An Interview with Imran Naved (President 2015-16)

1. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I have been in Oxford for the past eight years, completing an undergrad in Engineering Science (2013-2017) followed by a DPhil in Engineering Science (2017-present) in the field of Hypersonics. I was on ISoc committee several times; first as Islamic Awareness Officer (2014-15), then as President (2015-16) and finally, Graduate Chair (2018-19).

2. What was your defining memory of ISoc?

For me, there wasn’t a single defining memory. Rather, it was the individual committee meetings and personal small-scale interactions that I had with other members of the community. What is remarkable about ISoc is that, for most people, the only motivation is to serve the society for the sake of Allah. This created a wonderful community of brothers and sisters who were all working together for His sake and lent each committee meeting, event or a social a special spiritual blessing. This sense of spiritual blessing in those gatherings is my defining memory.

3. What inspired you to go for presidency?

Before Oxford, I did a gap year where I studied Arabic & Islamic Studies at Ebrahim College. Whilst I was there, several teachers encouraged me to get involved with ISoc in university. Plus, once I got to Oxford, met the Muslim community and interacted with the ISoc; I realized that this was like my home away from home and I have to give back to this community.

4. What was your favourite event and why?

It is hard to specify a favourite event as we had some great one-off events which showcased how much ISoc had progressed. One event in particular that stands out was the Head-to-Head Debate co-hosted with the Oxford Union, featuring Tariq Ramadan and Maryam Namazi. The event was important as Maryam Namazi is a well-known Islamophobe, and ISoc was able to organize Tariq Ramadan to speak and present the Muslim perspective. I am proud of this event because we arranged this debate with the Oxford Union and chose careful questions to be balanced and nuanced (the event was about free speech- post Charlie Hebdo). Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyjamZvjuUQ&t=16s.

The other event which has had a big impact throughout my entire university experience is Q-Club, led by Dr Saquab Ashraf.

5. What effect did Q-club have on the ISoc?

It is hard to express how much of an impact Q-Club has had. Dr Saquab made the Qur’an very accessible in the English Language. It has been very popular since the event first started, and many graduates have continued attending the classes in London after leaving Oxford.

6. What notable speakers did ISoc manage to invite during your presidency?

There were a wide range of speakers who came to speak at ISoc during my Presidency, mostly organised by my great committee! The speakers include Ustadh Abdel Rahman Murphy from the US, Tariq Ramadan, Yvonne Ridley, Dr Jonathan Brown and, probably the highlight, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan.

7. What challenges were faced by ISoc at the time, and how did you work to overcome these?

During my year as president, one of the biggest challenges was PREVENT. At the time, a lot of meetings were going on within the university and we wanted to ensure that ISoc wasn’t going to adversely affected by the program. Ultimately, we had a good relationship with the university and were able to implement PREVENT in a very light fashion for the ISoc. 

The other big challenge we faced relates to the prayer room. The prayer room was very different a few years back and we made several large-scale refurbishments such as installing the new carpet, adding a lectern and building in a rudimentary speaker system.

8. What changes were introduced during your presidency?

One of the biggest changes was an increase to the number of committee members. We had several meetings throughout the year where we discussed the aims of ISoc. We broke our aims down into five main aspects: Social aspects (more social events, make minority groups more welcome), spiritual engagement, welfare, outreach and wider engagement (essentially Islamic awareness). We realised that we did not have enough resources to achieve all of our aims and that there were imbalances within the committee structure. Some roles had too much to do such as the Brother’s and Sister’s welfare, social and outreach officers who oversaw welfare and access- two very large responsibilities. There was also a huge void in the graduate community with insufficient focus on graduate events. We therefore expanded the Executive and Operational committee. We added a Student Affairs chair as we needed a senior role to look after the Welfare and Social Officers and appointed an Events chair to be in charge of the logistical side of events, allowing the Religious Education and Islamic Awareness (and other) officers to focus on the creative side of the events. All the changes were made thinking ahead about the future. As more and more Muslims come to Oxford, the ISoc will expand naturally and there needs to be a larger committee to cope with this.

Aside from committee changes, we also began ISoc tutoring for the first time with the local community. Nabila Qureshi (VP) led this programme and, as far as I am aware, continues to this day. There are many more changes which I could list, all to the credit of my very hardworking committee.

9. Is there anything you would have done differently/ if you had more time, what else would you have done?  

I was a big fan of utilising and developing the alumni network. Unfortunately, we were unable to really kick it off due to a lack of time. At the time, we did not have a dedicated Access Officer and were limited in scope beyond organising a few school visits.

Also, I think we pushed too hard that year and a lot of committee members burnt out by the end of the year. If I could do something differently, I would probably focus more on welfare and the individual self-development of committee members. Looking back, organising fewer events with more thought and mindfulness would have been better.

10. In one sentence, can you summarise why ISoc was important to you?

Amidst the hustle and bustle of university, the ISoc was like an island of calm in which I felt I truly belonged to and welcome.