"Seven Steps to Excellence" Program

"Seven Steps to Excellence" Program was run for the first time this year, aimed at helping university students utilise their university holidays by offering one day courses on various subjects. The subjects were selected specially to cater for the needs of youth who want to be socially active and contribute to their community. There was a balance of knowledge, personal development and creating awareness of the religious activism that exists today. As an interfaith organisation, emphasising of the importance of practicing interfaith dialogue by Muslims was not ommitted. 

Seven modules were offered in total, where the students had the opportunity to choose the modules that they wanted to do. The modules offered were:

Module 1 - Presenting Islamic Theological Concepts 

Module 2 - Responding to Issues Attributed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Module 3 - Islam in the Contemporary World

Module 4 - Comparative Religions and Interfaith Dialogue in Islam

Module 5 - Religious Activism in the Twenty-First Century

Module 6 - Art of Speech

Module 7 - Personal Leadership 

The students who attended the program were fortunate to have a range of instructors who have specialised knowledge and experience in the various topics covered. Our instructors consisted of Mehmet Ozalp, Ahmet Keskin, Mehmet Saral, David Ilham, Makiz Ansari, Nursen Ozger and myself.

The students were also fortunate enough to be treated to delicious lunches prepared by Amine Atalay and Aynur Zeyrek. Thus, the students had food for thought and food for the stomach. 

The feedback received from the students was extremely positive. They found the topics extremely important and necessary in better understanding the contemporary world climate. As Mahsheed Ansari stated "This program was an excellent idea. I have felt that I have done something productive and educational during my university holidays."