University of Melbourne Iftar Dinner 2023
One of Australia’s most reputable and prestigious universities, the University of Melbourne partnered with the AIS to co-host their 3rd event and the 2nd University of Melbourne Iftar dinner. The event was well attended by the university’s leadership team including Chancellor Ms Jane Hansen AO and representatives from the council and VC fellows along with PVC, community leaders and students. The evening commenced with Prof Abdullah Saeed, the MC welcoming everyone to the event and shared his views about Ramadan and fasting from his youthful days. He invited Abdulcelil Gelim to recite a few verses from the Quran and to make the call to prayer. Uncle Andrew Gardiner welcomed the audience to country and made special mention about this year’s significant opportunity to get the referendum across the line later in the year.
Prof Pip Nicholson, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor was the official host for the evening as she welcomed the audience to the University. She remarked about this event being the 3rd collaboration and how this has grown to be embraced by the university administration and the Muslim students within the university. She highlighted the importance of coming together on important occasions such as tonight to engage and learn from each other in atmosphere of respect that leads to better understanding of the diverse society we live in.
This year’s program invited Prof Michelle Foster to give a keynote address on ‘statelessness’. Her speech talked about the growing issue of statelessness and how those who have been rendered stateless because of various circumstances and the impact it has on compromising your fundamental human rights and ability to live in a civil society. About 40% of the world’s stateless population live in the Asia-Pacific region. There is a solution but requires political will to address the issue and confer citizenship to people who need assistance. Although many gains have been made addressing this issue, the sporadic landscape of conflict has brought this issue to the fore in many nations particularly those who are hosting refugees. Prof Abdullah Saeed gave his reflections on Prof Foster’s talk and mentioned Islam places emphasis on supporting those in need, particularly those who’ve had to flee their lands because of one reason or another. The right to protect the fundamental human right and dignity of an individual is of paramount importance to the leadership and the collective of a Muslim community.
There was a spoken word performed by Aleyna Altinors and Clarissa Indranada (President, Muslim Student Association) who talked about the significance of Ramadan. The evening was rounded out with some floor reflections. In the closing remarks Ahmet Keskin thanked the university for opening their home for the students and the guests to share in a celebration that’s important to the community.
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