The College of Islamic Studies (CIS) held a Student Appreciation Ceremony in recognition of students who earned a place on the Dean’s Honor List during the academic year 2021–2022. Held at Minaretein, the annual gathering witnessed the participation of faculty, researchers, students, and staff to collectively celebrate the successful completion of an academic year, highlight high-achieving students, and bring their accomplishments to the fore.

The event began with a Qur’anic recitation by the Imam of the Education City Mosque, Sheikh Hassan Ahmed Jama, and was moderated by CIS’s Student Council President and Class of 2022 graduate, Laura Sani. Sani’s prayer set the tone of the event and her words resonated with the audience: “May your presence at a place be not an answer to your own du’aas, but an answer to someone else’s.”

Dr. Emad El-Din Shahin, Dean of CIS, gave an address in which he congratulated the students who were honored as well as the Class of 2022 that are now part of a thriving and expanding alumni community. He further shared with the audience key life lessons that can continually fuel their journey through challenging times. He highlighted the importance of having faith in God and in oneself, valuing experiences for the wisdom they foster, and the responsibility that came with receiving educational opportunities. He emphasized tackling the unknown future in shorter phases while keeping the final goal in sight, and ultimately utilizing one of the most powerful tools in our possession: the ability to pause and to reflect.

The ceremony also featured addresses by other student leaders in the CIS community, including HBKU Student Council representative and PhD candidate Jamila Abubakar, and the first-ever two PhD graduates in Islamic Finance and Economy, Dr. Abdul-Jalil Ibrahim and Dr. Bushra Faizi. They shared stories of inspiration and lessons learned about the everlasting pursuit for knowledge and the power of the individual in the larger human narrative.

Dr. Dalal Aassouli, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, alongside program leaders Dr. Gavin Picken, Dr. Evren Tok, and Dr. Akel Kahera announced the names of all the students who had achieved the best academic scores in the past academic year. Overall, 25 students were honored across six programs at CIS: the Master’s degrees in Contemporary Islamic Studies, Applied Islamic Ethics, Islam and Global Affairs, Islamic Finance, and Islamic Art, Architecture, and Urbanism - in addition to the PhD in Islamic Finance and Economy.

For more information on the multidisciplinary programs offered at the College of Islamic Studies, please visit cis.hbku.edu.qa.