Edinburgh Napier University has established a book group in order to foster a greater understanding of Islam.

The group strives to address misconceptions and misunderstandings of the religion and its followers by bringing to together Muslims and non-Muslims.

President of the Islamic Society of Napier University, Fatima Ahmed explained to the The Journal: “I came into the Islamic Society more from a political perspective than a religious one, if you could put it like that, and I was keen to make a difference to how people viewed Muslims.

“We wanted to get away from the image the media often puts out of Muslims as secretive, suspicious, brown-skinned people keeping themselves to themselves. I was worried that the image of Muslims not integrating into Western society was causing the problems of racism and ignorance that I had experienced growing up here.”

The book group is currently reading Meetings with Extraordinary Muslims by Barnaby Rogerson.

Ms Ahmed continued: “I understand that for some people reading a whole book can be quite time-consuming, so we chose a book that is a series of short stories.

“The people in the book are taxi drivers and porters, asylum-seekers and smugglers, cleaners and musicians. They tell stories of ordinary Muslims and I thought that was a good message to give across to non-Muslims.”

Ms Ahmed went on to explain that being the woman president of an Isoc is an often daunting task: ”It can be quite hard sometimes to deal with the prejudices of both Muslims and non-Muslims, but I feel that the work we are doing is important and I am determined that we can get out a clear message that Muslims are not the secretive people that certain newspapers would have you believe.

"We hope to provide Halal food in the canteen at Napier University and we think that it is a realistic and positive step given the diversity of international students at Napier.”