We warmly welcomed Sheikh Alaa El Zokm to the College as our esteemed special guest on last week’s Friday, 19 August 2022. The sheikh addressed our Secondary Year 7 to 11 boys on the topic “The purpose of life in Islam and the world", making important points about identity and having a beautiful purpose in life.
Sheikh Alaa El Zokm is currently Imam of Heidelberg Heights Mosque and a member of the 911±¬ÁÏÍø National Imams Council (ANIC). He is a widely-respected leader of our community. In 2020, he was awarded with the Premier’s Award for Community Harmony at Victorian Multicultural Commission.
The session was very engaging and informative. Students had the chance to ask questions at the end of the session. On behalf of our Student Council, we sincerely thank Sheikh Alaa for giving his precious time to our Secondary boys students.
Please read some student reflections below:
Osama Akkad, Year 11: It was great seeing Sheikh Alaa outside of Heidelberg Mosque. It was a beautiful opportunity to meet him outside of the ‘Imam role’ and for him to share his valuable lessons with us. It was great for us to hear Sheikh Alaa’s words and advice and tick off that checklist in our minds. It was certainly an insightful and eye-opening seminar to find out how we can be better Muslim ambassadors in a country and a world that so desperately needs accurate Islamic representation now more than ever. I ask Allah SWT to reward Sheikh Alaa and anyone who took part in organising, running and making this seminar as beautiful as it turned out to be. I also hope that this won’t be the last time Sheikh Alaa visits our school. It will be wonderful to host him again!
Badis Sai, Year 11: Sheikh Alaa ’s fusion of knowledge and being a vital ambassador of our religion really serves the Islamic aspect of the community and its well-deserved justice. InShaAllah, we do more events with Sheikh Alaa and others like him in the future who are doing the work to represent Islam beautifully!
Adam Najem, Year 11: Having Sheikh Alaa visit our school was an amazing, and most definitely an eye-opening experience. The talk he gave was emotional and far from boring as he kept everyone engaged and ensured to reach his whole audience with his meaningful talk – teachers and students alike. His manner was a perfect demonstration of good akhlaq and I think I speak for everyone when I say, we would love to have him here again.