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<strong>Unity</strong><br />
Newsletter of the Cambridge Muslim College<br />
issUe twO – septemebr 2011/shawwal 1432 print issUe<br />
CMC moves to new campus<br />
after twO years enjoying the hospitality of<br />
the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology on<br />
Grange Road, the College has now moved to its<br />
new buildings at 11-14 St Paul’s Road, on a site<br />
equidistant between Emmanuel College and<br />
the Mosque. Built in 1847, the buildings have<br />
been comprehensively refurbished to provide<br />
a range of state-of-the-art resources. Facilities<br />
include a kitchen, refectory, prayer room, library,<br />
men’s and women’s common rooms, lecture and<br />
supervision rooms, and rooms for administration<br />
and for our Research Fellows. The building<br />
includes a range of features generously funded<br />
by various donors, including Ottoman-style<br />
ceramic tiles in the ablution areas. Over the<br />
summer the facility has welcomed groups of students<br />
from the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship, Cambridge<br />
Interfaith Programme, Heritage Summers, and other<br />
groups; and we are ready to welcome our biggest-ever<br />
intake of Diploma students in September.<br />
The College is actively seeking funding for the development<br />
of the large additional site at the rear of the<br />
property, which it has also purchased. This site formerly<br />
accommodated eight houses, which were demolished<br />
in the 1960s, and is one of the last large development<br />
opportunities in central Cambridge. }<br />
Stained glass window<br />
‘magnificent’<br />
We are grateful to an anonymous donor<br />
for her generosity in paying for the creation<br />
of a stained-glass window which has<br />
been installed over our main staircase.<br />
A combination of traditional English and<br />
Islamic designs, the window was designed<br />
and made by master-craftsmen Jamie Clark<br />
and Adam Williamson.<br />
cambridge mUslim cOllege, 14 st. paUl’s rOad, cambridge cb1 2ez www.cambridgemUslimcOllege.Org<br />
c m c n e w s l e t t e r 2 1
Imam of<br />
al-Aqsa visits<br />
On June 21 2011, corresponding to<br />
the Day of al-Isra wa’l-Mi’raj the college<br />
was honoured to receive Shaykh<br />
Yusuf Abu Sneina, Imam of Al-Aqsa<br />
Mosque, with a senior delegation of<br />
Middle Eastern scholars representing<br />
the World Association of Azhar<br />
Graduates, led by Dr Abdel Daim<br />
Nosear, its Secretary General. Others<br />
attending included Shaykh Abd<br />
al-Fadeel al-Qawsi, representing<br />
Shaykh al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayyib,<br />
and also Shaykh Muhammad Imdad<br />
Hussain Pirzada, the Principal of<br />
Jamia al-Karam, Nottinghamshire.<br />
The delegation was introduced to<br />
the College’s work, and expressed<br />
its pleasure at the presence of Azhar<br />
graduates in the present student<br />
body. The event ended with a lunch,<br />
and prayers for the further success of<br />
the College. }<br />
Papal visit ‘a success’<br />
Rome was the location for the 2010 annual CMC excursion.<br />
Students and staff were hosted for five days at the Lay Centre<br />
at Foyer Unitas, located in the grounds of a monastery<br />
beside the Coliseum in Rome. The intensive programme<br />
included the following highlights:<br />
• A welcome address by the British Ambassador to the Holy<br />
See, Francis Campbell.<br />
• Lecture by Professor Daniel Madigan SJ, on ‘What Happens<br />
at Mass?’ followed by observation of an English-language<br />
mass at the Caravita church community.<br />
• Guided visit to the Palatine Hill, the Forum and the Coliseum,<br />
with art historian Dr Elizabeth Lev.<br />
• Guided visit to St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum,<br />
also with Dr Lev.<br />
• Visit to the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies,<br />
with a welcome from its President, Miguel Ángel Ayuso<br />
Guixot MCCJ.<br />
• Lecture on ‘Muslim-Christian Relations in Italy’ by Imam<br />
Yahya Pallavicini, Imam of the Al-Wahid Mosque in Milan.<br />
• Visit to Sta Maria Maggiore and other sites of interest.<br />
• Visit to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue,<br />
presented by Msgr. Khalid Akkache.<br />
• Visit to the Instituto Tevere, with a welcome speech by<br />
director Mehmet Cenap Aydın.<br />
2 c m c n e w s l e t t e r 2<br />
CMC in<br />
China<br />
Following a visit to<br />
Lanzhou, Dongshan and<br />
the Linxhia Hui Muslim<br />
Autonomous Prefecture<br />
in July 2010, CMC has<br />
been exploring ways of<br />
building ties with Islamic<br />
educational programmes in<br />
Central China. In January<br />
2011 CMC students heard<br />
a lecture on ‘Issues in Hui<br />
Muslim Inculturation’ from<br />
Professor Yang Wenjiong of<br />
Lanzhou University, who<br />
visited Cambridge with a<br />
group of Hui scholars, and<br />
learned more about the<br />
CMC’s work.<br />
right: village madrasa in dongshan country<br />
• Visits to the Pontifical Gregorian and Angelicum Universities<br />
and meetings with staff.<br />
• General Audience with Pope Benedict XVI.<br />
Following the trip, CMC Principal Dr. Muhammad As’ad<br />
said: ‘We are immensely grateful to the Lay Centre for<br />
their hospitality and help in coordinating such a complex<br />
and rewarding programme. Our students have been greatly<br />
enriched by the whole experience, and we look forward to<br />
future cooperation with our friends at the Lay Centre and at<br />
other key institutions in Rome.’ }
CMC in Senegal<br />
On 30 January, representatives from<br />
CMC visited the city of Touba, where<br />
they were received by HE the Khalifa Serigne<br />
Mukhtar, and met Touba graduates<br />
who have served in mosques in the West.<br />
The madrasas of Touba and the neighbouring<br />
city of Kaolack are currently<br />
host to an estimated thirty students from<br />
the English-speaking world, and CMC<br />
is exploring ways of building improved<br />
ties with this important sector. The visit<br />
ended with a seminar discussion on Islamic<br />
education in Europe at the Université<br />
Ante Diop in Dakar. }<br />
CMC takkes in the Yemen<br />
the distinctive cmc takke was sighted for the first time in<br />
Yemeni towns in January. The team gave several briefings on the<br />
CMC’s work to British and Australian students, several of whom<br />
expressed an interest in continuing their studies in Cambridge.<br />
Public lectures were given at the Ribat Tarim, Dar al-Mustafa, and<br />
the Faculty of Sharia at Ahqaf University, and visits took place<br />
to libraries and cultural institutions. CMC Dean Abdal Hakim<br />
Murad gave several interviews to Yemeni television, and participated<br />
in an hour-long radio discussion and phone-in with Shaykh<br />
Usama al-Sayyid of al-Azhar on issues of counter-radicalisation,<br />
which was broadcast in several provinces, including Abyan. A<br />
recording is available here (Arabic only): cambridgekhutbasetc.<br />
blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-in-yemen-arabic.html }<br />
New research fellows<br />
appointed<br />
In July 2011 the College was delighted to announce<br />
the following appointments of new full-time Research<br />
Fellows.<br />
fOzia bOra took her DPhil from the University<br />
of Oxford with a thesis on the development of medieval<br />
Islamic historiography. Her present research<br />
interests focus on Fatimid and Ayyubid Egypt, with<br />
a special emphasis on the evolution of educational<br />
institutions. She is currently writing a monograph<br />
on the madrasas and courts of Mamluk Egypt.<br />
shayKh mansUr ali completed his Alim studies<br />
at Darul Ulum (Bury) and al-Azhar University<br />
(Cairo), and received his PhD at the University of<br />
Manchester with a thesis entitled ‘Al-Tirmidhi and<br />
the role of the Isnad in his Sunan’. His specialisation<br />
is in Hadith Studies, but he works also on fiqh<br />
issues affecting the British Muslim community. He<br />
has served as imam in several locations, including<br />
Ashworth High Security Hospital, Liverpool.<br />
matthew wilKinsOn was a King’s Scholar at<br />
Eton, and subsequently studied Theology at Cambridge,<br />
completing his PhD at King’s College<br />
London with a dissertation on ‘History, Citizenship<br />
and Muslim Boys: Learning to Succeed’. His<br />
research interests include the sociology of Muslim<br />
youth, and Islamic Critical Realism. He has served<br />
as Lecturer in Education at London Metropolitan<br />
University, and Head of History at Brondesbury<br />
College (London).<br />
c m c n e w s l e t t e r 2 3
O t h e r n e w s<br />
F i e l d t r i p s<br />
Recent field trips for CMC students have<br />
included: * Ely Cathedral * BBC Cambridgeshire<br />
* Oxford Centre of Islamic<br />
Studies * Islamic Relief * House of Commons<br />
* Greenwich Observatory * Nafas<br />
Narcotic Rehabilitation.<br />
s y r i a n u l e m a v i s i t c m c<br />
On March 22, the CMC was privileged to<br />
receive a visit from the Mufti of Damascus,<br />
Shaykh Abdel Fattah El-Bizm, and Shaykh<br />
Husam Farfur, head of the undergraduate<br />
section at Al-Fath Islamic Institute. After<br />
visiting the premises the scholars spent<br />
time with our students, and discussed the<br />
experience of British students currently<br />
studying in Syria. Afterwards they made<br />
du’a for the continued success of the College.<br />
s h a y k h l a j p u r i p a s s e s a w a y<br />
CMC’s Abdal Hakim Murad visited<br />
Leicester to express condolences for the<br />
death of Shaykh Ahmed Ali Lajpuri Surty,<br />
who entered the next world on March 10.<br />
May Allah grant him light in the grave and<br />
salvation in Akhira.<br />
l e j l a d e m i r i m o v e s t o B e r l i n<br />
CMC has congratulated Dr Lejla Demiri,<br />
former lecturer and course convenor, as<br />
well as coordinator of our Rome trip and<br />
former CMC Women’s<br />
Officer, on her new post<br />
as Research Fellow at the<br />
EUME Wissenschaftskolleg<br />
in Berlin. Her critical<br />
edition of Najm al-Din al-<br />
Tufi’s al-Ta’liq ala al-Anajil<br />
al-Arba’a has been accepted for publication<br />
with E.J. Brill.<br />
c m c p u B l i c l e c t u r e s<br />
• CMC Dean Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad<br />
gave a lecture at the University of Cambridge’s<br />
Faculty of Divinity, entitled, ‘British<br />
Muslim Integration: The Perspectives<br />
of G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc’.<br />
• Professor Charles Burnett of the Warburg<br />
Institute spoke on ‘Arabic Learning<br />
and the Beginning of European Universities’.<br />
• Professor David Ford of Cambridge<br />
4 c m c n e w s l e t t e r 2<br />
University gave a lecture on ‘Scriptural<br />
Reasoning’.<br />
• Professor James Montgomery of Cambridge<br />
University spoke on ‘Al-Jahiz’s<br />
Book of Living Creatures’.<br />
• CMC Principal Dr. Muhammad As’ad<br />
gave a lecture at Pricewaterhouse Coopers<br />
at their London HQ entitled ‘Is there a<br />
Place for Faith in the Modern World?’<br />
• Dr Khaled Azzam, Chief Executive of the<br />
Prince’s School for Traditional Arts’, spoke<br />
on the work of his institution and the philosophy<br />
of Islamic art..<br />
• Dr. As’ad also gave a lecture to the East of<br />
England Faiths Council entitled, ‘Islamic<br />
Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue.’<br />
• Shaykh Abdal Hakim spoke to the Christian-Muslim<br />
Forum meeting in Blackburn<br />
on ‘The King James Bible and the Study of<br />
Islam.’<br />
s o m e r e c e n t c m c i n t e r n a l<br />
s e m i n a r s<br />
• Dr Abdul Hayy Weinman, Professor of<br />
Intercultural Relations at the University<br />
of New Mexico, addressed our students<br />
on a range of issues, including the Islamic<br />
understanding of dialogue, and problems<br />
facing Hebrew-speaking Muslims in Jerusalem.<br />
• Faarid Gouverneur, founder of the<br />
Islamic Texts Society, spoke on questions<br />
of Muslim identity in secular societies.<br />
• Shaykh Yahya Rhodus of the Californiabased<br />
Zaytuna Institute discussed the interpretation<br />
of classical Islamic texts.<br />
• Julian Huppert MP visited the College<br />
to brief students on his work as Liberal<br />
Democrat MP for Cambridge, and answered<br />
questions on the impact on ethnic<br />
minorities of the introduction of university<br />
top-up fees<br />
c h i n e s e i s l a m i c c a l l i g r a p h y<br />
Chinese master-calligrapher Zainab Hui<br />
gave a one-day intensive course to CMC<br />
students and others.<br />
c m c l i B r a r y a p p e a l<br />
The CMC currently holds around 1500<br />
volumes. The emphasis is on Islamic Studies<br />
and on texts relevant to the curriculum<br />
of our Diploma Programme. We are<br />
currently launching an appeal for donations<br />
of more books in these two areas.<br />
Our thanks go to Shaykh Ahmad Bullock,<br />
former Imam of the Bath Street Mosque,<br />
Oxford, for the gift of over two hundred<br />
volumes. Books should be sent c/o The<br />
Librarian, Cambridge Muslim College, 14<br />
St Paul’s Road, Cambridge CB1 2EZ.<br />
n e w t r u s t e e a p p o i n t e d<br />
The CMC is delighted to welcome Professor<br />
David Ford, Regius Professor of<br />
Divinity in the University of Cambridge,<br />
as its newest Trustee.<br />
As Director of the<br />
Cambridge Inter-<br />
Faith Programme<br />
(www.interfaith.<br />
cam.ac.uk) and author<br />
of several landmark<br />
theological<br />
works, David brings<br />
a wealth of experience<br />
and wisdom to the College’s work.<br />
c m c p e o p l e p u B l i s h n e w B o o k s<br />
Dr Atif Imtiaz, the College’s Academic<br />
Director, has just released his new book,<br />
Wandering Lonely in the Crowd: Reflections on<br />
the Muslim Condition in the West (Kube Publishing),<br />
which was described as ‘striking<br />
and compelling’ by the Daily Telegraph.<br />
CMC Trustee Dr Sophie Gilliat-Ray has<br />
published her long-awaited Muslims in Britain:<br />
An Introduction (Cambridge University<br />
Press).<br />
h a F i z s e j a d a w a r d e d d o c t o r a t e<br />
We congratulate our Hifz and Hadith<br />
Memorisation Officer, Sejad Mekic, on his<br />
successful defence of his PhD dissertation<br />
on the Bosnian jurist Husejn Djozo, at the<br />
School of Oriental and African Studies,<br />
University of London.<br />
d a n i e l B i r n s t i e l a p p o i n t e d t o<br />
F r a n k F u r t<br />
We congratulate our former Research Fellow,<br />
Dr Daniel Birstiel, on his appointment<br />
to a prestigious lectureship at the University<br />
of Frankfurt. Daniel has supplied two<br />
academic papers on the Qur’anic text to<br />
CMC for inclusion on our website.<br />
d o n a t e t o c m c<br />
CMC is now a Registered Charity, and all<br />
donations by UK taxpayers are tax-deductible.<br />
We receive no government funding,<br />
and are dependent on the commitment and<br />
generosity of our donors. Cheques can be<br />
made payable to ‘The Cambridge Muslim<br />
College’ and posted to us at 14 St Paul’s<br />
Road, Cambridge, CB1 2EZ.