Andalus was honoured to host Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti who delivered a talk on 'Seeking Knowledge and the intellectual framework - Lessons from the life of Imam al-Ghazali'.  Shaykh Afifi is a Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and a lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford. He is a specialist on the great theologian, al-Ghazali (d.505/1111) and is trained as a theologian and philologist in both the Islamic and Western traditions. He is also listed in The 500 Most Influential Muslims for 2010. 

The session at Andalus began with the noon prayer which was led by Shaykh Afifi himself. This was followed by a short dhikr before moving on to the talk itself. Interspersed between wise council and humorous anecdotes were beautifully sung Arabic odes, which were well received by the attentive audience. The evening came to a close after delicious Malaysian snacks were served. Andalus would like to thank IST, Kitaba and the Glasgow Malaysian community. We would also like to thank everyone who attended this blessed gathering.