I had various encounters with the UCL Islamic Society, from the relatively innocent (constantly trying to get me to sign their anti-Israel or anti-Iraq war petitions, to wear one of their “Free Palestine” T-shirts, or to take one of their seemingly endless supply of leaflets promoting protests, sit-ins, and lectures by extremists) to the slightly more sinister (the friends I made in first year whom I gradually saw less and less of, and who even began dressing more conservatively as they became more involved with the society, or the girl I knew who told me she was warned against adopting “their”—as in our “Western”—culture by an older student she’d met during Freshers’ Week).
One former UCL student even says he was told whilst enjoying a pint in the union that it was his “duty” as a Muslim to attend society meetings and that he was frequently invited to Islamic study groups. He jokes that he was “probably seen as a sitting duck—I was even studying ‘bomb-making,’ as we affectionately referred to the Department of Chemical Engineering.”
He goes on to say: “Everyone knows London universities are full of would-be nutters honing their engineering skills whilst simultaneously becoming increasingly religious. It’s one hell of a dangerous combo when you think about it. We all used to joke about it back then, but it’s not quite so funny anymore.”
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