Hujjat Stanmore has had great success at a debating event usually dominated by top public schools.
They sent 17 students, 11 boys and 6 girls, to debate at the Challoner’s Model United Nations Conference. Model United Nations (MUN) is a simulation of diplomatic conferences, where delegates from schools and institutions can practice negotiation and public speaking and learn about world affairs.
The results were astounding as Hujjat Stanmore won six awards, coming second overall out of 16 schools. What is even more impressive is that they are the first mosque team in the UK to compete in these debates. Usually MUN is exclusive to private schools.
Ambassadors for Islam
In previous conferences Hujjat have debated against prestigious schools such as Harrow and Eton, and still won awards. The students have had the opportunity to go out and represent Islam as positive ambassadors. Additionally they have picked up the public speaking and diplomacy skills which will enable them to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Mohammad Mahdi Karim, founder of Hujjat’s MUN team and President of the Challoner’s MUN Conference, said his ambition is to create a model where all Jamaats worldwide have an MUN team which they can send to local conferences. MUN is a global entity.
Leaders of tomorrow
‘Personally I have debated in St Petersburg in Russia, and I have cousins in Dar es Salaam and Toronto who also do MUN with their schools,’ he said.
‘This has the potential to be an empowerment mechanism for the youth of today so that we can mould them to become the leaders of tomorrow!’
Read more: Behind the scenes: Mohammad Mahdi Karim explains how he set up Hujjat MUN and why it is so important.