Nasir Danladi Bako
Last Thursday in the University town of Oxford, some 48 miles North West of London the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies celebrated its 40th anniversary with the King of England Charles ||| superintending over the event. It was headlined by the speech of the very venerable King and also climaxed with the Annual General Meeting of the Board of Trustees as well as a tree-planting ceremony at the Centre’s garden.
Sultan of Sokoto , Saad Abubakar ||| extolled the Centre and it’s management for the remarkable achievements recorded in the last 40 years which has witnessed visits , lectures, seminars and speeches by very important dignitaries like former President Nelson Mandela and former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan. Sultan Saad lauded the administration of the Centre and expressed hope that the rest of the world especially the developing world would emulate the foresight and vision of the founding fathers of the Islamic Centre.
He expressed delight at the highly intellectual endeavor and community service both local and international that the Centre has become synonymous with.
Over the last four decades the Centre has become a citadel of learning incorporating lectures, seminars , provision of scholarship, research , fellowship, and engaging a multi-racial and multi-religious congregation as it’s students and clientele. A huge number of visiting lecturers frow the world over , are available to the academic faculty of the Centre.
Similarly, it’s Board or Trustees reflects variegated , ethnic, racial and cultural diversity with both Muslim and non-muslims co-habitating successfully on the Board .
While Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal sits stop the board as Chairman, Sultan Nazrin Shah of Malaysia occupies the seat of Vice Chairman , Sheikh Mohammed Al Sabah former Prime Minister of Kuwait remains one of the pillars of the Centre.
There is also a strong British membership on the board , Rt Hon Dominic Grieve KC is former Attorney General for England and Wales , Sir Martin Donnelly KCB is former Permanent Secretary at the Department of International Trade as well Dr Catherine Swales , Director Clinical , Medical Sciences Division University of Oxford .
This array of Distinguished personalities on the board is further dignified by the inclusion and membership of the only African on the leadership of the Centre in the person of His Eminence Sultan Muhammad Saad Abubakar III.
The achievements of the Centre include the Research components of its study programme focusing on “the social and intellectual history of the Muslim world, the social and economic development of Muslim societies, science, technology and environment in Muslim societies and Muslims in Britain”.
Similarly, the Centre witnessed the emergence and growth of its publications , “The Journal of Islamic Studies” and the “Makers of Muslim Civilization”. The Lectures an Roundtables have also been a major highlight , while in the area of teaching the Centre has promoted multi- disciplinary study of culture and Islam and contemporary Muslim societies through fellowships like The King Charles fellowship, Nelson Mandela Fellowship, the Globe Fellowship and Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Fellowship among twenty others
The Director of the Centre Farzan Nizami in highlighting some of the story behind the success stated the centre proudly launched an Exhibition of “Lines of Faith:: Astronomy and the Art of the Astrolabe in the Islamic World”.
Two highly intellectual lectures that brought recognition to the Centre in the last one year are that of Lord Neuberger (former President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom) “Threats to the Rule of Law” and that of Professor Phillipe Sands of the Universe College London titled “On Genocide : Then ad Now”.
It is remarkable as well as instructive that the Centre came into existence in 1986 in a wooden hut on St Cross Road and grew tremendously into the oak it is today, esconsced on a beautiful piece of land on Martson road in the heart of Oxford town vigorously propagating interfaith dialogue and inter- civilization co-habitation as well as social harmony and general well-being of the human race.
Without doubt with the continued commitment of the Centre’s Grand patron King Charles ||| and the unique, sagacious capacity of it’s African monarch Sultan Saad of Sokoto the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is bound to continue to grow in leaps and bounds probably surpassing the successes of the last 40 years in another 40 years.
* Bako PhD, OON, wrote in from Kogunan Sokoto.
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