## Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
_**An institution for the advanced study of Islam and the Muslim world**_
Annual Report 2020/21
## CONTENTS
|_Introduction_|_5_|
|---|---|
|_Chapter 1: Teaching_|_8_|
|_Chapter 2: Seminars_|_10_|
|_Chapter 3: Public Lectures_|_16_|
|_Chapter 4: Conferences_|_17_|
|_Chapter 5: Publications_|_22_|
|_Chapter 6: Research_|_27_|
|_Chapter 7: Visiting Fellowships_|_32_|
|_Chapter 8: Scholarships_|_36_|
|_Chapter 9: The Young Muslim Leadership Programme_|_40_|
|_Chapter 10: Outreach_|_41_|
|_Chapter 11: The Mosque_|_43_|
|_Chapter 12: The Library_|_45_|
|_Chapter 13: The Gardens_|_49_|
|_Chapter 14: Governance_|_51_|
|_Chapter 15: Membership of the Centre_|_58_|
## INTRODUCTION
As I write these words, Oxford is cautiously emerging from the virtual shadows, blinking into the heavy rain, not excluding hail, which has characterized the month of May. This is not how it was supposed to be when we started the academic year with renewed optimism back in the autumn. The lockdown resumed in the middle of Michaelmas Term and remained in force through Hilary. Only toward the end of Trinity Term is there emerging, with the restrictions being progressively eased, a more hopeful period. It is by now an unaccustomed, and therefore specially appreciated, pleasure to be meeting colleagues once again in the Centre’s corridors rather than on a computer screen. We are most grateful to colleagues whose responsibilities required regular on site attendance in the office and to those who had to resort to working from home. All their contributions have been appreciated.
Since the second half of Michaelmas Term the Centre has effectively been operating only in the virtual world and we have learnt a great deal about the opportunities that offers. The teaching and research of our Fellows has continued uninterrupted by the lockdown and we have maintained and indeed extended our seminar programmes, both among our Fellows and with attendance around Oxford and beyond, profiting from the ability to attract speakers online from major universities around the world who might not have been able to find the time to travel to Oxford. Happily the technology has enabled us to keep in touch to a degree with those Visiting Fellows who were unable to join us in person because of the current restrictions on international travel. While that programme has been significantly disrupted we are expecting to be able to welcome to Oxford next academic year some of those who had to postpone their fellowships from this year. We also hosted the annual meeting of the Trustees, but online, and with the additional challenge of the time zones for those participating from the USA across to Indonesia.
The Michaelmas Term Seminar Programme took on a variety of subjects from interpretations of the Qur’an to political Islam and contemporary concerns such as the political economy of the Middle East. The Centre hosted the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, HRH Prince Khalid bin Bandar, who was joined by a former British Ambassador to Riyadh, Sir William Patey, Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Mr Tim Stevenson and a group of Oxford academics including Director of the Foreign Service Programme, Dr Kate Jones, Principal of Hertford College, Mr Tom Fletcher, and Principal of Linacre College, Dr Nick Brown, to share views and answer questions from the online audience about prospects for bilateral and economic relations between the two Kingdoms at the start of a new decade. In Hilary Term themes discussed included the future of the petrodollar, the tragedy in Syria and ‘How the West stole democracy from the Arabs: a re-assessment of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference’ and also, topically, but with
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a focus on the Ottoman period and British rule of India, ‘Pandemic and pilgrimage’. This term we had an intellectual feast with a choice of three series, including on Qur’anic Manuscripts and a general series ranging from the Persianate Age in South Asia, to contemporary transitions in North Africa and the plight of the Rohingya, as well as regular reflections and discussion of their research among our Fellows. The Centre’s Islamic Finance discussion group has also been very active and drawn in greater attendance online. We have also successfully maintained (online) our Arabic language teaching. Next term we hope very much to be able to resume in person events and in particular to schedule a number of major lectures planned for this academic year that had to be postponed. These include law lectures in the Sultan Azlan Shah series by Lord Reed and Lord Thomas and a seminar by the Centre’s Sultan Azlan Shah Fellow, Baroness Hale, as well as a Keith Griffin Lecture by the celebrated economist Professor Mariana Mazucato. Lectures are also in the planning stage by a number of senior people from British and international public life, circumstances of travel permitting.
This year we have celebrated the 30[th] Anniversary of the Centre’s Visiting Fellowship Programme, which has brought more than 300 people from academic and public life to Oxford from the Muslim world and beyond. We had originally planned to host a celebratory event in Oxford for invited alumni, but the circumstances dictated otherwise and we redesigned the celebrations as a series of regional seminars, drawing in former Visiting Fellows from the United States, Central Asia, the Middle East and continental Europe and Southeast Asia, with one or two more in the pipeline. The series has offered fascinating insights into the influence that spending time at the Centre has had on the work and careers of those who have been here and reinforced in our minds the importance of maintaining and ideally extending the programme. In that regard, I am pleased to report that the Centre’s cooperation agreement with the Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office has been renewed once more, enabling Chevening Visiting Fellows to continue to spend time at the Centre under the FCDO scheme.
Despite the current difficulties, we have welcomed two new colleagues to the Centre’s fixed term fellowships: Dr Dagmar Riedel, a historian of the Middle East whose research focuses on manuscripts and printed books in Arabic and Dr Salman Younas, who works on Islamic law in the classical and modern periods. We also congratulated Dr Talal Al-Azem, the Centre’s Mohammad Noah Fellow, on his appointment as an Islamic Centre Lecturer in the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Theology and Religion, in recognition of his contribution to the faculty’s teaching and supervision related to Islam. Dr Cailah Jackson, the Centre’s Salem and Bakr bin Ladin Junior Research Fellow, received the 2021 Dionisius A. Agius Prize for her book _Islamic Manuscripts of Late Medieval Rūm, 1270s–1370s_ , awarded by the society of the Medieval Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the Centre’s library staff have profited from the lockdown to make great advances in the cataloguing of the major collections that the Centre has acquired in recent years, relating in particular to Islam in the Arab world and in Central and South Asia. The stacks have been reconfigured as a special reading room to enable readers to consult these special collections and work is also underway to refine the Centre’s procedures for handling private papers and the conservation of manuscripts.
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The Centre’s Garden Master, Professor Hugh Dickinson, ably assisted by the Home Bursar profited from a brief spell of normality in the early autumn to organize a most successful series of visits to the Centre’s Prince of Wales Garden. This was a traditional Centre contribution to the annual Oxford-wide “Open Doors” event, to enable residents and visitors to tour institutions that are not normally open to casual visitors. Several hundred visitors took advantage of the opportunity and the Garden was widely admired. We look forward to organizing a similar event in autumn 2021 and of course also to reinstating our annual Young Muslim Leadership Programme, planned for late September. It was with heavy heart that we had to cancel the 2020 iteration of the programme, judging that actual residence in Oxford and the opportunity to interact freely with speakers and among participants was the essence of the programme and could not realistically be replicated online. Selection of participants is already underway.
We have continued to keep in touch with our Scholars, those studying at the University on Centre-funded scholarships. I am glad to report that the agreement with the University relating to these Scholarships has been extended for a further period. Some Scholars have had their study more disrupted than others, depending on the nature of their course or research; indeed, a number of the undergraduates among them have not returned to Oxford since the end of Michaelmas Term. Among the graduates those based overseas also faced challenges given the restrictions on air travel. But I am glad to report that the Scholars are in good heart, despite the challenges, and we are doing our best to be flexible where study has had to be postponed or suspended. It has been a very difficult year for all the students, despite the great efforts of the Colleges to make the best of things, and the changing nature of government advice adding to the difficulties.
How to sum up the year? ‘Wholly unprecedented’ just about says it. On the positive side, there was no choice but to learn, and learn very quickly, a great deal about the possibilities of the virtual world. Those lessons will remain learned and feed, I am sure, into our future practices and programmes. But I think we have all greatly missed the opportunity for informal contact and discussion, which is such an essential feature of life in Oxford. We have missed the conversation over lunch or dinner, or even in the corridor, which can spark a new train of thought and we have also missed, of course, the academic events in the Centre’s building which bring guests in from the University and beyond. It has been a tough year for an institution which prides itself on bringing people together – but still there have been achievements. Speaking personally, I felt that I spent too much time in front of a computer screen long before the arrival of Zoom, leavened by the occasional Microsoft Teams, and I am delighted to detect a renewed (and welcome) spring in the Fellowship’s collective step now we that are back on site.
Farhan Nizami Director
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## _Chapter One_
## TEACHING
T he Centre continues to promote multi-disciplinary study of the culture and civilization of Islam and contemporary Muslim societies through various Fellowships. The following held fellowships at the Centre during the year:
- Dr Afifi Al-Akiti, Kuwait Fellow in Islamic Studies and Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford.
- Dr Talal Al-Azem, Mohamed Noah Fellow, Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford.
- Professor Sir David Clary, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Fellow (from January 2021)
- Professor Yasin Dutton, Senior Research Fellow.
- Dr Cailah Jackson, Salem and Bakr bin Ladin Junior Research Fellow.
- Mr Richard Makepeace CMG, Azman Hashim Fellow in International Relations; Fellow, St Cross College, University of Oxford.
- Professor Adeel Malik, Globe Fellow in the Economies of Muslim Societies, Associate Professor and Islamic Centre Lecturer in Economies of Muslim Societies, Department of International Development, University of Oxford.
- Dr Mohammad Meki, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Fellow, Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Finance, Department of International Development, University of Oxford.
- Dr Asma Mustafa, Salahuddin Abdul Jawad Senior Research Fellow, Linacre College, Oxford.
- Dr Basil Mustafa, Nelson Mandela Fellow (until October 2020)
- Dr Farhan Nizami CBE, The Prince of Wales Fellow, Magdalen College, Oxford.
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- Dr Moin Nizami, Tun Abdul Razak Fellow, Member Faculty of History and of Oriental Studies, Oxford.
- Baroness Hale of Richmond, Sultan Azlan Shah Fellow.
- Dr Dagmar Riedel, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Fellow (from December 2020)
- Professor Mohammad Talib, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Fellow, Associate Professor and Islamic Centre Lecturer in Anthropology, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.
- Dr Salman Younas, Hamad bin Jassim Research Fellow (from October 2020)
Fellows have taught for the following Faculties and Departments of the University of Oxford:
Faculty of History Faculty of Theology and Religion Faculty of Oriental Studies Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology The International Development Centre (QEH)
Fellows have membership of the following Colleges:
|Linacre|Dr Asma Mustafa|
|---|---|
|Magdalen|Dr Farhan Nizami|
|St Cross|Mr Richard Makepeace|
|St Peter’s|Professor Adeel Malik|
|Wolfson|Dr Cailah Jackson|
|Worcester|Dr Afifi Al-Akiti|
## COURSES AT THE CENTRE
Beyond the regular teaching by Fellows in the different faculties of the University the following courses open to the public were organized at the Centre.
Qur’anic Arabic
Regular classes for the study of Qur’anic recitation _(tajwid)_ were provided by Mr Saqib Mahmood.
Modern Standard Arabic
Regular classes at beginner and intermediate levels were taught by Mrs Sara Youssef, Kuwait Lector in Arabic.
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## _Chapter Two_
## SEMINARS
## The following Seminars were organized during the academic year 2020–21.
Visiting Fellowship Programme’s 30[th] Anniversary Seminars
The Visiting Fellowship programme, with support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, enables scholars to undertake a period of independent study at the Centre. To mark the 30-year anniversary of this programme, a series of seminars was held on the theme of ‘Engaging others: the value of international scholarship in promoting better understanding’. Alumni have attained exceptional success, and for this anniversary the Centre invited former Visiting Fellows to present their perspectives from four corners of the world:
First session with speakers from the USA
Professor Dale Eickelman (Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of Anthropology and Human Relations Emeritus at Dartmouth College)
Professor Bruce Lawrence (Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Humanities Distinguished
Professor Emeritus of Religion at Duke University)
Second session with speakers from Europe
Professor François Burgat (Emeritus Senior Research Fellow, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS))
Professor Ulrike Freitag (Director, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient and Professor of Islamic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin)
Third session with speakers from Middle East and North Africa
HE Mohammed Benaïssa (former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Morocco) HE Bassem Awadallah (former Minister of Finance, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan)
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Fourth session with speakers from Central Asia and the Caucasus
Dr Bakhrom Abdukhalimov (V-P for Social Sciences and Humanities, Uzbekistan, Academy of Sciences and Director of the Abu al-Raykhan al-Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies)
Dr Naida Azizova (Producer-Correspondent, RT)
Ms Diloram Ibrahimova (Editor, BBC World Service)
Fifth session with speakers from South East Asia
Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar (Fomer Minister of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia) Mr Khairy Jamaluddin (Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia) Mr Nazir Razak (Former Chairman of CIMB Group)
Michaelmas Term 2020
Centre Seminars
Dr Yaqub Chaudhary (Cambridge Muslim College) ‘AI: simulation and dissimulation’
Dr Rory McCarthy (Durham University) ‘Islamist transformations after the Arab Uprisings: Tunisia’s Ennahda movement’
Dr Fozia Bora (University of Leeds) ‘Archives and archival sensibilities in medieval Arabic historiography’
Dr Adam Hanieh (SOAS University of London) ‘Money, markets and monarchies: the Gulf Cooperation Council and the political economy of the Middle East’
Dr Stephen H. Jones (University of Birmingham) ‘Islam, liberalism and national identity: lessons from British Islamic Institutions’
Professor Christopher Melchert (University of Oxford) ‘Counting shaykhs in hadith collections’
Dr Minlib Dallh (University of Oxford) ‘Nana Asma’u (d. 1864): the erudite poet and mystic of the Sokoto Caliphate’
Fellows’ Seminars
Professor Adeel Malik (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) ‘The economics of solidarity: perspectives from the moral economy of Islam’
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Professor Muhammad Mustaqim Mohd Zarif (Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia) ‘Interfaith discourse in the Malay society: a socio-historical reconstruction’
Mr Abdulkader Thomas (SHAPE for Economic Consulting, WLL) ‘Shariah principles of bankruptcy: Lacunae in fiqh literature and civil law’
Dr Asim Zubčević (University of Sarajevo) ‘Book ownership in Ottoman Sarajevo 1707–1828’
Dr Nour-Eddine Qaouar (Mohammad V University, Morocco) ‘The role of _nawāzil_ in Islamic legal thinking’
Dr Diana Galeeva (St. Antony’s College) ‘Through the lens of 100 years: a retrospective analysis of Tatarstan–GCC states’ relations’
Professor Mohammad Talib (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) ‘Madrasah: beyond the discourse on reforming its curriculum’
Dr Cailah Jackson (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) ‘Unravelling a medical mystery: the identity of Geredeli Isḥāq b. Murād, a physician of late fourteenth-century Anatolia’
Library Seminar
Professor Anna Contadini (SOAS, University of London) ‘Book culture in the Arab world: an illustrated herbal of the 13th century’
Hilary Term 2021
Centre Seminars
Professor Mahmoud El-Gamal (Rice University) ‘The end of petrodollar recycling and the future of Islamic finance’
Ambassador Rajendra Abhyankar (Kunzru Centre for Defence Studies and Research) ‘Syria: the tragedy of a pivotal state’
Professor Scott Redford (SOAS, University of London) ‘Writing as talisman in medieval Islamic art’
Professor Anoush Ehteshami (Durham University) ‘Remapping political Islam in the Middle East’
Professor Sussan Babaie (The Courtauld) ‘Isfahan and Istanbul: European views before the long shadow of “Orientalism” ’
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Professor Elizabeth Thompson (American University, Washington D.C.) ‘How the West stole democracy from the Arabs: a reassessment of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference’
Dr Michael Christopher Low (NYU Abu Dhabi) ‘Pandemic and the pilgrimage: Ottoman Arabia in the shadow of British India’s ecological fallout’
Dr Chahir Zaki (Cairo University) ‘The impact of political instability on Egypt’s exports: evidence from firm-level and geolocalized data’
Fellows’ Seminars
Dr Salman Younas (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) ‘A conservative jurist’s approach to legal change: Ashraf Ali al-Thanvi on women’s political rule’
Professor Adeel Malik and Dr Moin Nizami (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) ‘Sufis, state and society’
Dr Nilay Özlü (Altınbas University) ‘Treasures at the Topkapi Palace: imperial and sacred collections revisited’
Dr Haroun Rahimi (American University of Afghanistan) ‘A historical exploration of attitudes of Afghanistan’s judiciary towards the relation between fiqh and state law’
Professor Zubair Abbasi (Lahore University of Management Sciences) ‘Constitutionalizing Sharia: the incorporation of Islam into the legal system of Pakistan’
Dr Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid (Universiti Sains Malaysia) ‘The threat of Islamist violence in a moderate Muslim state: the case of Malaysia’
Dr Tarik Ghodbani (University of Oran 2 Mohamed Benahmed) ‘Water governance in the Sahara: religious rules, identity and administrative policy’
Professor Muhammad Mustaqim Mohd Zarif (Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia) ‘Interfaith discourse in early modern Malay society’
Ms Dani Renne (University of Oxford) ‘Beyond the ‘(non)sectarian’ label: friendship, social engagement, and anti-sectarian rhetoric among Beirut’s religiously devout youth’
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Trinity Term 2021
Centre Seminars
Professor Richard Eaton (The University of Arizona) ‘India in the Persianate age, 1000-1765’
Dr Alexander Morrison (University of Oxford) ‘The Russian conquest of Ferghana, 1875-1876’
Dr Elizabeth Nugent (Yale University) ‘How polarization derails democratic transition: evidence from Egypt and Tunisia’
Dr Reshmaan Hussam (Harvard University) ‘The psychosocial value of employment: evidence from the Rohingya refugee camps’
Mrs Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (London) _et al._ ‘The inner lives of troubled young Muslims’
Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif (SOAS, University of London) ‘Poets and artisans in the Mamluk Sultanate: literary and artistic interactions’
Dr Richard Todd (University of Birmingham) ‘Alchemical interpretations of the Qur’an in the _Shudhur al-dhahab_ (Shards of Gold) and its commentaries’
Fellows’ Seminars
Dr Hanaan Balala (University of Nairobi) ‘The role of the rule of law in the socio-economic development of Muslim societies: a critical appraisal’
Professor Mohammad Talib (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) 'How is the moral deployed in the material domain? Revisiting the policy of mainstreaming Islamic education’
Dr Rashmee Roshan Lall (University of East Anglia) ‘The Platonic influence on al-Farabi’
Ms Nur Arafeh (University of Oxford) ‘Trade facilitation programmes in the occupied West Bank: reinforcing capital concentration through dependent privilege and business securitization’
Mr Abdulkader Thomas (SHAPE for Economic Consulting, WLL) ‘Insolvency, policy and Islam’
Professor Zubair Abbasi (Lahore University of Management Sciences) ‘Humanizing Sharia and harnessing the State: the Islamization of laws in Pakistan’
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Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar (Bursa Malaysia) ‘Islamic finance and ESG: the way forward’
Dr Tarik Ghodbani (University of Oran 2 Mohamed Benahmed) ‘State policy, religious rules and inherited social traditions. How to integrate legal pluralism into a sustainable development process? Algerian Sahara case study’
Dr Nilay Özlü (Altınbas University) ‘Architectural representations of justice: belvedere pavilions in Ottoman imperial palaces’
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_Chapter Three_
## PUBLIC LECTURES
he Centre’s Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Programme continues to bring leading public figures to Oxford to speak on major issues of current concern. A number of lectures have T been organized for the coming academic year, subject to the Government’s guidance on social gatherings:
Lord Thomas of Cwnigiedd Former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales ‘The rule of law in a post pandemic society’
## Lady Brenda Hale
Sultan Azlan Shah Fellow and former President of Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ‘Feminism in the Abrahamic faiths’
Tobias Ellwood
Member of Parliament and former Minister of Defence ‘Impact of technology on international security and international relations’
Lord Reed President, Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Topic: To be announced
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## _Chapter Four_
## CONFERENCES
## D
uring the year under review, the Centre maintained its collaboration with the Securities Commission, Malaysia and the Oxford Literary Festival.
## 1. RUSSIA AND THE MUSLIM WORLD
On 18[th] and 19[th] March 2021 the Centre hosted an online conference, ‘Russia and the Muslim world: through the lens of shared Islamic identities’ which was convened by Dr Diana Galeeva, a Scholar-in-Residence at the Centre. The conference brought together a dozen scholars based in Russia, the USA, UK and EU and discussed the role of Russia’s Muslims and Muslim regions in projecting Russian power and diplomacy in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Central Asia.
Participants included:
Professor Roy Allison (Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, Oxford University and Director of the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University)
Professor Elvira Aminova (Associate Professor, Department of Legal Foundations of Administration at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)).
Professor Edmund Herzig (Masoumeh and Fereydoon Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies; Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford University).
Professor Mark N. Katz (Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University)
Professor Michael Kemper (Professor and Chair of Eastern European Studies, University of Amsterdam).
Professor Linar Latypov (Advisor to the Rector for International Affairs, Professor of the Institute of International Relations of Kazan Federal University).
Dr Alexander Morrison (Fellow and Tutor in History at New College, Oxford University).
Professor Vitaly Naumkin (Academic Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences)
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- Dr Alexander Shumilin (Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Middle East Conflicts, Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences)
- Dr Ilsur Salikhov (Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Entrepreneurial Law at Kazan Federal University).
- Dr Akhmet A. Yarlykapov (Senior Researcher, Centre for the Regional Security and Caucasus Studies, Institute for International Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)).
- Dr Galina Yemelianova (Research Associate, SOAS Centre of Contemporary Central Asia and the Caucasus).
## 2. SAUDI-UK RELATIONS: NEW DECADE, NEW OPPORTUNITIES
On 16th September 2020, the Centre hosted a webinar on ‘Saudi-UK Relations: new decade, new opportunities’ by HRH Prince Khalid bin Bandar, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom. He was joined by the former British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sir William Patey. The webinar was attended online by Centre members, Heads of House and guests, including Mr Tim Stevenson (Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire), Dr Kate Jones (Director, Foreign Service Programme), Mr Tom Fletcher (Principal, Hertford College) and Dr Nick Brown (Principal, Linacre College).
## 3. GRADUATE COLLOQUIA
The Graduate Colloquia were not held during academic year 2020-21 due to covid-19 related restrictions.
- 3 CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS ATTENDED BY CENTRE MEMBERS
Dr Afifi Al-Akiti
Delivered the Vice-Chancellor Distinguished Lecture, ‘Islam and Science’, at the Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai, December 2020.
Acted as the Respondent to UKM Intellectual Discourse with H.E. Dr. Ban Ki-Moon, ‘The world in pandemic: the challenges of peace and sustainable development’, Kuala Lumpur and online, December 2020.
Delivered the Keynote Address at Maybank Indonesia Shariah Thought Leaders Forum 2021, Jakarta, ‘From niche to mainstream: Accelerating Shariah economy and finance in the digital era’. (online), May 2021.
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Dr Talal Al-Azem
Delivered a lecture on ‘The purposes of a madrasa education’, as part of the Madrasa Talks series organized by Fatih Sahn-i Semān Education and Research Centre, Istanbul, 20 March 2021.
## Professor Adeel Malik
Delivered a distinguished lecture, ‘Islam and the politics of development’, at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, 25 May 2021.
Delivered the keynote speech on ‘The political economy of violence in the Middle East’ at the conference on ‘Governance of Public Policies during and after Conflicts in the Middle East’, Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, 6 April 2021.
Presented a paper on ‘Crony globalization: the politics of partial liberalization in Muslim societies’, Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS) conference, MIT, 9–10 April 2021.
Dr Cailah Jackson
Subject specialist consultant and co-organizer of an online conference with the Bodleian Library, ‘Persian Arts of the Book’, July 2021.
Presented a paper on ‘Illumination in late fourteenth-century Persian manuscripts’ (online), Persian Arts of the Book, Bodleian Library, July 2021.
Presented a paper on ‘Unravelling a medical mystery: the identity of Geredeli Ishaq b. Murad, a physician of late fourteenth-century Rūm’ (online), Khalili Research Centre Seminar, University of Oxford, November 2020.
Mr Jeremy Jones
Delivered a talk on ‘Iran: the Oman connection’, Special Forces Club, London, 2020.
Gave an interview on ‘The stages of building the modern Omani state and the stability of its foreign policy’, Al Wasal Forum, 2020.
Delivered a lecture on ‘The good neighbour: a commemorative lecture on the life of Sultan Qaboos’, Anglo Omani Society, 2020.
Gave an interview on ‘The Omani angle in Indian Ocean history’, 2020.
Mr Richard Makepeace
Delivered a lecture on ‘Negotiating Palestine: history, objectives and tactics’, Oxford University Diplomatic Studies Programme, 7 June 2021.
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Dr Muhammad Meki
Presented on ‘Poverty traps and microenterprises’, Innovations for Poverty Action (webinar), 18 May 2021.
Presented on ‘Asset-based microfinance’, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah (webinar), 10 March 2021.
Presented on ‘Asset-based microfinance’, North East Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC), Dartmouth (webinar), 6 November 2020.
Presented on ‘Covid-19 and Microfinance’, Institute of Business Management, Karachi (webinar), 4 November 2020.
Presented on ‘Covid-19 and Islamic finance’, Securities Commission Roundtable, Kuala Lumpur (webinar), 16 October 2020.
Presented on ‘Covid-19 and microfinance’, hosted by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and Financial Inclusion for Development / Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) (webinar), 8 July 2020.
Presented on ‘Covid-19 and microfinance’, hosted by Pakistan Microfinance Network, Islamabad (webinar). 18 June 2020.
Presented on ‘Equity-based microfinance in Kenya’, Nuffield College, Oxford (webinar), 25 November 2020.
Presented on ‘Equity-based microfinance in Kenya’, Finance and Development (webinar), 23 November 2020.
Dr Farhan Nizami
Presented a paper at the ICESCO International Conference on ‘Civilizational values in the Prophet’s _sirah_ ’, 27 May 2021 (online).
Spoke at the Global Forum marking the 1150[th] Anniversary of Abu Nasr al-Farabi, organized by Organization of Islamic Cooperation COMSTECH and Ministry of Culture and Sports, Kazakhstan, 21–22 December 2020 (online).
Participated in the 4[th] Uzbekistan Congress on ‘The cultural legacy of Uzbekistan’, 11 December 2020 (online).
Participated in the SC–OCIS Roundtable on ‘Repurposing finance for longer term opportunities’, 15–16 October 2020 (online).
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## Dr Dagmar Riedel
Presented on ‘Why study manuscripts of the _Kitab al-Shifa_ by al-Qadi ‘Iyad (1083–1149)?’ at a research webinar of the Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford, 4 February 2021.
Presented on ‘The international trade with manuscripts in Arabic script: from commercial commodity to cultural heritage’, A. S. Yahuda and Islamic Manuscripts: A Symposium (online), organized by Marina Rustow, Princeton University, _et al._ , 1–3 June 2021.
## Professor Mohammad Talib
Keynote address on the theme ‘Rise and growth of sociology in South Asia: challenges ahead’ at the Valedictory Session, 4th National Urdu Social Science Congress (online), Maulana Azad National Urdu University, India, 22nd – 23rd December 2020.
Spoke on ‘Islam, Gandhi’s _nai talim_ , and self-directed education’, The Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Seshadipuram’s Alternative Education Initiative, Bengaluru Central University, India, 30th December 2020.
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## _Chapter Five_
## PUBLICATIONS
T he _Muslim Civilization_ Centre’s publications include 1) the ; and 3) publications by individual Centre Fellows and members. _Journal of Islamic Studies_ ; 2) the series _Makers of_
1 THE JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC STUDIES
The _Journal_ , published for the Centre by Oxford University Press since 1990, places the study of Islam and modern societies in a global context.
Volume 31, Number 3, September 2020
Articles:
Ibrahim Zein and Ahmed El-Wakil _,_ ‘Khālid b. al-Wālid’s treaty with the people of Damascus: identifying the source document through shared and competing historical memories’
Angelika Brodersen, ‘New light on the emergence of Māturīdism: Abū Shakūr alSālimī (fifth/eleventh century) and his _Kitāb al-Tamhīd fī bayān al-tawḥīd_ ’
Thomas Hegghammer, ‘Weeping in modern Jihadi groups’
The Book Review section contained 15 reviews.
Volume 32, Number 1, January 2021
Articles:
John Zaleski _,_ ‘ _“_ There is no monasticism in Islam’: Sufi asceticism and the Sunna of the Prophet in the _Rasāʾil_ of al-Junayd’
Mourad Laabdi, ‘Ibn Khaldūn between legal theory and legal practice’
Boğaç Ergene and Atabey Kaygun, ‘Semantic mapping of an Ottoman fetva compilation: Ebussuud Efendi’s jurisprudence through a computational lens’
The Book Review section contained 14 reviews.
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Volume 32, Number 2, May 2021
Articles:
Nicholas Boylston, ‘Islam from the inside out: ʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī’s reconception of Islam as vector’
Youcef L. Soufi, ‘From conquest to co-existence: Burhān al-Dīn al-Marghīnānī’s (d. 593/1197) re-interpretation of jihād doctrine’
Itzchak Weismann and Rokaya Adawi, ‘Muḥammad Bahjat al-Bīṭār and the decline of modernist Salafism in twentieth-century Syria’
The Book Review section contained 16 reviews.
- 2 THE MAKERS OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
Recently published
_Biruni_ by George Malagaris (2020)
Forthcoming titles
_Mawdudi_ by Mustansir Mir
_Haji Imdadullah_ by Moin Ahmad Nizami
- 3 PUBLICATIONS BY CENTRE MEMBERS
Afifi al-Akiti, ‘Al-Ghazali’s methodical engagement with the scientific tradition’ in Usama Hasan and Athar Osama (eds.), _Islam and Science: Muslim Responses to Science’s Big Questions_ , London: Muslim World Science Initiative (2020).
Talal Al-Azem, ‘Conscience and action in the Islamic _madhhab_ -law tradition’ in Morgan Clarkeand Emily Corran (eds.), _Rules and Ethics: Perspectives from Anthropology and History_ (Manchester University Press, 2021).
Talal Al-Azem and Dr Johan Rasanayagam, ‘Dialogue between anthropology and theology’, _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_ (forthcoming).
Maha Hanaan Balala, ‘Kenya’, in Syed Nazim Ali, Wijdan Tariq and Bahnaz Al-Quradaghi (eds.), _The Edinburgh Companion to Shariah Governance in Islamic Finance_ . (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).
Maha Hanaan Balala, ‘The role of the rule of law in the socio-economic development of Muslim societies’, _IJAARKE Humanities and Social Science Journal_ , 3/4 (2021): 8–12.
23
Ahmad Fauzi bin Abdul Hamid, ‘The politicization of Syriah law in Muhyiddin’s Malaysia’, _East Asia Form_ (Canberra, 2021).
Ahmad Fauzi bin Abdul Hamid, ‘Islamic _da‘wah_ in the Malay Peninsula: contributions of the Sayyids in early times’, _Tesosofi: Jurnal Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam_ (Surabaya) 11/1 (2021): 46–70.
Cailah Jackson, _Islamic Manuscripts of Late Medieval Rūm, 1270s–1370s: Production, Patronage and the Arts of the Book_ (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).
Cailah Jackson, ‘Illuminated Qur’an manuscripts of late medieval Rūm (13th–14th centuries),’ in Simon Rettig and Sana Mirza (eds.), _The Word Illuminated: Form and Function of Qur’anic Manuscripts_ (Washington D.C., forthcoming).
Cailah Jackson, ‘Reframing the Qarāmānids: examining cultural life through the arts of the book,’ _Al-Masāq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean_ (in press).
Cailah Jackson, ‘The 1373 _Mas̲navī_ of Tāj al-Dīn Shaykh Ḥusayn Bey,’ _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ , 31/2 (2021): 195–217.
Cailah Jackson, ‘An illuminated manuscript from late fourteenth-century Shiraz in the Bodleian Library,’ _Manuscript Studies_ 5/2 (2020): 254–83.
Adeel Malik, Ishac Diwan and Izak Atiyas, ‘A pyramid of privilege: how cronyism shapes business–State relationship in the Middle East’ in Hassan Hakimian (ed.), _The Routledge Handbook on the Middle East Economy_ (Routledge, 2021).
Adeel Malik, Rinchan Ali Mirza, ‘Islam and the politics of development: shrines and literacy in Pakistan’ in Melani Cammett and Pauline Jones (eds.), _Oxford Handbook on Politics of Muslim Societies_ (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Adeel Malik, Rinchan Mirza and Jean-Philippe Platteau, ‘Political dynasties and development: evidence from Pakistan’, EDI Working Paper (2021).
Moin A. Nizami, ‘Sufi orders in 18th–19th century South Asia’ in David Ludden (ed.), _Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History_ ( Oxford University Press, 2021).
Moin A. Nizami, ‘The Chishtis and cross-cultural interactions in South Asia’ in N. Arif and A. Panakkal (eds.), _Indian Islam: Spectrum of Integration and Indigenisation_ (Brill, forthcoming).
Moin A. Nizami, ‘Connecting law and Sufism: religious discourse in pre-modern South Asia’, in _Law, Culture and the Humanities_ (SAGE, forthcoming).
Muhammad Meki, Kate Roll and Simon Quinn, ‘Mutuality: the potential of microequity’ in Colin Mayer and Bruno Roche (eds.), _Putting Purpose into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality_ , (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Haroun Rahimi, ‘Institutional entrepreneurship in Afghanistan: how Afghan merchants and Afghan judges negotiate innovative financing solutions’ by Haroun Rahimi, _Business and Finance Law_ , 4/1:61–92 (2020).
Haroun Rahimi, ‘A constitutional reckoning with the Taliban’s brand of Islamist politics: the hard path ahead’, Afghan Institute of Strategic Studies (2021).
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Haroun Rahimi, ‘How to create better _hawala_ regulation: A case study of _hawala_ regulations in Afghanistan’, _Journal of Crime, Law and Social Change_ (Springer: 2021).
Dagmar Riedel, _The Kashf al-ẓunūn of Katib Çelebi (1609–1657): The Invisibility of a Successful Bibliography_ , accepted for peer review by the _Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS)._
Mohammad Talib, ‘Between (auto)biographical and anthropological: bearing of the interplay on teaching and research’ in A.P. Tandon _et al._ (eds.), _Social Scientist in South Asia: Personal Narratives, Social Forces and Negotiations_ (Routledge, 2021).
Mohammad Talib, ‘Modes of learning: some thoughts on the Other- and Self-directed educational practices’ in Azra Razzack _et al._ (eds.), _Education, Teaching and Learning: Discourses, Cultures and Conversations_ (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, forthcoming 2021).
Mohammad Talib, ‘Jamia’s founding spirit: analysis of its pedagogy. Self-directed educational experiment in Jamia Millia Islamia’. Published in the special issue of _SEMINAR_ , March 2021.
Mohammad Talib, ‘Does the past of madrasas have a future? An anthropologist on Islamic education between tradition and future’ in Yusuf Alpaydin (ed.), _Education of the Future: Educational Theory in the 21st Century_ (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming 2021).
Salman Younas, ‘Authority in the classical Hanafi school: the emergence and evolution of Zahir al-Riwaya’ in _Islamic Law & Society_ (Brill, forthcoming).
Salman Younas and Dr. Sohail Hanif, ‘Hanafi law’ in _Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies_ (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
Book Reviews and Encyclopedia Entries
Cailah Jackson, review of _The Seljuqs and Their Successors: Art, Culture and History_ by Sheila R. Canby, Deniz Beyazit and Martina Rugiadi (eds.), _Journal of Islamic Studies_ (in press).
Cailah Jackson, review of _Treasures of Knowledge: An Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3-1503/4)_ by Gülru Necipoğlu, Cemal Kafadar and Cornell H. Fleischer (eds.), _Nazariyat Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences_ ,6/2 (2020): 190–4.
Cailah Jackson, review of _Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs_ by Sheila R. Canby _,_ Deniz Beyazit, Martina Rugiadi and A. C. S. Peacock (eds.), _Journal of Islamic Studies_ , 31/3 (2020): 406–8.
Adeel Malik, review of _Money, Markets and Monarchies in the Middle East_ by Adam Hanieh in _Journal of Islamic Studies_ , 32/1 (2021):149–53.
Adeel Malik, review of _Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters: Democracy under Inequality in Pakistan_ by Shandana Mohmand. Bloomsbury Pakistan (forthcoming).
Muhammad Meki, review of _Microfinance_ (with Jing Cai, Simon Quinn, Erica Field, Cynthia Kinnan, Jonathan Morduch, Jonathan de Quidt, and Farah Said) (2021).
Moin A. Nizami, review of _Narrative Pasts: The Making of a Muslim Community in Gujarat, c. 1400–1650_ by J. G. Balachandran, _International Quarterly for Asian Studies_ (forthcoming).
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Mohammad Talib, review of _Islam and the Rule of Justice: Image and Reality in Muslim Law and Culture_ by Lawrence Rosen, _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_ , (n.s.) 26 (2020): 913–14.
Mohammad Talib, review of _The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History_ by Cemil Aydin, _Journal of Islamic Studies_ , 32/1 (January 2021): 127–129.
Mohammad Talib, art. ‘Language and religion: individual practice and collective belonging’ in James M. Stanlaw (ed.), _The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology_ (John Wiley & Sons, 2021).
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## _Chapter Six_
## RESEARCH
T he Centre has been focusing on the following areas of research:
- classical Islamic sciences;
- the social and intellectual history of the Muslim world;
- the social and economic development of Muslim societies (incorporating the Centre’s long-standing interests in Islamic finance); and
- Public Health, Science and Technology in Muslim societies.
The aim has been to develop a more strategic approach within and between each rubric unit, under the overall leadership of a research coordinator. These aspirations are a work in progress that will be refined and detailed over the years ahead.
- 1 THE ATLAS PROJECT: THE SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF MUSLIMS IN SOUTH ASIA
The Atlas Project deals with the history and geographical spread of Muslim social and intellectual networks in South Asia. It studies how ideas and individuals moved within and between differently configured Muslim societies, how they interacted with and influenced local attitudes and customs, how they responded to changes in economic and political situations, the scholarly and religious movements they inspired, and their enduring legacy in contemporary times. Covering a time span of about eight centuries, the _Atlas_ shows the teaching centres, educational and philosophical trends, the spread of Sufi orders, social and political movements, and the diverse routes for disseminating ideas, beliefs, and knowledge. The study draws on a variety of historical sources (such as local histories, biographical dictionaries, chronicles, and other materials) that have been verified, collated, and interpreted. This historical data has been used to create 162 maps, 142 charts, and 109 tables to provide a graphic depiction of Muslim intellectual history in the subcontinent. The accompanying text ties the themes together and explains the key findings that such a representation offers.
The _Atlas_ is under the direction of Dr Farhan Nizami and has been supported in the past by the Leverhulme Trust (UK), the Faisal Islamic Bank, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. Over the last year, all work on the graphic elements of the Atlas, such as the maps, charts and tables has been completed and they have been incorporated into the book’s layout. The end-matter including Bibliography, and the Atlas Gazetteer which will assist
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the reader in locating places on maps, has been updated and finalized. The ongoing work focuses on two tasks: preparation of the textual commentary that will analyze the information provided in maps and charts; and the finalization of endnotes. Dr. Moin Nizami is continuing the work on identifying the key themes raised by the maps and charts and incorporating them into the accompanying text. Concurrently, preparation of the endnotes is underway while ensuring that they reflect correctly the changes done on the maps and charts during multiple revisions.
## 2 ISLAMIC FINANCE
The Islamic finance unit has continued its regular group meetings, with a very active period and several talks throughout the year, in particular leveraging the technology of virtual meetings to benefit from regular attendance by participants in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Dr Tarik Akin, former OCIS–SC Visiting Fellow in Islamic Finance, and Division Director in the Finance Office of the Presidency of Turkey, presented on small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) access to finance. Dr Tarik, illustrating the benefits of ‘renting assets’ over ‘renting money’, showed with statistics that access to finance for SMEs is a bigger problem in Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries. In another presentation, he outlined the Turkish government’s ambitious strategy for ‘participation finance.’ (Dr Tarik has subsequently gone on to become the head of the newly formed Participation Finance Department at the Finance Office, Presidency of Turkey.)
Dr Attiya Ahmad, Associate Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, George Washington University, presented on ‘Halal tourism’, taking an anthropological perspective on this fast-growing market that constitutes a large share of GDP for many countries. In a related presentation, Dr Lena Rethel, Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Warwick, presented on global governance of Islamic finance and halal food, outlining the increasingly transnational character of the Islamic economy.
Dr Salman Syed, Islamic Research and Training Institute at the Islamic Development Bank, presented work on religiosity and multi-dimensional poverty. Dr Salman constructed a new measure of multidimensional poverty using a _maqasid al-shariah_ approach and 74,000 data points from 52 countries, indicating that our view of poverty changes significantly when we use such a multidimensional approach. In a subsequent talk, Dr Salman also presented on the emerging topic of artificial intelligence and Islamic finance, providing a detailed analysis of how artificial intelligence can be used to tackle financial exclusion while leveraging the latest technological developments.
Dr Hanaan Balala, OCIS Visiting Research Fellow, presented on the challenges to Shariah governance of Islamic finance in Kenya, where approximately 11% of the population are Muslims. Dr Hanaan illustrated the big challenges facing Islamic finance in Kenya, an environment where one must operate using ‘exceptions’ to the conventional legal system and the lack of an Islamic banking act or transparency in Shariah governance rules. Dr Haroun Rahimi, OCIS Visiting Fellow, presented on Islamic finance in his country of Afghanistan. He discussed
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issues of legal indeterminacy, problems of access to credit despite highly liquid commercial banks, and a general lack of focus on SMEs. Also providing a unique country perspective was Dr Nour-Eddine Qaouar, OCIS Scholar in Residence, who spoke about Shariah governance within Moroccan Participatory Banks, providing a detailed discussion of the origins of Islamic banking in Morocco and the challenges of dispute resolution.
Mr Abdulkader Thomas, current OCIS–SC Visiting Fellow in Islamic Finance, presented on _maqasid al-shariah_ and applications to Islamic finance, with a specific focus on bankruptcy law. The key question is how one takes a principle-based approach to manage situations where people are simply not able to pay their dues, and how countries can develop policy around that.
## 3 PUBLIC HEALTH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The Centre is initiating an innovative project on Public Health, Science and Technology in Muslim societies. There remains an urgent need to study the relationship between science and society in Muslim countries and to facilitate a deeper understanding of their interdependence. Within the scope of this project the Centre is adopting a holistic approach and will bring together concepts from different academic disciplines, notably from the sciences and social sciences, in order to strengthen the scholarship around this topic.
The aim will be to analyses the contribution of Muslim countries to global scientific progress and to identify opportunities for new approaches and mechanisms, including of international cooperation, which might enhance that contribution. The Centre has appointed two eminent scientists to key roles in the delivery of this project. Professor Sir David Clary, Former President of Magdalen College, has been appointed the Senior Adviser for this project and King Salman Fellow at the Centre. Dr Shahid Jameel, Director of Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University and leading virologist in India, has been appointed the project’s Principal Investigator and Sultan Qaboos bin Said Fellow at the Centre. Both have contributed generously to the initial scoping of the project and will be valuable additions to the Centre as it begins to investigate science and technology with reference to Muslim societies.
This multi-disciplinary project will strengthen the Centre’s commitment to a collaborative approach to research, while developing its unique international connections.
## 4 RESEARCH BY CENTRE MEMBERS
DR AFIFI AL-AKITI along with Dr A.I. Padela at the University of Chicago completed a 3-year major project, ‘Conversations on Islam and the Human Sciences’, supported by the Templeton ‒ Religion Trust (from 2017 2020). This project bought together theologians, medical practitioners and intellectual historians, and represents an original and serious effort to integrate theological, moral and epistemic frameworks by providing a holistic approach to bridging the fields of Islamic Studies and biomedicine. The project featured a weekly seminar series convened at the Centre, a multidisciplinary symposium and workshop convened at the University of Chicago, and has resulted in the publication of a book, _Islam and Biomedicine_ (Springer, 2021).
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DR TALAL AL-AZEM continues to work on two larger, long-term projects: an annotated translation of a post-classical work in legal hermeneutics and theory _(uṣūl al-fiqh)_ , that will serve as a primer on the subject; and a critical edition and study on educational culture in Damascus in the late Mamluk and early Ottoman period.
PROFESSOR YASIN DUTTON submitted an edited version of the manuscript of his monograph ‘Early Islam in Medina: Malik and His _Muwatta_ ’ to Bloomsbury Academic Publishers in February 2021. This project has now reached first proof and indexing stage and should be finished by the end of the year. He submitted a paper on ‘The concept of the environment in Islam’ in March 2021 to the potential publishers of a volume entitled ‘The Concept of Environment in Judaism, Christianity and Islam’. This volume is being organised by the research group Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses of the Katholische Universitaet EichstaettIngolstadt, Germany. In addition to this, he is continuing with his translation of the _Diwan_ of ‘Ali ibn Wafa.
DR CAILAH JACKSON is continuing her research into the arts of the book of late medieval Baghdad and Tabriz and has so far gained funding from the British Institute of Persian Studies, the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and the Oxford Bibliographical Society in support of this project. When restrictions allow, she hopes to be able to recommence fieldwork related to her research. She also continues to undertake research related to manuscripts of medieval Anatolia and has received financial support from Wolfson College, Oxford to prepare and publish journal articles on this topic.
PROFESSOR ADEEL MALIK is currently involved in two major strands of research. In the first, he is examining the political economy of trade liberalization in Muslim societies in general and in North Africa in particular. This work combines qualitative data on politically connected firms with quantitative data on tariffs and non-tariff measures. Together, the three papers on Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia highlight the manner in which politically entrenched businesses strategically used trade policy shifts induced by the European Union agreements to their advantage. This work points to the role of politically connected businesses in obtaining preferential trade protection in the wake of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and highlights the politics of trade protection in autocracies, a relatively under-studied subject in political economy. A recently launched project similarly probes the politics of trade protection in Pakistan by mapping the presence of politically connected firms in the country and investigating their influence on trade policy. His second strand of research involves the development of an original database on political genealogies of families in Pakistan that have remained active in electoral politics from the pre-partition era up to the present day. This database is being utilized to analyse patterns of dynastic politics in Pakistan and probe their possible impact on local development outcomes. The project is jointly carried out with Professor Jean Philippe Platteau based at Namur University, Belgium, and Dr Rinchan Mirza from Kent University, UK.
DR MUHAMMAD MEKI continued his research on development economics, financial inclusion, and microfinance, investigating the potential for _musharakah_ -based contracts to improve the economic outcomes of low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries. Several of
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his field projects have been delayed due to covid-19, but plans are in place to restart fieldwork in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, with funding secured for new work on asset-based microfinance for women in Pakistan.
DR MOIN AHMAD NIZAMI is continuing his research on the social and intellectual history of Muslims in South Asia. He is writing a textual commentary that will analyze and tie together the information presented in various charts and maps in the _Atlas_ . He has also submitted a book manuscript on _Haji Imdadullah_ for publication by Oxford University Press Delhi in the ‘ _Makers of Islamic Civilization Series’_ . The book studies the functioning of nineteenth-century intellectual networks between South Asia and the Ottoman Hijaz, and the role of migrant scholars such as _Imdadullah_ in their formation.
DR HAROUN RAHIMI worked on a book proposal on ‘Reform and Regulation of Economic Institution in Afghanistan’ during his stay at the Centre and has since received an offer to publish it.
PROFESSOR MOHAMMAD TALIB is working on his book project, ‘Mythicizing Islam: Strategic Imaginaries in recent Global Interventions’. The major part of writing for most chapters is now complete with more to do on the decade of 1990s (the account of Afghanistan) and on the methodological perspective of the research. The manuscript is expected by publisher by the end of 2021.
DR DAGMAR RIEDEL is engaged in two major strands of research. The first explores writing and literacy in medieval Muslim communities. In addition to continuing to serve as co-chair of the Columbia University Seminar on Religion and Writing, she is working on an article for the proceedings of a 2020 workshop at HUJI about medieval literacy. The second strand is a project about the reception of the _Kitab al-Shifa_ by al-Qadi ʿIyad (1083–1149). She is completing an essay about a North African fragment of this _Kitab_ for a special issue of _Digital Philology_ . She is also collaborating with Professor Benito Rial Costas (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) on publishing the proceedings of a ‘Convivencia’ workshop they co-organized in Madrid in 2018.
DR SALMAN YOUNAS’s research focuses on Islamic law in the classical and modern periods with a specific focus on the history of law, legal philosophy, and contemporary legal thought. His current research analyses the formation and evolution of the Hanafi school during the classical period of Islam. Currently, he is writing an intellectual biography of the founder of the school, Abu Ḥanifa, as well as examining early legal commentary literature. Alongside this, Dr. Younas is in the initial stages of researching the Islamic legal tradition in contemporary Britain. The central question he aims to address is: how do religious scholars engage with, contribute to, and shape Islamic law as a discursive tradition in a uniquely British context?
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_Chapter Seven_
## VISITING FELLOWSHIPS
T he Visiting Fellowships programme is a crucial element of the Centre’s commitment to establishing and sustaining external contacts with scholars and institutions at national and international levels. These Fellowships enable scholars to undertake a period of independent study and research at Oxford.
VISITING FELLOWSHIPS
During the year under review, the following were in residence:
Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar Chairman, Bursa Malaysia, formerly Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia
_Visiting Fellow_
The following elections were made to Visiting Fellowships for 2020/21 (and deferred to 2021/22):
Dr Ilhomjon Bekmirzaev, PhD (Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies), DSc (Tashkent Islamic University)
Department Islamic Law and Theology, International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan, Tashkent
_Visiting Fellow_
Dr Paulo Sartori, MA (Venice), PhD (Sapienza, Rome), Tenured Senior Fellow, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) _Mohammad bin Ladin Visiting Fellow_
Dr Asim Zubčević, BA (AMU), MPhil (Oxford), PhD (Leiden) Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo _Abdul Aziz al-Mutawa Visiting Fellow_
The following elections were made to Visiting Fellowships for 2021/22:
Dr Bashayer Al-Majed, BA, MA (Kuwait), LLM (QMUL), PhD (Leeds) Department of Law, Kuwait University _Visiting Fellow_
Dr Irina Katkova, PhD (St Petersburg Institute of Oriental Studies)
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St Petersburg State University _Abdul Aziz al-Mutawa Visiting Fellow_
Dr Pippa Virdee, PhD (Coventry University) De Montford University _Mohammad bin Ladin Visiting Fellow_
OCIS–SC VISITING FELLOWSHIP IN ISLAMIC FINANCE
In residence during 2020/21:
Mr Abdulkader Thomas, BA (Chicago), MALD (Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts/Harvard)
_SC–OCIS Visiting Fellow in Islamic Finance_
The appointment to the SC–OCIS Visiting Fellowship for 2021–22 has not yet been made.
## CHEVENING VISITING FELLOWSHIPS
During the year under review, the following Chevening Visiting Fellows were in residence at the Centre:
Dr Muhammad Zubair Abbasi, LLB (IIUI), LLM (Manchester), PhD (Oxon) Department of Law, Lahore University of Management Sciences _Chevening Fellow_
Professor Tarik Ghodbani, EngD, Magister (Oran 2, Mohamed Ben Ahmed), PhD (Paris 8/Vincennes - Saint Denis)
University of Oran 2 Mohamed Benahmed _Chevening Fellow_
Dr Nilay Özlü, B Arch (Orta Dogu Teknik), MBA (San Francisco), MA (Yildiz Teknik), PhD (Boğaziçi) Altinbaş University, Turkey _Abdullah Gül Chevening Fellow_
Professor Muhammad Mustaqim Mohd Zarif, BA, MA (Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia), PhD (Edinburgh) Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia _Chevening Fellow_
The following elections have been made to Chevening Visiting Fellowships for 2021/22:
Dr Nadia Yashaiua BSc (UTM), MBA (USM), PhD (University of Western Australia) _Chevening Fellow_
Mr Olugbenro Oyekan MBA (Lagos State University), MSc (Cranfield), DBA (Liverpool University)
International School of Management (ISM) Lagos, Nigeria _Chevening Fellow_
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Dr Ali Erken BA, MA (Bogaziçi), DPhil (Oxon) Marmara University, Turkey _Abdullah Gül Chevening Fellow_
Dr Muhammad Akram, BA, MA (Punjab), MA, MPhil (IIU), PhD (Erfurt) International Islamic University, Pakistan _Chevening Fellow_
## VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
During the year under review, the following Visiting Research Fellows were in residence at the Centre:
Dr Maha Hanaan Balala, LLB Law, LLB Sharia (IIUM), BCI, MSt, DPhil (Oxon) Senior Lecturer, University of Nairobi _Visiting Research Fellow_
Dr Haroun Rahimi, BA (Herat), LLM, PhD (University of Washington, School of Law) Assistant Professor of Law, American University of Afghanistan _Imam Bukhari Visiting Research Fellow_
The following elections were made to Visiting Research Fellowships for 2020/21 (and deferred to 2021/22):
Dr Aziza Shanazarova, BA, MA (Tashkent), MA, PhD (Indiana) Lecturer of Islamic Studies, Stanford University _Visiting Research Fellow_
Dr Shukurillo Umarov, MA (Samarkand), PhD (IIA Uzbekistan) Deputy Director of the International Scientific-Research Center of Imam Bukhari under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan _Imam Tirmizi Visiting Research Fellow_
The following elections were made to Visiting Research Fellowships for 2021/22:
Dr Akmal Bazarbaev, BA, MA (Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies), PhD (The Supreme Attestation Commission of the Rep. of Uzbekistan) _Imam Tirmizi Visiting Research Fellow_
Dr Majdi Faleh, BA, MA (University of Carthage), MA (Ball State University, Indiana), PhD (University of Western Australia) _Imam Bukhari Visiting Research Fellow_
During the year under review the following scholars were in residence:
Dr Diana Galeeva, LLB (Kazan Federal University), MA (Exeter), PhD (Durham) Academic Visitor, St Antony’s College, Oxford _Scholar in Residence_
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Dr Nour-Eddine Qaouar, BA, MA (Dar El-Hadith El-Hassania Institute for Higher Islamic Studies, Morocco), PhD (Mohammed V University) Part-time Professor, Mohammed V University _Scholar in Residence_
Dr Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, BA (Oxford), MA (Leeds), MA (Oxford), PhD (Newcastle) Professor of Political Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia _Scholar in Residence_
Owing to the coronavirus pandemic the following have deferred taking up their awards but are expected to be in residence during 2021–22:
Professor Jun Ding, BA (University of China), MA (Beijing), PhD (SISU) Professor of Middle East Studies Institute _Scholar in Residence_
Dr Tak Wai Hung, BA, MPhil (CUHK), PhD (UHK) Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture, CUHK _Scholar in Residence_
Professor Charles Powell, DMin Catholic Theological Union Adjunct Professor, Catholic Theological Union _Scholar in Residence_
Professor Emilia Powell, PhD (Florida) Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame _Scholar in Residence_
Dr John Sfakianakis, BSc (LSE), MA, PhD (SOAS) Chief Economist and Head of Research, Gulf Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia _Scholar in Residence_
Mr Barot Amonov, BA, MA (Tashkent) Independent Researcher at the International Scientific-Research Center of Imam Bukhari under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan _Scholar in Residence_
SARAWAK SABBATICAL PROGRAMME
Under an agreement with the Government of Sarawak, the Centre hosts one civil servant per term on a career development attachment. In the academic year 2020/21 it was not possible to host any on this programme owing to COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions imposed by the Malaysian and UK governments. It is anticipated that visits will resume in 2021/22.
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## _Chapter Eight_
## SCHOLARSHIPS
T he Centre Scholarships benefit those seeking to read for a degree at the University of Oxford, and are administered in accordance with an agreement with the University. The Programme’s primary purpose is to widen access to the University for students from Britain and overseas, and to encourage and support them to undertake studies which will be of benefit to Muslim communities and the wider societies to which they belong.
Centre Scholarships are available to students reading for graduate and undergraduate degrees in the humanities, social sciences, and those areas of the mathematical, physical, and life sciences which are relevant to the needs of Muslim societies. Some scholarships are restricted to citizens of countries in Asia and Africa, and to British citizens from Muslim communities.
During the year under review 21 Centre Scholarships were held by students reading for Oxford degrees in disciplines including Chemistry, Economics, Education, Engineering, History, International relations, Islamic studies, Law, Materials science, Philosophy and PPE.
Professor Mohammad Talib retired from the role of Dean of Scholars in Hilary Term and was succeeded by Dr Asma Mustafa. Centre Fellows acted as mentors for individual Scholars and provided pastoral support.
Seminars and lectures provided opportunities for academic and social interaction between Scholars and Fellows, although renewed covid-19 restrictions in Hilary Term and Trinity Term curtailed the usual programme of activities.
The following Centre Scholars, in residence during the year under review, successfully completed their degree courses:
Miss Razan Amine, MSc in Economics _Yousef Jameel Scholar_ Regent’s Park College
Mr Robin Ming Teck Ho, BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law) _Merdeka Scholar_ St Peter’s College
Miss Julia Merican, MSt in English _Merdeka Scholar_ St Anne’s College
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Mr Musaddik Ahmed, BA Hons in Law _Amanah Foundation Scholar_ St John’s College
Mr Omer Nalbant, MEng in Materials Science _Noon Scholar_ St Anne’s College Mr Yue Jin Oh, DPhil in Interdisciplinary Bioscience _Merdeka Scholar_ Exeter College
Mr Yusuf Oldaç, DPhil in Education _Yousef Jameel Scholar_ St Edmund Hall Mr Zhi Yi Wong, MRes in Oncology _Merdeka Scholar_ St Edmund Hall
The following Centre Scholars were in residence and will continue their studies during the coming academic year:
Ms Jaezah Adlina Zainal Azman, DPhil in Pharmacology _Merdeka Scholar_ St Cross College
Miss Afiea Begum, BA in Biomedical Sciences _Amanah Foundation Scholar_ St Catherine’s College
Ms Doaa Hammoudeh, DPhil in Social Policy _Easa Saleh Al Gurg Scholar_ St Antony’s College
Dr Imran Idris, DPhil in Clinical Neurosciences _Merdeka Scholar_ St Catherine’s College
Mr Ahmed Jeyte, BA in Jurisprudence _Khalid Al Ibrahim Scholar_ Lady Margaret Hall
Ms Samiha Mohsen, BA in History _Noon Scholar_ Lady Margaret Hall
Mr Abthal Mohamed Monir, BA in History _Barclays Scholar_ Oriel College
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Ms Darshini Nadarajan, DPhil in Education _Merdeka Scholar_ Kellogg College
Mr Muhammad Omar Habib Rahuman, DPhil in Medical Sciences _Merdeka Scholar_ St Anne’s College
Miss Khadija Sarguroh, MSc in Mathematical & Theoretical Physics _Easa Saleh Al Gurg Scholar_ Merton College
SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED FOR THE COMING YEAR
At the time of writing the following postgraduate scholarships have been awarded for students beginning their studies in the academic year 2021/2022:
Miss Rahma Hussein _Saif al Nahayyan Scholar_ Lincoln College
Dr Nashwa Skaik _Yousef Jameel Scholar_ Magdalen College (tbc)
Mr Muhammad Tayara _Noon Scholar_ Wolfson College
Mr Elmer Lim Chon Meng reading for an MBA _Merdeka Scholar_ St Cross College
Mr Muhammad Iqbal bin Abdul Majeed reading for MPhil in Economics _Merdeka Scholar_ Kellogg College
Mr Mohamad Zulfadli bin Mohd Amin reading for MPP (Master of Public Policy) _Merdeka Scholar_ St Catherine’s College
Mr. Fitri Fareez Bin Ramli, reading for a DPhil in Pharmacology _Merdeka Scholar_ St Cross College
The following undergraduate scholarships have also been awarded this year:
Mr Muhsin Ahmed _Easa al Gurg Scholar_ Keble College
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Ms Bahira Malik _Barclays Scholar_ The Queen’s College
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## _Chapter Nine_
## THE YOUNG MUSLIM LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME
T his annual intensive residential summer school, organized by the Centre with The Prince’s Charities, is open to British Muslim men and women between the ages of 21 and 30. The aims of the Young Muslim Leadership Programme (YMLP) are to enable participants to become confident in their identity as Muslims living in the United Kingdom, to be aware of their responsibilities to the wider society, and to relate their own personal development more effectively to this context. The YMLP also seeks to promote knowledge of the diversity of opportunities within British society and to develop leadership skills among the participants. The Programme aims to enhance both self-understanding and group understanding through intensive discussion about how young Muslims may best learn from each other, as well as from the wider communities of which they are part.
The Young Muslim Leadership Programme did not run in 2020 because of pandemic-related restrictions. The next YMLP programme is currently being planned, and should be held from 25 September to 3 October 2021.
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## _Chapter Ten_
## OUTREACH
The Centre’s traditionally active programme of public engagement has been largely suspended because of the Covid-19 restrictions preventing travel, in-person meetings and events of all kinds on Centre premises. However we are now cautiously reinstating some activity involving small groups and hope very much to be hosting the 2021 Young Muslim Leadership Programme as normal in the autumn. Preparations for this are already well underway. Outreach is an important part of our work and we hope to resume the full range of activities before too long.
## OXFORD OPEN DOORS ‘GOES OUTSIDE’ EVENT
This was the exception to the rule in that a very successful self-guided visit to the Prince of Wales Garden was devised and implemented by the Home Bursar and the Garden Master and enjoyed by several hundred visitors – of course suitably socially distanced.
## OUTREACH TO SCHOOLS AND EDUCATORS
The Centre’s programme of school visits has remained suspended this academic year, but there is strong demand from schools for visits in the autumn and preparations are underway.
## OUTREACH TO PEOPLE IN PUBLIC LIFE
The Centre has made particular efforts to keep in touch with its friends and supporters but this activity has inevitably been through zoom and teams. We hope to welcome many new and old friends to our series of major lectures from the autumn.
## OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
The Centre’s Mosque has been closed to visitors since the lockdown was first introduced and, sadly, throughout the month of Ramadan.
## INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH
Travel restrictions have prevented the Centre from undertaking its normal outreach activities, although online events, including for example the series of special seminars to celebrate the 30[th] anniversary of the Visiting Fellowship programme, were successfully implemented.
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The Visiting Fellowship Programme this year has been greatly disrupted by a combination of travel restrictions and government guidelines. A number of Visiting Fellows have postponed their time in Oxford and we look forward to welcoming them (in some cases welcoming them back after an interrupted period here) next term.
We have tried to be as flexible as the rules allow in these respects and have taken advantage of the online format of many of our activities to keep in touch with current Visiting Fellows even when they were unable to be in Oxford or at the Centre in person.
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## _Chapter Eleven_
## THE MOSQUE
S ince opening its doors in March 2016, the Mosque has continued to provide a welcoming, serene, and inclusive space for private and collective worship. It is open for Centre members at all times and has been welcoming students and members of the public more generally to join its daily congregational prayers. However, since March 2020, public access to the Mosque has been suspended. This suspension will be lifted soon with the lifting of the lockdown. The Mosque Committee meets quarterly and oversees the management of the Mosque’s operations. The Imam, Ibrahim Mohammad Amin, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Mosque and for leading the prayers. He is assisted by the Mosque Assistant, Muhammad Sahil.
Ramadan is a characteristically busy time for the Mosque. Over the years, the Centre has hosted a _qari_ of international acclaim for the duration of Ramadan to assist the Imam in the _tarawih_ prayers. Due to the pandemic, this was not possible for the last Ramadan. Public access was suspended but the Mosque remained accessible for Centre members.
The Mosque also provides educational and outreach services. A range of courses in Qur’anic recitation are offered to university students and wider members of the public. These include a beginners’ course, which runs over twenty weeks, and is currently led by Muhammad Sahil, who has had advanced training in _tajwid_ and its teaching. The long-standing intermediate course in Arabic runs over 25 weeks, and remains highly popular. To better meet the demand, this course is now being offered in two parallel sessions. The instructors for this course are Muhammad Sahil and Thaqib Mahmood, a qualified instructor in Arabic and Qur’anic sciences. All courses were delivered virtually for the most part during the last year.
The Mosque also has an active and well-received educational outreach programme for schools. Primary and secondary schoolchildren from local and national schools are invited to visit the Centre for an enjoyable out-of-classroom learning experience about the faith, practices, and values of Islam. This programme is led by Caroline O’Connor, an experienced school teacher with advanced training in educational practice and management. Over the years, the Mosque has hosted over 70 school visits, and the programme has received both encouraging feedback and increasing interest. This programme also had to be suspended from March 2020, but it is hoped it will resume in September 2021.
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The Imam is also a member of the University’s Chaplaincy Forum. Its members meet termly to discuss issues related to the pastoral care and welfare needs of students. As a Muslim chaplain to students and members of the University, the Imam has hosted a number of student groups and members of the Chaplaincy Forum for guided tours of the Centre followed by discussions on faith-related matters. It is hoped that, with the impending easing of restrictions, the Mosque will continue to offer opportunities for social engagement to students.
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## _Chapter Twelve_
## THE LIBRARY
T he Centre’s Kuwait Library has continued to grow over the past academic year, with new acquisitions, an increasing number of visitors, and continued collaboration with partners from within Oxford and worldwide.
## The Collection
The collection now stands at 32,802 catalogued volumes. There are a further approximately 20,000 books, in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, remaining to be catalogued and entered in the Bodleian’s University-wide Aleph system.
The private library of the late Professor Clifford Edmund Bosworth, was acquired last year, and cataloguing of the collection is now nearly complete. The collection has been integrated into the Library’s general collections and has enriched the Library’s coverage of major areas of the Muslim world, particularly Iran and Central Asia.
At the beginning of this year, the Library also acquired a collection, largely in Arabic and in English, of more than 600 titles in Islamic studies and history, with a particular focus on law, education, and medieval history. Work on cataloguing these books is well under way, and it is expected that the books will be integrated into the Library by September this year.
Work continues on processing the two major collections acquired in 2019: that of Sheikh ‘Abd alFattah Abu Ghuddah, and Professor K. A. Nizami. Both will remain as discrete collections in the Library’s Special Collections Room, and the first catalogued batch of volumes is available to readers upon stack requests. More than 3500 items from these two collections have now been processed and entered into the University’s Aleph system.
## Staffing
The Library’s staff continue to improve the services available to readers and to work with institutional partners, all while pursuing their own training, and contributing in new ways to meet the Library’s growing needs.
During the covid-19 pandemic, the staff have continued to facilitate the work of the Library by providing a remote service to readers. This service includes scanning chapters of journals and books for researchers while the Library has been closed. Our email enquiries service continues to operate, and we have also continued to catalogue new resources in Aleph.
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Dr Talal Al-Azem continues to serve as Fellow Librarian, overseeing the strategic development and growth of the Library and its collection.
Dr Dinah Manisty is the Librarian (part-time), managing the day-to-day running of the library. She has a wealth of experience in managing Islamic studies and Arabic collections, having previously worked in a number of specialist, academic libraries, including the Bodleian’s Oriental Institute Library.
Ms Julia Wagner serves as Assistant Librarian, drawing on her experience as Deputy Superintendent of the David Reading Room, where she was responsible for the Oriental Special Collection. She continues to head reader services offered by the Library and to work in close cooperation with colleagues across the Bodleian and College libraries. Over the past year, she has been responsible for the important task of rearranging the entire open shelf collection in the upper and lower library, comprising approximately 20000 volumes. This has rationalized the flow of shelfmark sequences (according to the Library of Congress classification) and created space to accommodate current and future acquisitions. Julia was also responsible for the cataloguing and integration of Professor Bosworth’s collection of 2500 books in English and European languages on the history, languages and literature of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Ms Dalia Abdelwahed, the Senior Library Assistant, is currently working on her dissertation in Information and Library Studies which is required for her part-time Master’s degree in Librarianship at Aberystwyth. She is heavily involved in the cataloguing of the Arabic collections, including the Abu Ghuddah collection, and has nearly completed cataloguing and processing the miscellaneous Arabic books that remained uncatalogued in the Special Collections Room.
Dr Nouri Muhammad serves as our Library Assistant, helping especially in the processing and maintenance of the collection. He has begun training in cataloguing, and is expected to contribute in particular on the Library’s special holdings in Arabic.
A new Library Assistant, Huzaifah Ismail, joined this past year. A PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, he is responsible for the cataloguing the Library’s extensive Urdu collections.
## Committees
The continued development of the Centre’s Library owes much to the efforts of two internal committees, and the participation of Library staff in Bodleian and national library committees.
The Library Acquisitions Committee comprises Dr Farhan Nizami, Director of the Centre; Dr Talal Al-Azem, Fellow Librarian; Dr Dinah Manisty, Librarian; Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, formerly of the British Library; and Dr Alasdair Watson, Curator of Middle Eastern and Islamic Manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries. This committee is responsible for planning the strategic growth of the collection, through donations and purchases of collections and individual works that further the objectives and tenor of the Library as a specialist collection. A draft Collections
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Development Policy prepared by the Librarian has been amended in consultation with other members of the Committee.
The Library Management Committee meets once a term to discuss management of the collections and Reader services.
The Library team also meets every Tuesday on Teams to discuss any outstanding issues. One of the most pressing of these is the increasing demand by readers for access to electronic resources, a demand that has increased significantly since the lockdown restrictions and closure of the libraries. The Librarian is currently looking into costings for e-resources and is organizing trials of high-use databases in order to help chart the future growth of this important aspect of the Library.
The Librarian is also a member of the Archives Committee which meets once a term. With the help of the Fellow Archivist, the Librarian has prepared a draft Archives Management document with five separate sections in order to define a policy for the Centre Archives, Private Papers, Manuscripts, Rare Books and Special Collections.
Finally, Library staff members attend committees run by the Bodleian Libraries including CLiPSOS (Committee for Library Provision and Strategy Oriental Studies (now Ancient and Modern Middle Eastern Studies)), MELIBOX (Middle East Librarians Oxford), and the oncetermly Cataloguers’ Forum. They also attend the national committee, MELCOM (Middle East Libraries Committee).
## Cataloguing
Between June 2020 and May 2021, the Library team have catalogued 6120 resources, including monographs and journals in English, Arabic and Urdu.
The staff continue to focus on clearing the backlog in the stacks, now called the Special Collections Room, with a view to opening it as a third reading room for researchers to consult the recently acquired private collections of renowned scholars. Duplicates, overflow of general collections, and Journal runs are all in the process of being re-housed in other parts of the Library and Centre.
The Library also continues its deduplication and weeding exercise in order to free up some more space for its ever-expanding collection.
## Special collections
Much work has been done with the Special Collections during the past year on several fronts. The first stage of archiving the Nizami private papers has now been completed by the Fellow Archivist and it is intended that over the coming year the Library will achieve a similar level of archiving for the Bosworth and Abu Ghuddah private collections. Conservation of the manuscripts has also started under the auspices of the Oxford Conservation Consortium.
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## Infrastructure
The Rare Books Room is now fully equipped with shelving and is ready to store manuscripts and rare items, including books.
The Special Collections reading room has also been equipped with desks, chairs, and supporting materials, and will be open to postgraduates and other researchers upon the completion of the cataloguing of the Special Collections.
## Readers
The Library has been closed to all readers over the past year, and re-opened to Centre Fellows and Scholars in the Trinity Term 2021. A scan-and-deliver service has been in place throughout this period. We hope to re-open to all readers at the beginning of the coming academic year, government guidance permitting.
## Knowledge exchange and outreach
Despite the restrictions imposed by covid-19, the Library team has continued its efforts to keep in contact with colleagues in other libraries and to keep abreast of how best to manage providing readers with the resources they need.
The Librarian continues to engage with the Consortium of Oxford Archivists who have an active email list for sharing knowledge and best practice for managing archives and personal papers. With the recent acquisition of two private libraries, both of which include archives, this shared knowledge continues to be valuable to the Kuwait Library.
The Library has recently become a member of the Oxford Conservation Consortium (OCC). This provides the Library with access to specialist conservation care from the OCC team. As a result of this, work has already begun on restoring manuscripts from the Nizami collection, and will eventually also extend to items in the Abu Ghuddah collection.
## Library Lectures
On 23[rd] February 2021, the Library held a lecture on Zoom shared with the Oxford Bibliographical Society. The speaker was Anna Contadini, Professor of the History of Islamic Art at SOAS, University of London, who spoke on the theme of ‘Book culture of the Arab world: an illustrated herbal of the 13[th] century’. Over 600 people registered for the lecture and there followed a lively session of questions. Further such lectures are currently being planned for the coming year.
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## _Chapter Thirteen_
## THE GARDENS
ork in the Centre’s gardens has focused on continuing to recover from the lack of Wmaintenance during the pandemic and responding to the more predictable challenges offered by _de novo_ planting that is now over 5 years old. Encouragingly, the gardens have recovered very well from issues associated with the pandemic, and significant casualties have included only the loss of one major tree and potentially serious damage to several others. ‘5 year plus maintenance’ of the gardens has involved replanting the Central Courtyard, revision of the planting in the Istanbul Courtyard and replacement of trees in the Yemen Courtyard.
## The Prince of Wales Garden
_The Wildflower Meadow._ This, the centerpiece of the Gardens is late coming into flower this year owing to weather conditions, but should be at its best in July. As anticipated, some weeds are starting to appear in this planting, and are regularly removed by the maintenance staff. The _Acer_ ‘Crimson King’ trees flanking this area are developing well and some may have to be pruned next year to maintain consistent form. The ‘new’ planting in the Western Border continues to be a great success with spring flowers followed by a range of hydrangeas. The trees in this border have done well, with the exception of single commemorative _Sorbus_ , which was a casualty of covid-19 neglect and has now been replaced.
_The Rose Garden._ This is looking particularly good this year and regularly attracts favourable comments from visitors. The delicate box hedging continues to fare well, despite ‘box blight’ occurring elsewhere in the Gardens. Plans over the next year are to replace the standard roses, which have proved unreliable, and to add further roses to the central ‘diamonds’ of each bed. Less successful have been the ‘pencil’ cypresses that are such an important feature of this area. They suffered greatly during the drought during the pandemic and have failed to recover fully. Advice from University Parks arboriculture experts is awaited before any further action is taken.
The Fahd Quad
A significant casualty of lack of maintenance during the pandemic, this area has also suffered from the imposition of a series of ‘emergency’ planting plans to ensure good displays to accompany different events at the Centre. This year planting of a permanent selection of herbaceous plants has commenced which will form the backbone of planting for years to come. Seasonal planting will then be added to ensure that this area looks its best at all times.
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## The Yemen Courtyard
This area was originally planted with 3 fastigiate _Sorbus_ trees. Unfortunately, problems with their size and ground anchorage has resulted in the loss of one tree and the other two leaning significantly. This year University Parks removed the remaining trees, replaced the soil, and replanted 3 new, smaller, trees that are very firmly anchored. These trees are developing well. Since this area is used by worshippers to access the Mosque there is little planting in this courtyard, save a large _Wisteria_ on the north wall, and a small amount of planting in formal planters.
## The Fellow’s Garden
This garden continues to provide interest the year round. In spring the _Hellebores_ and other spring flowers are followed by the flowering of the spectacular _Rosa Banksiae_ on the walls. In summer the remainder of the roses flower, followed by lilies, _Hydrangeas_ and a range of other colourful species **.** The problem of the large number of inspection hatches in this garden has been addressed by installing large ceramic pots that will be planted both to conceal the hatches and add interest to the garden.
## The Istanbul Courtyard
Although the main purpose of the long bed adjacent to the railings in the area is to screen the Centre from the road, it has long been recognized that this aspect lacks interest. A combination of new _Clematis_ growing on the railing and new planting in the bed itself, now being installed, should provide both colour and interest for the major part of the year.
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_Chapter Fourteen_
## GOVERNANCE OF THE CENTRE
he Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is incorporated by Royal Charter dated 20 April 2012 T and is a Registered Charity No 293072.
## PATRON
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is the Patron of the Centre.
THE HIGH COUNCIL
The Royal Charter provides for the creation of a High Council under the chairmanship of the Patron.
## THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
During the year under review the following served as members of the Board of Trustees:
HRH PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Riyadh (Chair)
HRH SULTAN NAZRIN SHAH, Sultan of Perak, Malaysia (Vice-Chair)
HIS EMINENCE MUHAMMAD SA’AD ABUBAKAR, Sultan of Sokoto, Nigeria
MR KHALID ALIREZA, Executive Director, Xenel Industries Ltd, Saudi Arabia
TAN SRI ZARINAH ANWAR, Chairman of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia
PROFESSOR SIR DAVID CLARY, FRS, President, Magdalen College, Oxford (until October 2020)
RT HON DOMINIC GRIEVE QC, former Attorney-General for England and Wales
HE DR ABDULLAH GÜL, 11th President of the Republic of Turkey
DR SHAHID JAMEEL, Chief Executive Officer, Wellcome Trust, India (until January 2021)
HE MR M JUSUF KALLA, Vice President of Indonesia
PROFESSOR RASHID NAIM, Department of Political Science, George State University, USA
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PROFESSOR ULRIKE ROESLER, Chair, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford
- HE DR SHAIKH MOHAMMED AL-SABAH, Former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kuwait
TUN AHMAD SARJI, Formerly Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia
DR ALI A. AL-SHAMLAN, Former Minister of Education, Kuwait (until September 2020)
- DR CATHERINE SWALES, Director of Clinical Studies, Medical Science Division, University of Oxford
- SIR MARTIN DONNELLY KCB, Former Permanent Secretary at the Department of International Trade (co-opted)
Emeritus Trustees
PROFESSOR KEITH B. GRIFFIN, Former President, Magdalen College, Oxford
- HE MR EASA SALEH AL-GURG, KCVO CBE, Chairman, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group of Companies, Dubai
PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD RABAY NADWI, Rector, Nadwat-ul-Ulama, India
DR ABDULLAH OMAR NASSEEF, Former President, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah
- ENGINEER ALI SUHEIMAT, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (since September 2020)
PEHIN ABDULAZIZ UMAR, Former Minister of Education, Brunei Darussalam
Secretary to the Board of Trustees
DR FARHAN AHMAD NIZAMI, CBE, Fellow, Magdalen College, Oxford
The 38th meeting of the Board was held virtually on 10 September 2020.
## COMMITTEES OF THE BOARD
There are three sub-committees of the Trustees which review academic, financial and strategic policies of the Centre and advise the Board accordingly.
The Academic Committee
The remit of the Committee is to review all aspects of the academic policy of the Centre decided by the Board of Trustees, and to make recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The 33[rd] meeting of the Committee was held virtually on 18 March 2021.
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The Finance and Investment Committee
The remit of the Committee is to review all aspects of the Centre’s finance and investment policy, and to make recommendations to the Board of Trustees.
The 61[st ] meeting of the Committee was held virtually on 18 March 2021.
The Strategy and Planning Committee
The remit of the Committee is to review all aspects of the Centre’s strategic aims and policies and to make recommendations to the Board of Trustees.
The 54[th] meeting of the Committee was held virtually on 18 March 2021.
## ADVISORY COMMITTEES
The advancement of the Centre’s activities at the local, national and international levels is assisted by the following advisory committees.
The Strategy Advisory Committee
The Strategy Advisory Committee reviews and advises on all aspects of the Centre’s activities that improve its resources and have wider benefits for British society. The members of the Committee are:
HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal (Chair) Mr Clive Alderton, LVO The Rt Hon Jack Straw The Rt Revd and Rt Hon The Lord Williams of Oystermouth DD FBA The Rt Hon The Lord Woolf CH FBA The Rt Hon Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG PC (from August 2019) The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP (from February 2020) Dr Farhan Nizami, CBE
The Committee last met on 11 March 2021.
The International Academic Advisory Committee
The purpose of this Committee is to sustain and advance the Centre’s global network of contacts with scholars and institutions. During the year under review, its membership was:
Dr Usman Bugaje Former Special Advisor to the President of Nigeria
Syed Mohamed Al-Bukhary Director, Islamic Arts Museum, Kuala Lumpur
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Professor François Burgat National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France
HE Professor Rahma Al-Mahrooqi Minister of Education, Sultanate of Oman
Professor Abdullah Y. Al-Ghunaim Chairman, Centre for Kuwait Studies
Sir Jeremy Greenstock Former UK Permanent Representative at the United Nations
Dr Carole Hillenbrand
Professor Emerita of Islamic History, University of Edinburgh and Professor of Islamic History, University of St Andrews
Dr Khalid Al-Khalifa
Deputy Chairman, Isa Cultural Center, Kingdom of Bahrain
Mr Salman Khurshid Former Foreign Minister, India
Professor Bruce Lawrence Professor Emeritus, Duke University, USA
Dr Marty Natalegawa Former Foreign Minister, Indonesia
Dr Driss Oaouicha
Minister for Education and Scientific Research, Morocco
Dr Don Randel
Former President, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Shaikh Mohamed Al-Thani Former Minister of Economy and Commerce, Qatar
Mr Sodiq Safoyev
First Deputy Chairman, Senate of Oliy Majlis, Uzbekistan
The Committee last met on 26 November 2020.
Academic Advisory Committee
Each Term this Committee reviews and assists the Centre’s contribution to teaching and research. During the year under review, its membership was:
Dr Farhan Nizami (Chair) Director, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
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Dr Silke Ackermann Director, History of Science Museum
Dame Helen Ghosh Master, Balliol College, Oxford
Professor Roger Goodman Warden, St Antony’s College
Professor Andrew Hurrell Montague Burton Professor of International Relations; Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford
Ms. Kate Jones (until Trinity Term 2020) Director Foreign Service Programme, Oxford
Lord Ken Macdonald (until Hilary Term 2020) Warden, Wadham College, Oxford
Mr Richard Makepeace Registrar, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
Dr Basil Mustafa Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
Professor John Nightingale Magdalen College, Oxford
Professor Karen O’Brien Head, Humanities Division
The Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy Dean, Christ Church, Oxford Sir Jonathan Phillips Warden, Keble College, Oxford
Mr Alan Rusbridger Principal, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Dr Rebecca Surender Pro-Vice Chancellor (Equality and Diversity), Oxford University
Professor Graham Ward Regius Professor of Divinity Faculty of Theology and Religion, Oxford University
Mr Laurence Whitehead Nuffield College, Oxford
Mr Richard Weyers (Secretary) Deputy Registrar, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
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The following will be joining the Committee from October 2021:
Professor Christopher Adam Oxford Department of International Development
Mr Tom Fletcher Principal, Hertford College, Oxford
Ms Dinah Rose QC President, Magdalen College, Oxford
The Investment Advisory Committee
This Committee has responsibility for monitoring the performance of the Trust’s investment managers, ensuring their compliance with the mandate under which they operate, and making recommendations regarding the management of the Trust’s investments. During the year under review, its membership was:
Dr Farhan Nizami (Chair) Director, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
Mr Akber Moawalla Russell Wood Ltd
Dr Basil Mustafa Senior Bursar, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
Mr Ziad Tayara Xenel Industries Ltd
Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar Former Managing Director, Khazanah Nasional Berhad
Mr Ismail Amla Chief Growth Officer, Capita plc
## SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES
The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies continues to have sole ownership of the following subsidiary companies:
- § OXCIS Ltd
- § Oxford Endeavours Ltd
- § Marston Development Ltd
Oxford Endeavours Ltd has sole ownership of:
- § Oxford Real Estate Ltd
- § Oxford Islamic Finance Ltd
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## PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS
Solicitors
Blake Morgan LLP Seacourt Tower, West Way, Botley Oxford
Bankers and Investment Managers
Barclays Bank PLC Oxford City Centre Branch
National Westminster Bank PLC Oxford City Centre Branch
Deutsche Bank AG London 1 Great Winchester Street, London
Allianz Global Investors Europe 155 Bishopsgate, London
Julius Baer International Ltd 1 St Martin’s Le Grand, London
CIMB Bank Berhad Ground Floor, 27 Knightsbridge, London
CCLA Investment Management Senator House, 85 Queen Victoria Street, London
Cazenove Capital King Charles House, Park End Street, Oxford
Accountants and Auditors
Wenn Townsend
Chartered Accountants, 30 St Giles, Oxford
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_Chapter Fifteen_
## MEMBERSHIP OF THE CENTRE
## DIRECTOR
Dr Farhan Ahmad Nizami, CBE, MA (Aligarh), MA, DPhil (Oxon); Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College; Member of the Faculties of History and of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford.
_Prince of Wales Fellow in the Study of the Islamic World_
FELLOWS
The following held Fellowships at the Centre:
Dr Afifi Al-Akiti, BA (Belfast), MA, MSt, DPhil (Oxon); Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford; Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford; Member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies. _Kuwait Fellow in Islamic Studies_
Maulana Ibrahim Amin _Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi Fellow Imam_
Dr Talal Al-Azem, BA (Michigan), MSt, DPhil (Oxon) _Mohamed Noah Fellow_
Professor Sir David Clary, BSc (Sussex), PhD, ScD (Cantab) (from January 2021) _King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Fellow_
Professor Yasin Dutton, MA, DPhil (Oxon) _Centre Fellow_
Dr Cailah Jackson, MA (SOAS), MSt, DPhil (Oxon) Junior Research Fellow, Wolfson College, Oxford _Salem and Bakr bin Ladin Junior Research Fellow_
Mr Richard Makepeace CMG, MA (Oxon); Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. (Registrar)
_Azman Hashim Fellow in International Relations_
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Professor Adeel Malik, MPhil, DPhil (Oxon); Associate Professor and Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Economies of Muslim Societies, Department of International Development, University of Oxford; Research Fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford _Globe Fellow in the Economies of Muslim Societies_
Dr Mohammad Meki, BSc (Warwick), PGDip (Cantab), MSc (LSE), MSc, DPhil (Oxon), Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Finance, Department of International Development, University of Oxford. _Hassanal Bolkiah Fellow_
Dr Asma Mustafa, BA (Reading), MPhil, DPhil (Oxon); Senior Research Fellow, Linacre College, Oxford _Salahuddin Abdul Jawad Fellow_
Dr Basil Mustafa, MSc (Leeds), PhD (Loughborough), MEd (Oxon) (until October 2020) _Nelson Mandela Fellow_
Dr Moin Nizami, MA (Aligarh), PhD (Cantab); Member of the Faculties of History and of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford _Tun Abdul Razak Fellow_
Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE, MA (Cantab) _Sultan Azlan Shah Fellow_
Dr Dagmar Riedel, MA (Hamburg), PhD (Indiana) _Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Fellow_
Professor Mohammad Talib, MA, PhD (Jamia Millia Islamia); Associate Professor and Islamic Centre Lecturer in Anthropology, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford
_Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Fellow_
Dr Salman Younas, MA, DPhil (Oxon) _Hamid bin Jassim Research Fellow_
## ARABIC LECTOR
Mrs Sara Youssef, BA (Al-Azhar), MA (AUC) _Kuwait Lector in Arabic_
SENIOR ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
The following were Senior Associate Members during the academic year 2020/21:
Professor Hugh Dickinson, MA (Oxon), PhD, DSc (Birmingham) (Garden Master)
Lady English, MA, MB, BChir (Cantab), MRCP, FRCPsych; Former Principal of St Hilda’s College, Oxford.
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Professor Paul Madden, FRS, FRSE, Former Provost, The Queen’s College, Oxford
Dr Basil Mustafa, MSc (Leeds), PhD (Loughborough), MEd (Oxon) (from November 2020)
Mr Jeremy Jones, MA (Cantab)
Mr Joss Saunders, MA (Oxon)
VISITING FELLOWS
The following held Visiting Fellowships during the academic year 2020/21:
Dr Muhammad Zubair Abbasi, LLB (IIUI), LLM (Manchester), DPhil (Oxon) _Chevening Fellow_
Professor Tarik Ghodbani, EngD, Magister (Oran 2, Mohamed Ben Ahmed), PhD (Paris 8/ Vincennes - Saint Denis)
_Chevening Fellow_
Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, FCCA, ACA _Visiting Fellow_
Dr Nilay Özlü, B Arch (Orta Dogu Teknik), MBA (San Francisco), MA (Yildiz Teknik), PhD (Boğaziçi)
_Abdullah Gül Chevening Fellow_
Professor Muhammad Mustaqim Mohd Zarif, BA, MA (Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia), PhD (Edinburgh) _Chevening Fellow_
OCIS–SC Visiting Fellow in Islamic Finance
Mr Abdulkader Thomas, BA (Chicago), MALD (Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy) _SC-OCIS Visiting Fellow in Islamic Finance_
## VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWS
Dr Maha Hanaan Balala, LLB Law, LLB Sharia (IIUM), BCI, MSt, DPhil (Oxon) Senior Lecturer, University of Nairobi
_Visiting Research Fellow_
Dr Haroun Rahimi, BA (Herat), LLM, PhD (Washington) _Imam Bukhari Visiting Research Fellow_
## SCHOLARS-IN-RESIDENCE
Dr Diana Galeeva, LLB (Kazan Federal), MA (Exeter), PhD (Durham) _Scholar-in-Residence_
60
Dr Ahmad Fauzi b. Abdul Hamid, BA(Oxon), MA (Leeds), MA (Oxon), PhD (Newcastle) _Scholar-in-Residence_
Dr Nour-Eddine Qaouar, BA, MA (DHH, Morocco), PhD (Mohammad V) _Scholar-in-Residence_
## ACADEMIC VISITORS
There were no Academic Visitors in 2020/21. The Centre hopes to resume the Sarawak Sabbatical Programme in 2021/22 after a hiatus in 2020/21 due to COVID-19 related restrictions.
ADMINISTRATION
_Registrar_
Mr Richard Makepeace CMG, MA (Oxon)
_Senior Tutor Adviser_
Dr Mark Pobjoy DPhil (Oxon)
_Governance Advisor_
Mr Joss Saunders, MA (Oxon)
_Assistant Registrar_
Mr Gordon Brown
_Human Resources Officer_
Mrs Alison Ash (Assoc CIPD)
_Director’s Personal Assistant_ Vacant
_Trust/Development Officer_ Mrs Sana Dogar, BSc (LUMS)
_Secretary_ Mrs Heather Reynolds
_Administrative Assistant_ Mrs Fardowsi Kazi
Development
_Capital Projects Officer_ Mr Clive Naylor, BSc, Dip Arch (UCL), RIBA
_Graduate Assistant_
Ms Marina Hackett, BA Hons (Oxon)
61
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
Academic Office
_Deputy Registrar_ Mr Richard Weyers, BA (Dunelm), MA (UCL)
_Academic Administrator_ Mr Paul Churchill, MA, M.Litt. (St Andrews) _Academic Officer_ Vacant
Publications
_Consultant_ Dr Jamil Qureshi, BA, MA, DPhil (Oxon)
_Publications Officer_ Ms Eleanor Jones BA, MA (Nottingham)
Library
_Librarian_ Dr Dinah Manisty PhD (SOAS) _Assistant Librarian_ Ms Julia Wagner, MA (Tubingen) _Senior Library Assistant_ Ms Dalia Abdelwahid, BA, MSc (Alexandria)
_Library Assistant_ Dr Nouri Mohamed, PhD (Damascus) Mr Huzaifa Ismail, MA (SOAS)
Finance
_Finance and Investment Bursar_ Mr Mark Chaloner, MA (Cantab) _Finance Manager_ Mr Ovais Ziauddin, DipFin (Thames Valley), FCCA _Finance Assistant_ Mr Samuel Wright
62
Mosque
_Imam_ Maulana Ibrahim Amin _Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi Fellow_
_Mosque Educational Visits Officer_ Ms Caroline O’Connor
HOME BURSARY
_Home Bursar_
Mr Tim Yates, MSc (Manchester), MBA (Bournemouth), PGDip (Lincoln)
_Bursary Assistant_ Ms Jennifer Kingham
Garden Master
Professor Hugh Dickinson MA (Oxon), PhD, DSc (Birmingham)
IT
_IT Manager_ Mr Dale Lloyd, BSc (Leeds)
_IT & AV Officer_ Mr Yasir Ibrahim (from Nov 2020)
Estates
_Estates Manager_ Mr Simon Hannigan
_Maintenance Technician_ Mr Kevin Coster Mr Ethan Harris
Lodge
_Senior Porter_ Mr Barry Green
_Lodge Porters_ Mr Zahid Bashir Mr Andrew Buchanan Mr Naser Khan Mr Ronny Rajendran Mr Robert Simmons Mr John Smith
63
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Marston Road, Oxford OX3 0EE United Kingdom Telephone: 44 1865 278730 Fax: 44 1865 248942 Email: islamic.studies@oxcis.ac.uk Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No: 293072
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies _**An institution for the advanced study of Islam and the Muslim world**_
Audited Accounts
2020 / 21
OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
Consolidated Financial Statements
for the year ended 31st March 2021
Page 1
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Trustees during the year**
HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal (Chairman) HRH Sultan Nazrin Shah (Vice-Chair) Mr Khalid Alireza Tun Ahmad Sarji bin Abdul Hamid HE Dr Abdullah Gul HE Dr Shaikh Mohammed Sabah Al Salem Al-Sabah HE Sultan Muhammad Saad Abubakar Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC HE Muhammad Jusuf Kalla Sir Martin Donnelly KCB CMG Tan Sri Datuk Zarina Anwar (from September 2020) Professor Rashid Naim (from January 2021) Professor Catherine Swales (from January 2021) Professor Ulrike Roesler (from January 2021) HE Dr Ali A Al-Shamlan (until August 2020) HE Engineer Ali Suheimat (until September 2020) Professor Sir David Clary (until October 2020) Dr Shahid Jamil (until January 2021)
**Secretary to the Board of Trustees and Director**
Dr Farhan Ahmad Nizami
Page 2
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
|**Registered Office**||Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies|
|---|---|---|
|||Marston Road|
|||Oxford|
|||OX3 0EE|
|**Charity registration no**||293072|
|**Solicitors**||Blake Morgan|
|||Seacourt Tower|
|||West Way|
|||Oxford|
|||OX2 0FB|
|**Bankers**||Barclays Bank Plc|
|||P.O. Box 858|
|||Oxford|
|||OX2 0XP|
|||CIMB Bank Berhad|
|||27 Knightsbridge|
|||London|
|||SW1X 7YB|
|||National Westminister Bank Plc|
|||43 Cornmarket Street|
|||Oxford|
|||OX1 3HA|
|**Auditors**||Wenn Townsend|
|||Chartered Accountants|
|||30 St Giles|
|||Oxford|
|||OX1 3LE|
|**Investment advisors/brokers**||Allianz Global Investors Europe|
|||155 Bishopsgate|
|||London|
|||EC2M 3AD|
|||Deutsche Bank AG London|
|||Private Wealth Management|
|||1 Great Winchester Street|
|||London|
|||EC2N 2DB|
|||Julius Baer International Ltd.|
|||1 St Martin’s Le Grand|
|||London|
|||EC1A 4AS|
|||CCLA|
|||Senator House|
|||85 Queen Victoria Street|
|||London|
|||EC4V 4ET|
|||Cazenove Capital|
|||Schroder & Co Limited|
||Page 3|1 London Wall Place|
|||London EC2Y 5AU|
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31st March 2021**
The Trustees have pleasure in submitting the report and the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2021.
## **REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION**
Details of the Trustees, Secretary to the Board of Trustees and Director, registered office address, and particulars of the charity's professional advisers are given on the previous two pages.
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
## **Organisational structure**
The Trustees have ultimate reponsibility for all aspects of the work of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, its academic, financial, investment policy and strategic direction. They have delegated the day-to-day management of the Centre to its Director, who operates through his departmental heads. The co-ordination of the work of the Centre is the responsibility of the Director. The Trustees maintain contact with the Charity through the Director and the system of committees detailed in the Annual Report.
The Centre’s relationship with its subsidiaries is also detailed in the Annual Report.
## **Key Management Personnel**
The Charity's Trustees and the senior management team comprises the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing, controlling and running of the charity on a day to day basis. All Trustees give of their time freely and no Trustees received remuneration for their role in the year. The pay of the senior staff made up of the Director, Registrar, Home Bursar and Investment Bursar is reviewed annually and increased in accordance with the cost of living increment agreed more widely in Oxford.
## **Governing Document**
The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is governed in accordance with the Royal Charter granted on 20th April 2012 and the Statutes made under the Charter. It is registered as a charity number 293072, and is considered to have no liability to taxation on its income.
## **Trustees Induction and Training**
Trustees are appointed by election in accordance with the Royal Charter and Statutes, serve for a term of five years and are eligible for re-election at the end of that period. The University of Oxford may nominate for election two of the Trustees (out of the maximum total of fourteen) and Trustees thus appointed also serve for a five year term.
The election of Trustees is preceded by consultation to ensure they are aware of the aims and objectives of the charity and their responsibilities.
## **Principal Risks and Uncertainities**
The Trustees have assessed and continue to reassess the major risks to which the charity is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the Charity, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate the charity's exposure to the major risks. Professional advice has been taken on all aspects of security, fire and health and safety at the Centre's new building. The Security, Fire, Health and Safety Policies are documented and reviewed annually. Training is provided as required. The Lodge is permanently manned. Staff are aware of safety procedures and a serious incident reporting procedure and register is in place. The Centre's IT system is managed securely and with necessary infrastructure safeguards in place. Insurances and preventative maintenance contracts are appropriate and fully up to date. Trustees have reviewed the potential impact of COVID-19 on the charity and are satisfied that there is no material uncertainty re going concern.
Page 1
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Related Party**
The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies owns four subsidiary companies namely Oxcis Limited, Oxford Endeavours Limited, Oxford Real Estate Limited and Oxford Islamic Finance Limited.
## **Consolidated accounts**
For the financial period under review, consolidated accounts have been prepared to include the results of the wholly owned subsidiary companies of the Charity.
## **OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHARITY**
The sole purpose of the charity is to promote an understanding of Islam and the Islamic World, in accordance with the Royal Charter. The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Trust's aims and objectives and in planning future activities.The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is an academic institution which, by means of the pursuit of excellence in its teaching, research and publication, aims to promote a more informed understanding of the Islamic World. During the year under review the Centre maintained its teaching, research, publishing and outreach activities. The charity will continue to invest in assets that maximise capital growth and yield satisfactory income to fund development of the Centre. A more indepth review of the above is covered in the main Annual Report.
## **FINANCIAL REVIEW**
The financial position of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is set out on pages 5 to 177 to 24 and the Trustees consider that satisfactory progress is being made towards the attainment of the charity's objectives.The performance of the investments portfolio and the results of the subsidiary companies are regarded as satisfactory.
## **Fund raising standards information**
During the year under review the charity did not raise any funds directly from the public nor did it use professional fundraisers or involve commercial participants for the purposes of fund raising.
## **Investment powers and policy**
The investment objective, as agreed by the Trustees, is to achieve sufficient capital and income growth, which over the long term will maintain the real value of the assets. The Trustees continue to review their Investment Policy which holds separate portfolios for the Investment and Reserves Funds. On near completion of the building project, the funds were rebalanced to reflect the level of reserves the Trustees felt were necessary to protect the Charity’s ongoing commitments. There are no specific restrictions on investments other than that they should be suitable for the Charity.
The Trustees appoint professional managers to manage investments on behalf of the charity. The activities of the investment managers are appraised periodically in terms of performance and compliance with their respective mandates which include social, environmental and ethical considerations. A list of investment managers in place are included on the information page.
Page 2
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Reserves policy**
The policy of the Trustees is to use income fund to support the objects of the charity and also to accumulate the operating surpluses and necessary fixed assets, to build up a financial reserve of a sum equivalent to not more than nine months of general fund operating costs. The level of all reserves is monitored and reviewed by the Trustees at least once a year. General reserves were in surplus at the year-end by £6,238,820 of this £292,654 was held as fixed assets, and £3,000,000 designated for specific future use as detailed in note 14, leaving £2,946,166 of free reserves in the general fund at the year end date. The Trustees aim to maintain reserves at levels of at least nine months expenditure c £3m, and thus are satisfied with the level of free reserves held given the lack of certainty of future donation income. The trustees remain mindful that further substantial funds will need to be raised in the future to prevent an operating deficit position in the general funds.
## **FUTURE PLANS**
The immediate goal of the charity is to mobilise benefactions in order to endow its operational costs and expand its academic activities in support of its overall objectives.
## **Trustees' responsibilities statement**
The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102); make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **Auditors**
A resolution will be proposed to re-appoint the auditors at the forthcoming annual trustees meeting.
## **Signed on behalf of the Trustees on :**
**Trustee**
**Trustee**
Page 3
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Independent Auditors' Report for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Charity (the ‘parent charity’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31st March 2021 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Charity Balance Sheet, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland_ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and parent charity’s affairs as at 31st March 2021, and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group’s or parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so,
consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves.
If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material
misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Page 4
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Independent Auditors' Report for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or
- sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
- the parent charity’s financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of trustees**
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 2, the trustees are responsible for the 3 preparation of financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and parent charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the parent charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
We have been appointed as auditor under section 151 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The specific procedures for this engagement and the extent to which these are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below
- Enquiry of management, those charged with governance and the entity’s solicitors (or in-house legal team) around actual and potential litigation and claims;
- Enquiry of entity staff in tax and compliance functions to identify any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations;
- Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
- Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
- Performing audit work over the risk of management override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for bias;
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
Page 5
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
**Wenn Townsend, Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors 30 St Giles Oxford**
**………………………………. 2021**
**Wenn Townsend is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.**
Page 6
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|**Total Funds**|
||**Note**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Income From:**|||||||
|Donations and gifts||6,499,500|250,000|1,234,699|7,984,199|7,984,730|
|**Charitable Activities**|**5**|129,291|-|-|129,291|158,534|
|**Investment income**|**6**|2,655|62|1,731,013|1,733,730|1,775,941|
|**Total income**||6,631,446|250,062|2,965,712|9,847,220|9,919,205|
|**Expenditure as:**|||||||
|**Cost of raising funds**|||||||
|Costs of raising voluntary income||517|-|-|517|685|
|Investment management fees||-|-|154,015|154,015|137,440|
|Development||17,262|-|-|17,262|62,212|
|Trust administration||5,287|-|-|5,287|74,394|
|||23,066|-|154,015|177,081|274,731|
|**Charitable Activities**|||||||
|Centre||2,871,884|-|-|2,871,884|2,521,291|
|Fellowships and Scholarships||1,424,930|-|-|1,424,930|1,716,486|
|Publications||93,472|-|-|93,472|40,458|
|Conferences & Events||1,892|-|-|1,892|85,623|
|||4,392,178|-|-|4,392,178|4,363,858|
||||||||
|**Total expenditure**|**7**|4,415,244|-|154,015|4,569,259|4,638,589|
|**Net income / (expenses)**||2,216,202|250,062|2,811,697|5,277,961|5,280,616|
|**for the year before transfers**|||||||
|Transfer between funds||1,731,013|-|(1,731,013)|-|-|
|**( Losses ) / Gains on investment assets:**||-|-|13,243,580|13,243,580|(2,818,724)|
|**Net movement in funds in year**||3,947,215|250,062|14,324,264|18,521,541|2,461,892|
|Total funds brought forward||2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|184,785,652|
|**Total funds carried forward**|**14**|6,238,820|110,398,851|89,131,414|205,769,085|187,247,544|
Detailed Comparative Information is shown in Note 19
None of the trust's activities was acquired or discontinued during the above financial year.
There are no other recognised gains or losses in the above financial years.
Page 7
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Consolidated Balance Sheet**
**at 31st March 2021**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|**Total Funds**|
|**Note**||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Fixed assets**|||||||
|Tangible assets|**8**|292,654|111,178,075|5,617,513|117,088,242|116,916,307|
|Investments|**9**|3,180,185|-|82,628,099|85,808,284|65,966,992|
|||3,472,839|111,178,075|88,245,612|202,896,526|182,883,299|
|**Current assets**|||||||
|Debtors|**10**|129,096|5,891|137,040|272,027|242,538|
|Cash at bank||3,130,697|(756,046)|990,160|3,364,811|4,839,730|
|||3,259,793|(750,155)|1,127,200|3,636,838|5,082,268|
|**Creditors**|||||||
|Amounts falling due|||||||
|within one year|**11**|(231,467)|(29,069)|(241,398)|(501,934)|(463,795)|
|**Net current assets / (liabilities)**||3,028,326|(779,224)|885,802|3,134,904|4,618,473|
|**Provision for liabilities and charges**|||||||
|Pension scheme liability|**12**|(262,345)|-|-|(262,345)|(254,228)|
|**Net assets**||6,238,820|110,398,851|89,131,414|205,769,085|187,247,544|
||||||||
|**Funds**|**14**|6,238,820|110,398,851|89,131,414|205,769,085|187,247,544|
**Approved by the Board of Trustees on :**
**Signed on its behalf by:**
**Trustee**
**Trustee**
Page 8
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Charity Balance Sheet**
**at 31st March 2021**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|**Total Funds**|
||**Note**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Fixed assets**|||||||
|Tangible assets|**8**|264,186|6,506,736|5,617,513|12,388,435|12,352,636|
|Investments|**9**|3,179,673|100,000|75,038,692|78,318,365|58,477,073|
|||3,443,859|6,606,736|80,656,205|90,706,800|70,829,709|
|**Current assets**|||||||
|Debtors|**10**|129,096|105,397,444|3,973,530|109,500,070|109,364,903|
|Cash at bank||3,130,691|(991,952)|-|2,138,739|3,576,817|
|||3,259,787|104,405,492|3,973,530|111,638,809|112,941,720|
|**Creditors**|||||||
|Amounts falling due|||||||
|within one year|**11**|(230,063)|-|(42,693)|(272,756)|(231,851)|
|**Net current assets**||3,029,724|104,405,492|3,930,837|111,366,053|112,709,869|
|**Provision for liabilities and**|**charges**||||||
|Pension scheme liability|**12**|(262,345)|-|-|(262,345)|(254,228)|
|**Net assets**||6,211,238|111,012,228|84,587,042|201,810,508|183,285,350|
||||||||
|**Funds**||6,211,238|111,012,228|84,587,042|201,810,508|183,285,350|
**Approved by the Board of Trustees on :**
**Signed on its behalf by:**
**Trustee**
**Trustee**
Page 9
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Consolidated Cashflow statement for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|||**2021**||**2020**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Net cash flow from operating activities**||3,687,161||3,205,301|
|**Returns on investments and servicing of finance**||1,733,730||1,775,941|
|**Capital expenditure and financial investment**|||||
|Payments to acquire investments|(18,262,285)||(35,008,296)||
|Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets|(298,099)||(503,835)||
|Receipts from sale of investments|11,664,574||29,734,963||
|Net movement in cashflows attributable to|||||
|endowment fund investments|154,015||137,440||
|||(6,741,795)||(5,639,728)|
|Net cash flow before financing
**Financing**
Net movement in cashflows attributable to
to endowment fund assets|(154,015)|(1,320,904)|(137,440)|(658,486)|
|||(154,015)||(137,440)|
|Increase / (Decrease) in cash in the year||(1,474,919)||(795,926)|
|**Reconciliation of net incoming resources to net cashflow**
Net Incoming resources
Decrease / (Increase) in debtors
(Decrease) / Increase in creditors
Depreciation
Investment income|**from operating**|**activities**
**2021**
5,277,961
(29,489)
46,255
126,164
(1,733,730)||**2020**
5,280,616
27,025
(423,675)
97,276
(1,775,941)|
|**Net cash flow from operating activities**||3,687,161||3,205,301|
|**Analysis of changes in net cash resources**
Cash at bank and net cash resources||**At 1st April**
**2020**
£4,839,730|**Cashflow**
(1,474,919)|**At 31st March**
**2021**
£3,364,811|
Page 10
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **1 Accounting policies**
The Centre is a Charitable Trust registered in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information page of these financial statements.
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.
The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been coout below. These policies have bee **n** sistently applied to all years pre consistently applied to all year **s** presented unless otherwise stated.ented unless otherwise stated.
## **a) Accounting convention**
The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements are prepared in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity.
## **b) Income recognition**
All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.
- For donations to be recognised the charity will have been notified of the amounts and the settlement date in writing. If there are conditions attached to the donation and this requires a level of performance before entitlement can be obtained then income is deferred until those conditions are fully met or the fulfilment of those conditions is within the control of the charity and it is probable that they will be fulfilled.
Donated facilities and donated professional services are recognised in income at their fair value when their economic benefit is probable, it can be measured reliably and the charity has control over the item. Fair value is determined on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity. For example, the amount the charity would be willing to pay in the open market for such facilities and services. A corresponding amount is recognised in expenditure.
- No amount is included in the financial statements for volunteer time in line with the SORP. Further detail is given in the Trustees’ Annual Report.
- For legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the charity being notified of an impending distribution or the legacy being received. At this point income is recognised. On occasion legacies will be notified to the charity however it is not possible to measure the amount expected to be distributed. On these occasions, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed.
- Investment income is earned through holding assets for investment purposes such as shares and property. It includes dividends, interest and rent. Where it is not practicable to identify investment management costs incurred within a scheme with reasonable accuracy the investment income is reported net of these costs. It is included when the amount can be measured reliably. Interest income is recognised using the effective interest method and dividend and rent income is recognised as the charity’s right to receive payment is established.
- The charity receives government grants in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. These grants are recognised using the accrual model and as such are recorded in the income and expenditure statement / SOFA in the period in which the charity is entitled to such grants as a result of having furloughed staff members. During the period the charity received circa £85k, and given the amounts involved are not material to the charity this has been reported as a reduction in staff costs in the accounts as opposed to grant income.
Page 11
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **c) Donations**
Benefactions for endowment, research grants and donations for earmarked purposes are allocated to appropriate funds and similarly related expenditure is charged directly to these funds. Donated goods and services are included at cost or fair value at the time of donation. All donations are taken into account when receivable.
## **d) Depreciation**
Depreciation of fixed assets is calculated using rates and bases which are appropriate to the useful lives of the assets and their residual values and were as follows:
Furniture and equipment 15% Reducing balance Computers 33.33 % Straight line
No depreciation is provided on the freehold buildings as the Trustees ensure that the buildings are fully maintained and an annual impairment review is performed so as to extend their lives indefinitely. It is therefore considered inappropriate to charge depreciation in these circumstances. The leasehold property used in the charity's operations is depreciated evenly over the remaining life of the lease. Leasehold property held for investment is not depreciated, but included at market value.
**g**
## **e) Taxation**
As a registered charity, the Charity is exempt within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes, but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.
## **f) Tangible Fixed Assets**
Tangible fixed assets costing over £500 are capitalised.
Leasing rentals payable under operating leases are charged against income on a straight line basis over the lease term.
## **g) Realised and unrealised gains and losses**
On the sale of investments, realised gains and losses are accounted for in the appropriate funds. At the year end all investments held are valued at fair value and unrealised gains and losses on revaluation are recognised in the appropriate funds.
## **h) Foreign currencies**
Assets denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate ruling at the date of the transaction. Exchange gains and losses are written off to revenue in the year and arise purely from normal currency conversion transactions.
## **i) Investments**
Quoted investments are valued at their fair value.
Investment properties are valued at fair value. Any aggregate surplus is recognised in the appropriate Funds.
No depreciation is provided in respect of the freehold investment property; the trustees consider the accounting policy results in the accounts giving a true and fair view.
## **j) Investment income**
Dividend income is accounted for on the basis of the dividends received.
Page 12
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **k) Expenditure**
Expenditure is recognised when a liability is incurred at the transaction price.
Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.The Trustees consider that all the expenditure is charitable expenditure in accordance with the objects of the charity as laid down within the Trust Deed.
All costs have been directly attributed to one of the functional categories of resources expended in the Statement of Financial Activities.
## **l) Grants payable or receivable**
Grants payable or receivable are recognised in the accounts as and when they become due for payment or receipt. Income is deferred when sums are received in advance for the accounting period to which they relate.Where they are recognised in the financial statements, gifts in kind or donated services are included at fair value on the date of receipt.
## **m) Group Financial Statements**
These financial statements consolidate the results of the Charity and its subsidiary undertakings on a line by line basis. A separate statement of financial activities for the charity is not presented because the Charity has taken advantage of the provisions of paragraph 397 of the SORP. The charity balance sheet is presented as part of the financial statements.
## **n) Pension costs**
The Centre participates in the Universities Superannuation Scheme ("the USS") and the University of Oxford Staff Pension Scheme ("the OSPS") on behalf of its staff. Both schemes are contributory defined benefit schemes (i.e. they provide benefits based on length of service and pensionable salary). The assets of USS and OSPS are each held in separate trustee administered funds. Both schemes are multi-employer schemes and the Centre is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of each scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. Therefore, as required by FRS 102, the Centre accounts for the schemes as if they were defined contribution schemes. Both schemes have put in place agreements for additional contributions to fund their past service deficits. In accordance with the provisions of FRS 102, the Centre has recognised a liability for the future contributions that it estimates will be payable as a result of these deficit funding agreements.
## **o) Fund accounting**
General funds are unrestricted funds which the Trustees are free to use in accordance with the charitable objects. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes. The restricted funds is to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the benefactor. Endowment funds represent capital which must be held permanently by the charity. Income derived from these funds is credited to the general and designated funds.
## **p) Going concern**
The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as the trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The Trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the Centre to be able to continue as a going concern.
Trustees have reviewed the potential impact of COVID-19 on the charity and are satisfied that there is no material uncertainty re going concern.
Page 13
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **q) Critical accounting judgements**
FRS 102 makes the distinction between a group plan and a multi-employer scheme. A group plan consists of a collection of entities under common control typically with a sponsoring employer.
A multiemployer scheme is a scheme for entities not under common control and represents (typically) an industry - wide scheme such as that provided by USS and OSPS. The accounting for a multi-employer scheme where the employer has entered into an agreement with the scheme that determines how the employer will fund a deficit results in the recognition of a liability for the contributions payable that arise from the agreement (to the extent that they relate to the deficit) and the resulting expense is recognised in income or expenditure. The Trustees are satisfied that the schemes provided by USS and OSPS meet the definition of a multi-employer scheme and has therefore recognised the discounted fair value of the contractual contributions under the funding plan in existence at the date of approving the financial statements.
## **r) Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty**
The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have been made in the process of applying the above accounting policies that have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements:Pension scheme liability
The Trustees are required to make assumptions on future staffing levels and appropriate discount rates when calculating the USS and OSPS pension scheme liability. These are included as best estimates at the date of calculation, but present a significant risk in potentially causing a material adjustment to the balance sheet.
## **s) Maintenance of premises**
The cost of routine corrective maintenance is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period it is incurred.
## **t) Provisions**
Provisions are recognised when the Centre has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required to settle the obligation, and a reliable estimate can be made of the obligation.
## **u) Debtors and creditors receivable / payable within one year**
Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.
## **v) Impairment**
Assets not measured at fair value are reviewed for any indication that the asset may be impaired at each balance sheet date. If such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset, or the asset’s cash generating unit, is estimated and compared to the carrying amount. Where the carrying amount exceeds its recoverable amount, an impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss unless the asset is carried at a revalued amount where the impairment loss is a revaluation decrease.
## **w) Leases**
Rentals payable and receivable under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on
Page 14
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|**2**|**Staff costs comprise**|**2021**|**2020**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|**£**|
||Wages and salaries|1,842,616|1,873,176|
||Social security costs|192,102|196,014|
||Pension costs|178,451|176,437|
||Defined benefit schemes - Pension provision|8,117|(155,784)|
||Consultancy, Recruitment and agency costs etc.|138,977|148,179|
|||2,360,263|2,238,022|
There were no outstanding or prepaid pension contributions at 31st March, 2021 (2020 Nil).
The trustees received no remuneration during the year. A professional indemnity insurance of £5,942 (2020 £5,942) was paid in respect of the Trustees.
During the year no trustees were reimbursed for travel related costs (2020 £12,506).
Under the University scale A20 two employees are paid the professorial rate of £72,172 (2020 £72,172). In addition one employee also receives a distinction award £83,509 (2020 £82,509), Schedule I allowance £23,757 (2020 £23,757) and contributions to the pension fund of £37,615 (2020 £35,992). The total remuneration paid to the Key Management personnel in the year was £386,703.
## **3 Average number of employees**
The average number of employees of the Centre excluding Trustees on a full time equivalent basis was as follows.
|Centre|39|38|
|---|---|---|
|Teaching and research|10|11|
|Projects|1|3|
|Publications|1|2|
|Development|1|3|
||52|57|
|**Net income**|||
|This is stated after charging|||
||**2021**|**2020**|
|Auditors remuneration|**£**|**£**|
|Audit services|32,909|33,277|
|Other services|-|-|
|Depreciation|126,164|97,276|
|**Charitable Activities**|||
||**2021**|**2020**|
||**£**|**£**|
|Centre|||
|Rental income|30,414|24,391|
|Other|98,877|134,143|
||129,291|158,534|
|**Investment income**|||
||**2021**|**2020**|
||**£**|**£**|
|Listed securities|829,566|577,180|
|Bank deposits|2,868|52,730|
|Rental Income|901,296|1,146,031|
||1,733,730|1,775,941|
## **4 Net income**
## **5 Charitable Activities**
- **6 Investment income**
Page 15
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **7 Total expenditure**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Total expenditure|2021|2020|
|General and|
|designated|Restricted|Endowment|
|funds|funds|funds|£|£|
|Centre:|
|Staff costs|1,234,468|-|-|1,234,468|1,251,723|
|Travel and communications|24,099|-|-|24,099|22,421|
|Properties & equipment running costs|1,257,980|-|-|1,257,980|899,024|
|Depreciation and amortisation|126,164|-|-|126,164|97,276|
|Legal Fees and charges|153,290|-|-|153,290|111,214|
|Guest expenses and common table|39,968|-|-|39,968|88,185|
|Administrative costs|35,915|-|-|35,915|51,448|
|2,871,884|-|-|2,871,884|2,521,291|
|Investment portfolio management fees:|-|-|154,015|154,015|137,440|
|-|-|154,015|154,015|137,440|
|Fellowships, scholarships and teaching:|
|Fellowships and Scholarships|1,293,554|-|-|1,293,554|1,570,358|
|Library costs|130,773|-|-|130,773|133,622|
|Seminars expenses|603|-|-|603|12,506|
|1,424,930|-|-|1,424,930|1,716,486|
|Publication:|
|Staff costs|74,874|-|-|74,874|38,320|
|Other costs|18,598|-|-|18,598|2,138|
|93,472|-|-|93,472|40,458|
|Cost of generating voluntary income|
|Video, newsletters and brochures|517|-|-|517|685|
|Conferences and special events:|
|Venues, travel and other costs|1,892|-|-|1,892|85,623|
|1,892|-|-|1,892|85,623|
|Development:|
|Staff costs|16,762|-|-|16,762|45,923|
|Travel|-|-|-|-|11,161|
|Administrative costs|-|-|-|-|2,215|
|Calendar|500|-|-|500|2,913|
|17,262|-|-|17,262|62,212|
|Trust administration:|
|Travel|1,215|-|-|1,215|7,511|
|Administrative costs|4,072|-|-|4,072|66,883|
|5,287|-|-|5,287|74,394|
|Total|4,415,244|-|154,015|4,569,259|4,638,589|
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 16
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **7 Total expenditure (continued)**
||||**Travel and**|**Properties and**||**Professional**|**Fellowships**||**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Staff**|**communic-**|**Equipment**||**fees and**|**and**||**£**|
|||**Costs**|**ations**|**running costs**|**Depreciation**|**charges**|**Scholarsips **|**Other costs**||
||**Expenditure analysis**|||||||||
||Cost of raising funds|||||||||
||Cost of raising voluntary income|-|-|-|-|-|-|517|**517**|
||Investment portfolio management fees|-|-|-|-|-|-|154,015|**154,015**|
||Development|16,762|-|-|-|-|-|500|**17,262**|
|||16,762|-|-|-|-|-|155,032|**171,794**|
||Charitable activities
Centre
Fellowships and Scholarships (to individuals)
Publications
Conferences|1,234,468
-
74,874
-|24,099
-
-
-|1,257,980
-
-
-|126,164
-
-
-|153,290
-
-
-|-
1,424,930
-
-|75,883
-
18,598
1,892|**2,871,884**
**1,424,930**
**93,472**
**1,892**|
|||1,309,342|24,099|1,257,980|126,164|153,290|1,424,930|96,373|**4,392,178**|
||Governance costs
Trust administration|-|1,215|-|-|-|-|4,072|**5,287**|
|||-|1,215|-|-|-|-|4,072|**5,287**|
|||||||||||
||**Total expenditure year ended 31st March**
**2021**|1,326,104|25,314|1,257,980|126,164|153,290|1,424,930|255,477|**4,569,259**|
|||||||||||
||**Total expenditure year ended 31st March**
**2020**|1,335,966|41,093|899,024|97,276|111,214|1,716,486|437,530|**4,638,589**|
|**8**|**Fixed assets**
**Group**
**Cost:**
At 1st April 2020
Additions||**Freehold**
**Land and**
**Buildings**
9,915,816
-|**Assets Under**
**Construction**
104,530,179
141,160|**Residential**
**Properties**
2,207,097
-|**Furniture and**
**Equipment**
1,283,114
156,939|**Total**
**£**
117,936,206
298,099|||
||At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|104,671,339|2,207,097|1,440,053|118,234,305|||
||**Depreciation and Amortisation:**
At 1st April 2020
Charge for year||-
-||-
-|(1,019,899)
(126,164)|(1,019,899)
(126,164)|||
||At 31st March 2021||-||-|(1,146,063)|(1,146,063)|||
||**Net book value**
At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|104,671,339|2,207,097|293,990|117,088,242|||
||At 31st March 2020||9,915,816|104,530,179|2,207,097|263,215|116,916,307|||
||**Charity**
**Cost:**
At 1st April 2020
Additions||**Freehold**
**Land and**
**Buildings**
9,915,816
-|**Residential**
**Properties**
2,208,434
-|**Furniture and**
**Equipment**
1,050,725
156,939|**Total**
**£**
13,174,975
156,939||||
||At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|2,208,434|1,207,664|13,331,914||||
||**Depreciation and Amortisation:**
At 1st April 2020
Charge for year||-
-|-
-|(822,339)
(121,140)|(822,339)
(121,140)||||
||At 31st March 2021||-|-|(943,479)|(943,479)||||
||**Net book value**
At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|2,208,434|264,185|12,388,435||||
||At 31st March 2020||9,915,816|2,208,434|228,386|12,352,636||||
Page 17
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **9 Investments**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Group Investment Portfolio
Quoted Total Investment Total
Cash reserves
Investments £ Properties £
Market value
As at 1st April 2020 3,553,418 42,721,947 46,275,365 19,691,627 65,966,992
Additions - 18,257,585 18,257,585 4,700 18,262,285
Disposals (2,831,083) (8,833,490) (11,664,573) - (11,664,573)
Increase in market value - 11,010,533 11,010,533 2,233,047 13,243,580
As at 31st March 2021 722,335 63,156,575 63,878,910 21,929,374 85,808,284
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Market value of :**
UK quoted investments as at 31st March 2021 Overseas quoted investments as at 31st March 2021
23,094,759 40,061,816
Investment properties was valued at 31st March, 2021 on the basis of an Open Market Valuation by the Trustees. The cost of the Investment properties was £18,977,752.
|**Charity**|**Investment Portfolio**|
|---|---|
|**Market value**|**Cash reserves**
**Quoted**
**Investments**
**Unquoted**
**Investments**
**(Subsidiary**
**Companies)**
**Total**
**£**
**Investment**
**Properties**
**Total**
**£**|
|As at 1st April 2020|3,553,418
42,721,947
1,726,434
48,001,799
10,475,274
58,477,073|
|Additions|-
18,257,585
-
18,257,585
4,700
18,262,285|
|Disposals|(2,831,083)
(8,833,490)
-
(11,664,573)
-
(11,664,573)|
|Increase in market value|-
11,010,533
-
11,010,533
2,233,047
13,243,580|
|As at 31st March 2021|722,335
63,156,575
1,726,434
65,605,344
12,713,021
78,318,365|
For details concerning the subsidiary companies see note 17.
## **Market value of :**
UK quoted investments as at 31st March 2021 23,094,759 Overseas quoted investments as at 31st March 2021 40,061,816
Investment properties was valued at 31st March, 2021 on the basis of an Open Market Valuation by the Trustees. The cost of the Investment properties was £10,115,909.
Page 18
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|**10 **|**Debtors**|**Group**||**Charity**|**Charity**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**2021**|**2020**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
||Accounts receivable|104,891|50,950|82,213|49,967|
||Prepayments and accrued income|161,245|130,564|161,245|130,564|
||Other taxes and social security|5,891|61,024|-|-|
||Amounts due from subsidiary undertakings|-
|-|109,256,612|109,184,372|
|||272,027|242,538|109,500,070|109,364,903|
|**11 **|**Liabilities:**|||||
||**Amounts falling due within one year**|||||
||Accounts payable|163,271|67,779|139,844|65,826|
||Accruals and deferred income|256,311|306,733|111,031|137,709|
||Other taxes and social security|82,352|89,283|21,881|28,316|
|||501,934|463,795|272,756|231,851|
|**12 **|**Provision for liabilities and charges**|||||
||At start of year|254,228|410,012|254,228|410,012|
||(Credit)/Charged in the Statement|8,117|(155,784)|8,117|(155,784)|
||of Financial Activities|||||
||At end of year|262,345|254,228|262,345|254,228|
||The above provision relates to USS and OSPS Pension deficits|||||
|**13 **|**Deferred Income**|**2021**|**2020**|||
||Balance as at 1st April 2020|**£**
170,071|**£**
189,865|||
||Amount realised to incoming resources|(170,071)|(189,865)|||
||Amount deferred in year|170,893|170,071|||
||Balance as at 31st March 2021|170,893|170,071|||
Page 19
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|**14 **|**Movements in Trust funds**|**Balance at**|||||**Balance at**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**1st April**|**Incoming**||**Gains &**|**Transfers**|**31st March**|
|||**2020**|**Resources**|**Expenditure**|**Losses**||**2021**|
|||**£**|||||**£**|
||**Endowment funds**|||||||
||Fellowship and Scholarship funds|74,807,150|2,965,712|(154,015)|13,243,580|(1,731,013)|89,131,414|
|||74,807,150|2,965,712|(154,015)|13,243,580|(1,731,013)|89,131,414|
||**General and designated funds**
General funds
Designated Building maintenance fund|2,291,605
-|6,631,446
-|(4,415,244)
-|-
-|(1,268,987)
3,000,000|3,238,820
3,000,000|
|||2,291,605|6,631,446|(4,415,244)|-|1,731,013|6,238,820|
||**Restricted funds**
Building fund|110,148,789|250,062|-
|-|-|110,398,851|
|||110,148,789|250,062|-
|-|-|110,398,851|
|||||||||
||**Total funds**|187,247,544|9,847,220|(4,569,259)|13,243,580|-|205,769,085|
Total funds of the charity at the balance sheet date are £201,810,508 (2020 £183,285,350). The difference in the consolidated funds is due to the effect of the subsidiary undertakings results and is reflected in the General Funds. The general funds were in surplus at the year-end by £3,503,681.
## **Comparative Movement in Trust funds for the year ended 31st March 2020.**
||**Balance at**|||||**Balance at**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**1st April**|**Incoming**||**Gains &**|**Transfers**|**31st March**|
||**2019**|**Resources**|**Expenditure**|**Losses**||**2020**|
||**£**|||||**£**|
|**Endowment funds**|||||||
|Fellowship and Scholarship funds|76,738,074|2,751,094|(137,440)|(2,818,724)|(1,725,854)|74,807,150|
||76,738,074|2,751,094|(137,440)|(2,818,724)|(1,725,854)|74,807,150|
|**General and designated funds**
General funds
Designated Building fund|(4,356,610)
2,760,000|6,190,212
-|(4,027,851)
-|-
-|4,485,854
(2,760,000)|2,291,605
-|
||(1,596,610)|6,190,212|(4,027,851)|-|1,725,854|2,291,605|
|**Restricted funds**
Building fund|109,644,188|977,899|(473,298)|-|-|110,148,789|
||109,644,188|977,899|(473,298)|-|-|110,148,789|
||||||||
|**Total funds**|184,785,652|9,919,205|(4,638,589)|(2,818,724)|-|187,247,544|
Total funds of the charity at the balance sheet date are £183,285,350 (2019 £180,896,174). The difference in the consolidated funds is due to the effect of the subsidiary undertakings results and is reflected in the General Funds. The general funds were in surplus at the year-end by £2,258,958.
Page 20
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **15 Pension Commitments**
## **Universities Superannuation Scheme (“USS”)**
The pension charge for the year includes a charge of £133,810 (2020: credit of £42,215) in relation to the USS. This represents contributions of £124,479 payable to the USS, as increased by the change in the deficit funding liability between the opening and closing balance sheet dates of £9,331 (2020: decreased by £158,434). The 2018 actuarial valuation of the scheme was finalised during the prior accounting period and reported that total assets of the scheme were £63.7bn, with total liabilities of £67.3bn – meaning a past service shortfall of £3.6bn and a funding level of 95%.
This position was improved compared to the 2017 valuation, which had a funding level of 89%, and as a result a new deficit recovery plan was agreed. This new plan required deficit payments of 2% of salaries from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2021 and then payments of 6% of salaries from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2028. This compared favourably to the 5% contribution due until June 2034 under the 2017 valuation, and explains the reduction in the liability noted above during the prior accounting year.
The contribution rates to apply from 1 April 2019 were thus confirmed as follows:
||Employer rate|Member rate|
|---|---|---|
|01-Apr-19|19.50%|8.80%|
|01-Oct-19|21.10%|9.60%|
|01-Oct-21|23.70%|11.00%|
In line with FRS 102 paragraph 28.11A, the Centre has recognised a provision of £252,911 at 31 March 2021 (2020: £243,580) for the present value of the estimated future deficit funding element of the contributions payable under the agreement in place at year end. In determining the level of this provision it has been assumed that the Charity will continue to have a constant level of employee participation in this scheme and that the relevant earnings of these employees will increase in line with the actuary’s projected long-term salary rate increases. A copy of the full actuarial valuation report and other further details on the scheme are available on the USS website www.uss.co.uk.
The next formal actuarial valuation is due as at 31st March 2020, and at the date of the approval of these accounts has not been agreed. Initial indications are that significant increases will be required in contributions overall and in the deficit recovery elements. It is therefore expected that this pension liability will increase in the accounts on agreement of a revised plan for the Scheme members
## **Oxford Staff Pension Scheme ("OSPS”).**
The pension charge for the year includes a credit of £15,440 (2020 £18,933) in relation to the OSPS. This represents contributions of £16,654 payable to the OSPS as decreased by the change in the deficit funding liability between the opening and closing balance sheet dates of £1,214 (2020: increase of £2,650).
The 2019 actuarial valuation of the scheme was finalised during the accounting period and reported that total assets of the scheme were £735mn, with total liabilities of £848mn – meaning a past service shortfall of £113mn and a funding level of 87%. The actuary has
certified that the recovery plan should eliminate the deficit by 30 June 2027. The next triennial valuation is due with an effective date of 31 March 2022.
In line with FRS 102 paragraph 28.11A, the Centre has recognised a provision of £9,311 at 31 March 2021 (2020: £10,648) for the present value of the estimated future deficit funding element of the contributions payable under this agreement. In determining the level of this provision it has been assumed that the Centre will continue to have a constant level of employee participation in this scheme and that the relevant earnings of these employees will increase in line with the actuary’s projected long-term salary rate increases.
A copy of the full actuarial valuation report and other further details on the scheme are available on the University of Oxford website http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/finance/epp/pensions/schemes/osps/
Page 21
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **16 Financial commitments**
At 31st March 2021, the charity had total commitments under non cancellable operating leases as detailed below:
|detailed below:|||
|---|---|---|
||**Land and**|**buildings**|
||**2021**|**2020**|
|Operating leases which expire after more than 5 years|-|-|
|Operating leases which expire between 2 to 5 years|£68,909|£97,709|
|Capital Commitments at 31st March, 2021 were:|||
|Approved and Contracted|£8,795|£8,795|
## **17 Subsidiary undertakings**
The unlisted investments are two wholly owned subsidiaries, Oxcis Limited and Oxford Endeavours Limited. Oxford Endeavours Limited wholly owns two subsidiaries Oxford Real Estate Limited and Oxford Islamic Finance Limited. All of these companies are registered in England.
At the start of the year a loan of £3.77m was outstanding from Oxford Real Estate Limited,
a Gift Aid donation of £524,853 from distributable profits is to be made to the Trust. The outstanding loan at 31st March 2021 was £3,859,168. This amount is unsecured, repayable on demand and carries interest at 2%.
The results, net assets and principal activity of the companies are as follows:
|**Company and principal**
**activities**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Profit /**
**(Loss) for the**
**year**|**Assets**|**Liabilities**|**Funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Oxcis Limited|10,062|(11,211)|(1,149)|104,941,603|(105,426,513)|(484,910)|
|Design & build services|||||||
|Oxford Endeavours Limited|2,001|(1,449)|552|1,406,656|(1,826)|1,404,829|
|Holding company|||||||
|Oxford Real Estate Limited|623,751|(89,478)|534,273|10,215,749|(4,057,873)|6,157,876|
|Property investment &|||||||
|management|||||||
Oxford Islamic Finance Limited
The company had no financial activity during the year and was dormant.
Page 22
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **18 The Charity's own financial information**
||**2021**|**2020**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|Gross Income|9,836,237|9,834,937|
|Net incoming resources|5,281,577|5,207,904|
|Gains / ( Losses ) on investments|13,243,580|(2,818,724)|
## **19 Comparative Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31st March 2020.**
|||**General and**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Note**|**designated funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Income From:**||||||
|Donations and gifts||5,983,293|976,197|1,025,240|7,984,730|
|**Charitable Activities**|**5**|158,534|-|-|158,534|
|**Investment income**|**6**|48,385|1,702|1,725,854|1,775,941|
|**Total income**||6,190,212|977,899|2,751,094|9,919,205|
|**Expenditure as:**||||||
|**Cost of raising funds**||||||
|Costs of raising voluntary income||685|-|-|685|
|Investment management fees||-|-|137,440|137,440|
|Development||62,212|-|-|62,212|
|Trust administration||74,394|-|-|74,394|
|||137,291|-|137,440|274,731|
|**Charitable Activities**||||||
|Centre||2,521,291|-|-|2,521,291|
|Fellowships and Scholarships||1,243,188|473,298|-|1,716,486|
|Publications||40,458|-|-|40,458|
|Conferences & Events||85,623|-|-|85,623|
|||3,890,560|473,298|-|4,363,858|
|||||||
|**Total expenditure**|**7**|4,027,851|473,298|137,440|4,638,589|
|**Net income / (expenses)**||2,162,361|504,601|2,613,654|5,280,616|
|**for the year before transfers**||||||
|Transfer between funds||1,725,854|-|(1,725,854)|-|
|**Gains / ( Losses ) on investment assets:**||-|-|(2,818,724)|(2,818,724)|
|**Net movement in funds in year**||3,888,215|504,601|(1,930,924)|2,461,892|
|Total funds brought forward||(1,596,610)|109,644,188|76,738,074|184,785,652|
|**Total funds carried forward**|**14**|2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|
Page 23
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **20 Comparative Consolidated Balance Sheet for the year ended 31st March 2020.**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|||
||**Note**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2020**|**2019**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Fixed assets**|||||||
|Tangible assets|**8**|261,879|111,036,915|5,617,513|116,916,307|116,509,748|
|Investments|**9**|-|-|65,966,992|65,966,992|63,512,383|
|||261,879|111,036,915|71,584,505|182,883,299|180,022,131|
|**Current assets**|||||||
|Debtors|**10**|84,588|61,024|96,926|242,538|269,563|
|Cash at bank||2,390,708|(910,139)|3,359,161|4,839,730|5,635,656|
|||2,475,296|(849,115)|3,456,087|5,082,268|5,905,219|
|**Creditors**|||||||
|Amounts falling due|||||||
|within one year|**11**|(191,342)|(39,011)|(233,442)|(463,795)|(731,686)|
|**Net current assets / (liabilities)**||2,283,954|(888,126)|3,222,645|4,618,473|5,173,533|
|**Provision for liabilities and charges**|||||||
|Pension scheme liability|**12**|(254,228)|-|-|(254,228)|(410,012)|
|**Net assets**||2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|184,785,652|
||||||||
|**Funds**|**14**|2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|184,785,652|
## **21 Related party transactions**
There were no related party transactions except those with Charity's subsidiaries which are covered in note 17.
## **22 Approval of accounts**
These accounts were approved at a meeting of the Trustees on the 9th of September 2021.
Page 24
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Marston Road, Oxford OX3 0EE, United Kingdom Telephone: 44 1865 278730 Fax: 44 1865 248942 Email: islamic.studies@oxcis.ac.uk Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No: 293072
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies _**An institution for the advanced study of Islam and the Muslim world**_
Audited Accounts
2020 / 21
OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
Consolidated Financial Statements
for the year ended 31st March 2021
Page 1
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Trustees during the year**
HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal (Chairman) HRH Sultan Nazrin Shah (Vice-Chair) Mr Khalid Alireza Tun Ahmad Sarji bin Abdul Hamid HE Dr Abdullah Gul HE Dr Shaikh Mohammed Sabah Al Salem Al-Sabah HE Sultan Muhammad Saad Abubakar Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC HE Muhammad Jusuf Kalla Sir Martin Donnelly KCB CMG Tan Sri Datuk Zarina Anwar (from September 2020) Professor Rashid Naim (from January 2021) Professor Catherine Swales (from January 2021) Professor Ulrike Roesler (from January 2021) HE Dr Ali A Al-Shamlan (until August 2020) HE Engineer Ali Suheimat (until September 2020) Professor Sir David Clary (until October 2020) Dr Shahid Jamil (until January 2021)
**Secretary to the Board of Trustees and Director**
Dr Farhan Ahmad Nizami
Page 2
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
|**Registered Office**||Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies|
|---|---|---|
|||Marston Road|
|||Oxford|
|||OX3 0EE|
|**Charity registration no**||293072|
|**Solicitors**||Blake Morgan|
|||Seacourt Tower|
|||West Way|
|||Oxford|
|||OX2 0FB|
|**Bankers**||Barclays Bank Plc|
|||P.O. Box 858|
|||Oxford|
|||OX2 0XP|
|||CIMB Bank Berhad|
|||27 Knightsbridge|
|||London|
|||SW1X 7YB|
|||National Westminister Bank Plc|
|||43 Cornmarket Street|
|||Oxford|
|||OX1 3HA|
|**Auditors**||Wenn Townsend|
|||Chartered Accountants|
|||30 St Giles|
|||Oxford|
|||OX1 3LE|
|**Investment advisors/brokers**||Allianz Global Investors Europe|
|||155 Bishopsgate|
|||London|
|||EC2M 3AD|
|||Deutsche Bank AG London|
|||Private Wealth Management|
|||1 Great Winchester Street|
|||London|
|||EC2N 2DB|
|||Julius Baer International Ltd.|
|||1 St Martin’s Le Grand|
|||London|
|||EC1A 4AS|
|||CCLA|
|||Senator House|
|||85 Queen Victoria Street|
|||London|
|||EC4V 4ET|
|||Cazenove Capital|
|||Schroder & Co Limited|
||Page 3|1 London Wall Place|
|||London EC2Y 5AU|
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31st March 2021**
The Trustees have pleasure in submitting the report and the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2021.
## **REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION**
Details of the Trustees, Secretary to the Board of Trustees and Director, registered office address, and particulars of the charity's professional advisers are given on the previous two pages.
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
## **Organisational structure**
The Trustees have ultimate reponsibility for all aspects of the work of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, its academic, financial, investment policy and strategic direction. They have delegated the day-to-day management of the Centre to its Director, who operates through his departmental heads. The co-ordination of the work of the Centre is the responsibility of the Director. The Trustees maintain contact with the Charity through the Director and the system of committees detailed in the Annual Report.
The Centre’s relationship with its subsidiaries is also detailed in the Annual Report.
## **Key Management Personnel**
The Charity's Trustees and the senior management team comprises the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing, controlling and running of the charity on a day to day basis. All Trustees give of their time freely and no Trustees received remuneration for their role in the year. The pay of the senior staff made up of the Director, Registrar, Home Bursar and Investment Bursar is reviewed annually and increased in accordance with the cost of living increment agreed more widely in Oxford.
## **Governing Document**
The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is governed in accordance with the Royal Charter granted on 20th April 2012 and the Statutes made under the Charter. It is registered as a charity number 293072, and is considered to have no liability to taxation on its income.
## **Trustees Induction and Training**
Trustees are appointed by election in accordance with the Royal Charter and Statutes, serve for a term of five years and are eligible for re-election at the end of that period. The University of Oxford may nominate for election two of the Trustees (out of the maximum total of fourteen) and Trustees thus appointed also serve for a five year term.
The election of Trustees is preceded by consultation to ensure they are aware of the aims and objectives of the charity and their responsibilities.
## **Principal Risks and Uncertainities**
The Trustees have assessed and continue to reassess the major risks to which the charity is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the Charity, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate the charity's exposure to the major risks. Professional advice has been taken on all aspects of security, fire and health and safety at the Centre's new building. The Security, Fire, Health and Safety Policies are documented and reviewed annually. Training is provided as required. The Lodge is permanently manned. Staff are aware of safety procedures and a serious incident reporting procedure and register is in place. The Centre's IT system is managed securely and with necessary infrastructure safeguards in place. Insurances and preventative maintenance contracts are appropriate and fully up to date. Trustees have reviewed the potential impact of COVID-19 on the charity and are satisfied that there is no material uncertainty re going concern.
Page 1
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Related Party**
The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies owns four subsidiary companies namely Oxcis Limited, Oxford Endeavours Limited, Oxford Real Estate Limited and Oxford Islamic Finance Limited.
## **Consolidated accounts**
For the financial period under review, consolidated accounts have been prepared to include the results of the wholly owned subsidiary companies of the Charity.
## **OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHARITY**
The sole purpose of the charity is to promote an understanding of Islam and the Islamic World, in accordance with the Royal Charter. The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Trust's aims and objectives and in planning future activities.The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is an academic institution which, by means of the pursuit of excellence in its teaching, research and publication, aims to promote a more informed understanding of the Islamic World. During the year under review the Centre maintained its teaching, research, publishing and outreach activities. The charity will continue to invest in assets that maximise capital growth and yield satisfactory income to fund development of the Centre. A more indepth review of the above is covered in the main Annual Report.
## **FINANCIAL REVIEW**
The financial position of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is set out on pages 5 to 177 to 24 and the Trustees consider that satisfactory progress is being made towards the attainment of the charity's objectives.The performance of the investments portfolio and the results of the subsidiary companies are regarded as satisfactory.
## **Fund raising standards information**
During the year under review the charity did not raise any funds directly from the public nor did it use professional fundraisers or involve commercial participants for the purposes of fund raising.
## **Investment powers and policy**
The investment objective, as agreed by the Trustees, is to achieve sufficient capital and income growth, which over the long term will maintain the real value of the assets. The Trustees continue to review their Investment Policy which holds separate portfolios for the Investment and Reserves Funds. On near completion of the building project, the funds were rebalanced to reflect the level of reserves the Trustees felt were necessary to protect the Charity’s ongoing commitments. There are no specific restrictions on investments other than that they should be suitable for the Charity.
The Trustees appoint professional managers to manage investments on behalf of the charity. The activities of the investment managers are appraised periodically in terms of performance and compliance with their respective mandates which include social, environmental and ethical considerations. A list of investment managers in place are included on the information page.
Page 2
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Reserves policy**
The policy of the Trustees is to use income fund to support the objects of the charity and also to accumulate the operating surpluses and necessary fixed assets, to build up a financial reserve of a sum equivalent to not more than nine months of general fund operating costs. The level of all reserves is monitored and reviewed by the Trustees at least once a year. General reserves were in surplus at the year-end by £6,238,820 of this £292,654 was held as fixed assets, and £3,000,000 designated for specific future use as detailed in note 14, leaving £2,946,166 of free reserves in the general fund at the year end date. The Trustees aim to maintain reserves at levels of at least nine months expenditure c £3m, and thus are satisfied with the level of free reserves held given the lack of certainty of future donation income. The trustees remain mindful that further substantial funds will need to be raised in the future to prevent an operating deficit position in the general funds.
## **FUTURE PLANS**
The immediate goal of the charity is to mobilise benefactions in order to endow its operational costs and expand its academic activities in support of its overall objectives.
## **Trustees' responsibilities statement**
The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102); make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **Auditors**
A resolution will be proposed to re-appoint the auditors at the forthcoming annual trustees meeting.
## **Signed on behalf of the Trustees on :**
**Trustee**
**Trustee**
Page 3
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Independent Auditors' Report for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Charity (the ‘parent charity’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31st March 2021 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Charity Balance Sheet, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland_ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and parent charity’s affairs as at 31st March 2021, and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group’s or parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so,
consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves.
If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material
misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Page 4
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Independent Auditors' Report for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or
- sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
- the parent charity’s financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of trustees**
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 2, the trustees are responsible for the 3 preparation of financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and parent charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the parent charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
We have been appointed as auditor under section 151 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The specific procedures for this engagement and the extent to which these are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below
- Enquiry of management, those charged with governance and the entity’s solicitors (or in-house legal team) around actual and potential litigation and claims;
- Enquiry of entity staff in tax and compliance functions to identify any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations;
- Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
- Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
- Performing audit work over the risk of management override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for bias;
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
Page 5
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
**Wenn Townsend, Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors 30 St Giles Oxford**
**………………………………. 2021**
**Wenn Townsend is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.**
Page 6
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|**Total Funds**|
||**Note**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Income From:**|||||||
|Donations and gifts||6,499,500|250,000|1,234,699|7,984,199|7,984,730|
|**Charitable Activities**|**5**|129,291|-|-|129,291|158,534|
|**Investment income**|**6**|2,655|62|1,731,013|1,733,730|1,775,941|
|**Total income**||6,631,446|250,062|2,965,712|9,847,220|9,919,205|
|**Expenditure as:**|||||||
|**Cost of raising funds**|||||||
|Costs of raising voluntary income||517|-|-|517|685|
|Investment management fees||-|-|154,015|154,015|137,440|
|Development||17,262|-|-|17,262|62,212|
|Trust administration||5,287|-|-|5,287|74,394|
|||23,066|-|154,015|177,081|274,731|
|**Charitable Activities**|||||||
|Centre||2,871,884|-|-|2,871,884|2,521,291|
|Fellowships and Scholarships||1,424,930|-|-|1,424,930|1,716,486|
|Publications||93,472|-|-|93,472|40,458|
|Conferences & Events||1,892|-|-|1,892|85,623|
|||4,392,178|-|-|4,392,178|4,363,858|
||||||||
|**Total expenditure**|**7**|4,415,244|-|154,015|4,569,259|4,638,589|
|**Net income / (expenses)**||2,216,202|250,062|2,811,697|5,277,961|5,280,616|
|**for the year before transfers**|||||||
|Transfer between funds||1,731,013|-|(1,731,013)|-|-|
|**( Losses ) / Gains on investment assets:**||-|-|13,243,580|13,243,580|(2,818,724)|
|**Net movement in funds in year**||3,947,215|250,062|14,324,264|18,521,541|2,461,892|
|Total funds brought forward||2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|184,785,652|
|**Total funds carried forward**|**14**|6,238,820|110,398,851|89,131,414|205,769,085|187,247,544|
Detailed Comparative Information is shown in Note 19
None of the trust's activities was acquired or discontinued during the above financial year.
There are no other recognised gains or losses in the above financial years.
Page 7
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Consolidated Balance Sheet**
**at 31st March 2021**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|**Total Funds**|
|**Note**||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Fixed assets**|||||||
|Tangible assets|**8**|292,654|111,178,075|5,617,513|117,088,242|116,916,307|
|Investments|**9**|3,180,185|-|82,628,099|85,808,284|65,966,992|
|||3,472,839|111,178,075|88,245,612|202,896,526|182,883,299|
|**Current assets**|||||||
|Debtors|**10**|129,096|5,891|137,040|272,027|242,538|
|Cash at bank||3,130,697|(756,046)|990,160|3,364,811|4,839,730|
|||3,259,793|(750,155)|1,127,200|3,636,838|5,082,268|
|**Creditors**|||||||
|Amounts falling due|||||||
|within one year|**11**|(231,467)|(29,069)|(241,398)|(501,934)|(463,795)|
|**Net current assets / (liabilities)**||3,028,326|(779,224)|885,802|3,134,904|4,618,473|
|**Provision for liabilities and charges**|||||||
|Pension scheme liability|**12**|(262,345)|-|-|(262,345)|(254,228)|
|**Net assets**||6,238,820|110,398,851|89,131,414|205,769,085|187,247,544|
||||||||
|**Funds**|**14**|6,238,820|110,398,851|89,131,414|205,769,085|187,247,544|
**Approved by the Board of Trustees on :**
**Signed on its behalf by:**
**Trustee**
**Trustee**
Page 8
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Charity Balance Sheet**
**at 31st March 2021**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|**Total Funds**|
||**Note**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Fixed assets**|||||||
|Tangible assets|**8**|264,186|6,506,736|5,617,513|12,388,435|12,352,636|
|Investments|**9**|3,179,673|100,000|75,038,692|78,318,365|58,477,073|
|||3,443,859|6,606,736|80,656,205|90,706,800|70,829,709|
|**Current assets**|||||||
|Debtors|**10**|129,096|105,397,444|3,973,530|109,500,070|109,364,903|
|Cash at bank||3,130,691|(991,952)|-|2,138,739|3,576,817|
|||3,259,787|104,405,492|3,973,530|111,638,809|112,941,720|
|**Creditors**|||||||
|Amounts falling due|||||||
|within one year|**11**|(230,063)|-|(42,693)|(272,756)|(231,851)|
|**Net current assets**||3,029,724|104,405,492|3,930,837|111,366,053|112,709,869|
|**Provision for liabilities and**|**charges**||||||
|Pension scheme liability|**12**|(262,345)|-|-|(262,345)|(254,228)|
|**Net assets**||6,211,238|111,012,228|84,587,042|201,810,508|183,285,350|
||||||||
|**Funds**||6,211,238|111,012,228|84,587,042|201,810,508|183,285,350|
**Approved by the Board of Trustees on :**
**Signed on its behalf by:**
**Trustee**
**Trustee**
Page 9
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Consolidated Cashflow statement for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|||**2021**||**2020**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Net cash flow from operating activities**||3,687,161||3,205,301|
|**Returns on investments and servicing of finance**||1,733,730||1,775,941|
|**Capital expenditure and financial investment**|||||
|Payments to acquire investments|(18,262,285)||(35,008,296)||
|Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets|(298,099)||(503,835)||
|Receipts from sale of investments|11,664,574||29,734,963||
|Net movement in cashflows attributable to|||||
|endowment fund investments|154,015||137,440||
|||(6,741,795)||(5,639,728)|
|Net cash flow before financing
**Financing**
Net movement in cashflows attributable to
to endowment fund assets|(154,015)|(1,320,904)|(137,440)|(658,486)|
|||(154,015)||(137,440)|
|Increase / (Decrease) in cash in the year||(1,474,919)||(795,926)|
|**Reconciliation of net incoming resources to net cashflow**
Net Incoming resources
Decrease / (Increase) in debtors
(Decrease) / Increase in creditors
Depreciation
Investment income|**from operating**|**activities**
**2021**
5,277,961
(29,489)
46,255
126,164
(1,733,730)||**2020**
5,280,616
27,025
(423,675)
97,276
(1,775,941)|
|**Net cash flow from operating activities**||3,687,161||3,205,301|
|**Analysis of changes in net cash resources**
Cash at bank and net cash resources||**At 1st April**
**2020**
£4,839,730|**Cashflow**
(1,474,919)|**At 31st March**
**2021**
£3,364,811|
Page 10
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **1 Accounting policies**
The Centre is a Charitable Trust registered in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information page of these financial statements.
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.
The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been coout below. These policies have bee **n** sistently applied to all years pre consistently applied to all year **s** presented unless otherwise stated.ented unless otherwise stated.
## **a) Accounting convention**
The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements are prepared in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity.
## **b) Income recognition**
All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.
- For donations to be recognised the charity will have been notified of the amounts and the settlement date in writing. If there are conditions attached to the donation and this requires a level of performance before entitlement can be obtained then income is deferred until those conditions are fully met or the fulfilment of those conditions is within the control of the charity and it is probable that they will be fulfilled.
Donated facilities and donated professional services are recognised in income at their fair value when their economic benefit is probable, it can be measured reliably and the charity has control over the item. Fair value is determined on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity. For example, the amount the charity would be willing to pay in the open market for such facilities and services. A corresponding amount is recognised in expenditure.
- No amount is included in the financial statements for volunteer time in line with the SORP. Further detail is given in the Trustees’ Annual Report.
- For legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the charity being notified of an impending distribution or the legacy being received. At this point income is recognised. On occasion legacies will be notified to the charity however it is not possible to measure the amount expected to be distributed. On these occasions, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed.
- Investment income is earned through holding assets for investment purposes such as shares and property. It includes dividends, interest and rent. Where it is not practicable to identify investment management costs incurred within a scheme with reasonable accuracy the investment income is reported net of these costs. It is included when the amount can be measured reliably. Interest income is recognised using the effective interest method and dividend and rent income is recognised as the charity’s right to receive payment is established.
- The charity receives government grants in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. These grants are recognised using the accrual model and as such are recorded in the income and expenditure statement / SOFA in the period in which the charity is entitled to such grants as a result of having furloughed staff members. During the period the charity received circa £85k, and given the amounts involved are not material to the charity this has been reported as a reduction in staff costs in the accounts as opposed to grant income.
Page 11
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **c) Donations**
Benefactions for endowment, research grants and donations for earmarked purposes are allocated to appropriate funds and similarly related expenditure is charged directly to these funds. Donated goods and services are included at cost or fair value at the time of donation. All donations are taken into account when receivable.
## **d) Depreciation**
Depreciation of fixed assets is calculated using rates and bases which are appropriate to the useful lives of the assets and their residual values and were as follows:
Furniture and equipment 15% Reducing balance Computers 33.33 % Straight line
No depreciation is provided on the freehold buildings as the Trustees ensure that the buildings are fully maintained and an annual impairment review is performed so as to extend their lives indefinitely. It is therefore considered inappropriate to charge depreciation in these circumstances. The leasehold property used in the charity's operations is depreciated evenly over the remaining life of the lease. Leasehold property held for investment is not depreciated, but included at market value.
**g**
## **e) Taxation**
As a registered charity, the Charity is exempt within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes, but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.
## **f) Tangible Fixed Assets**
Tangible fixed assets costing over £500 are capitalised.
Leasing rentals payable under operating leases are charged against income on a straight line basis over the lease term.
## **g) Realised and unrealised gains and losses**
On the sale of investments, realised gains and losses are accounted for in the appropriate funds. At the year end all investments held are valued at fair value and unrealised gains and losses on revaluation are recognised in the appropriate funds.
## **h) Foreign currencies**
Assets denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate ruling at the date of the transaction. Exchange gains and losses are written off to revenue in the year and arise purely from normal currency conversion transactions.
## **i) Investments**
Quoted investments are valued at their fair value.
Investment properties are valued at fair value. Any aggregate surplus is recognised in the appropriate Funds.
No depreciation is provided in respect of the freehold investment property; the trustees consider the accounting policy results in the accounts giving a true and fair view.
## **j) Investment income**
Dividend income is accounted for on the basis of the dividends received.
Page 12
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **k) Expenditure**
Expenditure is recognised when a liability is incurred at the transaction price.
Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.The Trustees consider that all the expenditure is charitable expenditure in accordance with the objects of the charity as laid down within the Trust Deed.
All costs have been directly attributed to one of the functional categories of resources expended in the Statement of Financial Activities.
## **l) Grants payable or receivable**
Grants payable or receivable are recognised in the accounts as and when they become due for payment or receipt. Income is deferred when sums are received in advance for the accounting period to which they relate.Where they are recognised in the financial statements, gifts in kind or donated services are included at fair value on the date of receipt.
## **m) Group Financial Statements**
These financial statements consolidate the results of the Charity and its subsidiary undertakings on a line by line basis. A separate statement of financial activities for the charity is not presented because the Charity has taken advantage of the provisions of paragraph 397 of the SORP. The charity balance sheet is presented as part of the financial statements.
## **n) Pension costs**
The Centre participates in the Universities Superannuation Scheme ("the USS") and the University of Oxford Staff Pension Scheme ("the OSPS") on behalf of its staff. Both schemes are contributory defined benefit schemes (i.e. they provide benefits based on length of service and pensionable salary). The assets of USS and OSPS are each held in separate trustee administered funds. Both schemes are multi-employer schemes and the Centre is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of each scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. Therefore, as required by FRS 102, the Centre accounts for the schemes as if they were defined contribution schemes. Both schemes have put in place agreements for additional contributions to fund their past service deficits. In accordance with the provisions of FRS 102, the Centre has recognised a liability for the future contributions that it estimates will be payable as a result of these deficit funding agreements.
## **o) Fund accounting**
General funds are unrestricted funds which the Trustees are free to use in accordance with the charitable objects. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes. The restricted funds is to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the benefactor. Endowment funds represent capital which must be held permanently by the charity. Income derived from these funds is credited to the general and designated funds.
## **p) Going concern**
The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as the trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The Trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the Centre to be able to continue as a going concern.
Trustees have reviewed the potential impact of COVID-19 on the charity and are satisfied that there is no material uncertainty re going concern.
Page 13
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **q) Critical accounting judgements**
FRS 102 makes the distinction between a group plan and a multi-employer scheme. A group plan consists of a collection of entities under common control typically with a sponsoring employer.
A multiemployer scheme is a scheme for entities not under common control and represents (typically) an industry - wide scheme such as that provided by USS and OSPS. The accounting for a multi-employer scheme where the employer has entered into an agreement with the scheme that determines how the employer will fund a deficit results in the recognition of a liability for the contributions payable that arise from the agreement (to the extent that they relate to the deficit) and the resulting expense is recognised in income or expenditure. The Trustees are satisfied that the schemes provided by USS and OSPS meet the definition of a multi-employer scheme and has therefore recognised the discounted fair value of the contractual contributions under the funding plan in existence at the date of approving the financial statements.
## **r) Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty**
The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have been made in the process of applying the above accounting policies that have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements:Pension scheme liability
The Trustees are required to make assumptions on future staffing levels and appropriate discount rates when calculating the USS and OSPS pension scheme liability. These are included as best estimates at the date of calculation, but present a significant risk in potentially causing a material adjustment to the balance sheet.
## **s) Maintenance of premises**
The cost of routine corrective maintenance is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period it is incurred.
## **t) Provisions**
Provisions are recognised when the Centre has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required to settle the obligation, and a reliable estimate can be made of the obligation.
## **u) Debtors and creditors receivable / payable within one year**
Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.
## **v) Impairment**
Assets not measured at fair value are reviewed for any indication that the asset may be impaired at each balance sheet date. If such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset, or the asset’s cash generating unit, is estimated and compared to the carrying amount. Where the carrying amount exceeds its recoverable amount, an impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss unless the asset is carried at a revalued amount where the impairment loss is a revaluation decrease.
## **w) Leases**
Rentals payable and receivable under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on
Page 14
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|**2**|**Staff costs comprise**|**2021**|**2020**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|**£**|
||Wages and salaries|1,842,616|1,873,176|
||Social security costs|192,102|196,014|
||Pension costs|178,451|176,437|
||Defined benefit schemes - Pension provision|8,117|(155,784)|
||Consultancy, Recruitment and agency costs etc.|138,977|148,179|
|||2,360,263|2,238,022|
There were no outstanding or prepaid pension contributions at 31st March, 2021 (2020 Nil).
The trustees received no remuneration during the year. A professional indemnity insurance of £5,942 (2020 £5,942) was paid in respect of the Trustees.
During the year no trustees were reimbursed for travel related costs (2020 £12,506).
Under the University scale A20 two employees are paid the professorial rate of £72,172 (2020 £72,172). In addition one employee also receives a distinction award £83,509 (2020 £82,509), Schedule I allowance £23,757 (2020 £23,757) and contributions to the pension fund of £37,615 (2020 £35,992). The total remuneration paid to the Key Management personnel in the year was £386,703.
## **3 Average number of employees**
The average number of employees of the Centre excluding Trustees on a full time equivalent basis was as follows.
|Centre|39|38|
|---|---|---|
|Teaching and research|10|11|
|Projects|1|3|
|Publications|1|2|
|Development|1|3|
||52|57|
|**Net income**|||
|This is stated after charging|||
||**2021**|**2020**|
|Auditors remuneration|**£**|**£**|
|Audit services|32,909|33,277|
|Other services|-|-|
|Depreciation|126,164|97,276|
|**Charitable Activities**|||
||**2021**|**2020**|
||**£**|**£**|
|Centre|||
|Rental income|30,414|24,391|
|Other|98,877|134,143|
||129,291|158,534|
|**Investment income**|||
||**2021**|**2020**|
||**£**|**£**|
|Listed securities|829,566|577,180|
|Bank deposits|2,868|52,730|
|Rental Income|901,296|1,146,031|
||1,733,730|1,775,941|
## **4 Net income**
## **5 Charitable Activities**
- **6 Investment income**
Page 15
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **7 Total expenditure**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Total expenditure|2021|2020|
|General and|
|designated|Restricted|Endowment|
|funds|funds|funds|£|£|
|Centre:|
|Staff costs|1,234,468|-|-|1,234,468|1,251,723|
|Travel and communications|24,099|-|-|24,099|22,421|
|Properties & equipment running costs|1,257,980|-|-|1,257,980|899,024|
|Depreciation and amortisation|126,164|-|-|126,164|97,276|
|Legal Fees and charges|153,290|-|-|153,290|111,214|
|Guest expenses and common table|39,968|-|-|39,968|88,185|
|Administrative costs|35,915|-|-|35,915|51,448|
|2,871,884|-|-|2,871,884|2,521,291|
|Investment portfolio management fees:|-|-|154,015|154,015|137,440|
|-|-|154,015|154,015|137,440|
|Fellowships, scholarships and teaching:|
|Fellowships and Scholarships|1,293,554|-|-|1,293,554|1,570,358|
|Library costs|130,773|-|-|130,773|133,622|
|Seminars expenses|603|-|-|603|12,506|
|1,424,930|-|-|1,424,930|1,716,486|
|Publication:|
|Staff costs|74,874|-|-|74,874|38,320|
|Other costs|18,598|-|-|18,598|2,138|
|93,472|-|-|93,472|40,458|
|Cost of generating voluntary income|
|Video, newsletters and brochures|517|-|-|517|685|
|Conferences and special events:|
|Venues, travel and other costs|1,892|-|-|1,892|85,623|
|1,892|-|-|1,892|85,623|
|Development:|
|Staff costs|16,762|-|-|16,762|45,923|
|Travel|-|-|-|-|11,161|
|Administrative costs|-|-|-|-|2,215|
|Calendar|500|-|-|500|2,913|
|17,262|-|-|17,262|62,212|
|Trust administration:|
|Travel|1,215|-|-|1,215|7,511|
|Administrative costs|4,072|-|-|4,072|66,883|
|5,287|-|-|5,287|74,394|
|Total|4,415,244|-|154,015|4,569,259|4,638,589|
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 16
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **7 Total expenditure (continued)**
||||**Travel and**|**Properties and**||**Professional**|**Fellowships**||**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Staff**|**communic-**|**Equipment**||**fees and**|**and**||**£**|
|||**Costs**|**ations**|**running costs**|**Depreciation**|**charges**|**Scholarsips **|**Other costs**||
||**Expenditure analysis**|||||||||
||Cost of raising funds|||||||||
||Cost of raising voluntary income|-|-|-|-|-|-|517|**517**|
||Investment portfolio management fees|-|-|-|-|-|-|154,015|**154,015**|
||Development|16,762|-|-|-|-|-|500|**17,262**|
|||16,762|-|-|-|-|-|155,032|**171,794**|
||Charitable activities
Centre
Fellowships and Scholarships (to individuals)
Publications
Conferences|1,234,468
-
74,874
-|24,099
-
-
-|1,257,980
-
-
-|126,164
-
-
-|153,290
-
-
-|-
1,424,930
-
-|75,883
-
18,598
1,892|**2,871,884**
**1,424,930**
**93,472**
**1,892**|
|||1,309,342|24,099|1,257,980|126,164|153,290|1,424,930|96,373|**4,392,178**|
||Governance costs
Trust administration|-|1,215|-|-|-|-|4,072|**5,287**|
|||-|1,215|-|-|-|-|4,072|**5,287**|
|||||||||||
||**Total expenditure year ended 31st March**
**2021**|1,326,104|25,314|1,257,980|126,164|153,290|1,424,930|255,477|**4,569,259**|
|||||||||||
||**Total expenditure year ended 31st March**
**2020**|1,335,966|41,093|899,024|97,276|111,214|1,716,486|437,530|**4,638,589**|
|**8**|**Fixed assets**
**Group**
**Cost:**
At 1st April 2020
Additions||**Freehold**
**Land and**
**Buildings**
9,915,816
-|**Assets Under**
**Construction**
104,530,179
141,160|**Residential**
**Properties**
2,207,097
-|**Furniture and**
**Equipment**
1,283,114
156,939|**Total**
**£**
117,936,206
298,099|||
||At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|104,671,339|2,207,097|1,440,053|118,234,305|||
||**Depreciation and Amortisation:**
At 1st April 2020
Charge for year||-
-||-
-|(1,019,899)
(126,164)|(1,019,899)
(126,164)|||
||At 31st March 2021||-||-|(1,146,063)|(1,146,063)|||
||**Net book value**
At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|104,671,339|2,207,097|293,990|117,088,242|||
||At 31st March 2020||9,915,816|104,530,179|2,207,097|263,215|116,916,307|||
||**Charity**
**Cost:**
At 1st April 2020
Additions||**Freehold**
**Land and**
**Buildings**
9,915,816
-|**Residential**
**Properties**
2,208,434
-|**Furniture and**
**Equipment**
1,050,725
156,939|**Total**
**£**
13,174,975
156,939||||
||At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|2,208,434|1,207,664|13,331,914||||
||**Depreciation and Amortisation:**
At 1st April 2020
Charge for year||-
-|-
-|(822,339)
(121,140)|(822,339)
(121,140)||||
||At 31st March 2021||-|-|(943,479)|(943,479)||||
||**Net book value**
At 31st March 2021||9,915,816|2,208,434|264,185|12,388,435||||
||At 31st March 2020||9,915,816|2,208,434|228,386|12,352,636||||
Page 17
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **9 Investments**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Group Investment Portfolio
Quoted Total Investment Total
Cash reserves
Investments £ Properties £
Market value
As at 1st April 2020 3,553,418 42,721,947 46,275,365 19,691,627 65,966,992
Additions - 18,257,585 18,257,585 4,700 18,262,285
Disposals (2,831,083) (8,833,490) (11,664,573) - (11,664,573)
Increase in market value - 11,010,533 11,010,533 2,233,047 13,243,580
As at 31st March 2021 722,335 63,156,575 63,878,910 21,929,374 85,808,284
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Market value of :**
UK quoted investments as at 31st March 2021 Overseas quoted investments as at 31st March 2021
23,094,759 40,061,816
Investment properties was valued at 31st March, 2021 on the basis of an Open Market Valuation by the Trustees. The cost of the Investment properties was £18,977,752.
|**Charity**|**Investment Portfolio**|
|---|---|
|**Market value**|**Cash reserves**
**Quoted**
**Investments**
**Unquoted**
**Investments**
**(Subsidiary**
**Companies)**
**Total**
**£**
**Investment**
**Properties**
**Total**
**£**|
|As at 1st April 2020|3,553,418
42,721,947
1,726,434
48,001,799
10,475,274
58,477,073|
|Additions|-
18,257,585
-
18,257,585
4,700
18,262,285|
|Disposals|(2,831,083)
(8,833,490)
-
(11,664,573)
-
(11,664,573)|
|Increase in market value|-
11,010,533
-
11,010,533
2,233,047
13,243,580|
|As at 31st March 2021|722,335
63,156,575
1,726,434
65,605,344
12,713,021
78,318,365|
For details concerning the subsidiary companies see note 17.
## **Market value of :**
UK quoted investments as at 31st March 2021 23,094,759 Overseas quoted investments as at 31st March 2021 40,061,816
Investment properties was valued at 31st March, 2021 on the basis of an Open Market Valuation by the Trustees. The cost of the Investment properties was £10,115,909.
Page 18
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|**10 **|**Debtors**|**Group**||**Charity**|**Charity**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**2021**|**2020**|**2021**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
||Accounts receivable|104,891|50,950|82,213|49,967|
||Prepayments and accrued income|161,245|130,564|161,245|130,564|
||Other taxes and social security|5,891|61,024|-|-|
||Amounts due from subsidiary undertakings|-
|-|109,256,612|109,184,372|
|||272,027|242,538|109,500,070|109,364,903|
|**11 **|**Liabilities:**|||||
||**Amounts falling due within one year**|||||
||Accounts payable|163,271|67,779|139,844|65,826|
||Accruals and deferred income|256,311|306,733|111,031|137,709|
||Other taxes and social security|82,352|89,283|21,881|28,316|
|||501,934|463,795|272,756|231,851|
|**12 **|**Provision for liabilities and charges**|||||
||At start of year|254,228|410,012|254,228|410,012|
||(Credit)/Charged in the Statement|8,117|(155,784)|8,117|(155,784)|
||of Financial Activities|||||
||At end of year|262,345|254,228|262,345|254,228|
||The above provision relates to USS and OSPS Pension deficits|||||
|**13 **|**Deferred Income**|**2021**|**2020**|||
||Balance as at 1st April 2020|**£**
170,071|**£**
189,865|||
||Amount realised to incoming resources|(170,071)|(189,865)|||
||Amount deferred in year|170,893|170,071|||
||Balance as at 31st March 2021|170,893|170,071|||
Page 19
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
|**14 **|**Movements in Trust funds**|**Balance at**|||||**Balance at**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**1st April**|**Incoming**||**Gains &**|**Transfers**|**31st March**|
|||**2020**|**Resources**|**Expenditure**|**Losses**||**2021**|
|||**£**|||||**£**|
||**Endowment funds**|||||||
||Fellowship and Scholarship funds|74,807,150|2,965,712|(154,015)|13,243,580|(1,731,013)|89,131,414|
|||74,807,150|2,965,712|(154,015)|13,243,580|(1,731,013)|89,131,414|
||**General and designated funds**
General funds
Designated Building maintenance fund|2,291,605
-|6,631,446
-|(4,415,244)
-|-
-|(1,268,987)
3,000,000|3,238,820
3,000,000|
|||2,291,605|6,631,446|(4,415,244)|-|1,731,013|6,238,820|
||**Restricted funds**
Building fund|110,148,789|250,062|-
|-|-|110,398,851|
|||110,148,789|250,062|-
|-|-|110,398,851|
|||||||||
||**Total funds**|187,247,544|9,847,220|(4,569,259)|13,243,580|-|205,769,085|
Total funds of the charity at the balance sheet date are £201,810,508 (2020 £183,285,350). The difference in the consolidated funds is due to the effect of the subsidiary undertakings results and is reflected in the General Funds. The general funds were in surplus at the year-end by £3,503,681.
## **Comparative Movement in Trust funds for the year ended 31st March 2020.**
||**Balance at**|||||**Balance at**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**1st April**|**Incoming**||**Gains &**|**Transfers**|**31st March**|
||**2019**|**Resources**|**Expenditure**|**Losses**||**2020**|
||**£**|||||**£**|
|**Endowment funds**|||||||
|Fellowship and Scholarship funds|76,738,074|2,751,094|(137,440)|(2,818,724)|(1,725,854)|74,807,150|
||76,738,074|2,751,094|(137,440)|(2,818,724)|(1,725,854)|74,807,150|
|**General and designated funds**
General funds
Designated Building fund|(4,356,610)
2,760,000|6,190,212
-|(4,027,851)
-|-
-|4,485,854
(2,760,000)|2,291,605
-|
||(1,596,610)|6,190,212|(4,027,851)|-|1,725,854|2,291,605|
|**Restricted funds**
Building fund|109,644,188|977,899|(473,298)|-|-|110,148,789|
||109,644,188|977,899|(473,298)|-|-|110,148,789|
||||||||
|**Total funds**|184,785,652|9,919,205|(4,638,589)|(2,818,724)|-|187,247,544|
Total funds of the charity at the balance sheet date are £183,285,350 (2019 £180,896,174). The difference in the consolidated funds is due to the effect of the subsidiary undertakings results and is reflected in the General Funds. The general funds were in surplus at the year-end by £2,258,958.
Page 20
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
**Notes to the Accounts**
**for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **15 Pension Commitments**
## **Universities Superannuation Scheme (“USS”)**
The pension charge for the year includes a charge of £133,810 (2020: credit of £42,215) in relation to the USS. This represents contributions of £124,479 payable to the USS, as increased by the change in the deficit funding liability between the opening and closing balance sheet dates of £9,331 (2020: decreased by £158,434). The 2018 actuarial valuation of the scheme was finalised during the prior accounting period and reported that total assets of the scheme were £63.7bn, with total liabilities of £67.3bn – meaning a past service shortfall of £3.6bn and a funding level of 95%.
This position was improved compared to the 2017 valuation, which had a funding level of 89%, and as a result a new deficit recovery plan was agreed. This new plan required deficit payments of 2% of salaries from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2021 and then payments of 6% of salaries from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2028. This compared favourably to the 5% contribution due until June 2034 under the 2017 valuation, and explains the reduction in the liability noted above during the prior accounting year.
The contribution rates to apply from 1 April 2019 were thus confirmed as follows:
||Employer rate|Member rate|
|---|---|---|
|01-Apr-19|19.50%|8.80%|
|01-Oct-19|21.10%|9.60%|
|01-Oct-21|23.70%|11.00%|
In line with FRS 102 paragraph 28.11A, the Centre has recognised a provision of £252,911 at 31 March 2021 (2020: £243,580) for the present value of the estimated future deficit funding element of the contributions payable under the agreement in place at year end. In determining the level of this provision it has been assumed that the Charity will continue to have a constant level of employee participation in this scheme and that the relevant earnings of these employees will increase in line with the actuary’s projected long-term salary rate increases. A copy of the full actuarial valuation report and other further details on the scheme are available on the USS website www.uss.co.uk.
The next formal actuarial valuation is due as at 31st March 2020, and at the date of the approval of these accounts has not been agreed. Initial indications are that significant increases will be required in contributions overall and in the deficit recovery elements. It is therefore expected that this pension liability will increase in the accounts on agreement of a revised plan for the Scheme members
## **Oxford Staff Pension Scheme ("OSPS”).**
The pension charge for the year includes a credit of £15,440 (2020 £18,933) in relation to the OSPS. This represents contributions of £16,654 payable to the OSPS as decreased by the change in the deficit funding liability between the opening and closing balance sheet dates of £1,214 (2020: increase of £2,650).
The 2019 actuarial valuation of the scheme was finalised during the accounting period and reported that total assets of the scheme were £735mn, with total liabilities of £848mn – meaning a past service shortfall of £113mn and a funding level of 87%. The actuary has
certified that the recovery plan should eliminate the deficit by 30 June 2027. The next triennial valuation is due with an effective date of 31 March 2022.
In line with FRS 102 paragraph 28.11A, the Centre has recognised a provision of £9,311 at 31 March 2021 (2020: £10,648) for the present value of the estimated future deficit funding element of the contributions payable under this agreement. In determining the level of this provision it has been assumed that the Centre will continue to have a constant level of employee participation in this scheme and that the relevant earnings of these employees will increase in line with the actuary’s projected long-term salary rate increases.
A copy of the full actuarial valuation report and other further details on the scheme are available on the University of Oxford website http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/finance/epp/pensions/schemes/osps/
Page 21
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **16 Financial commitments**
At 31st March 2021, the charity had total commitments under non cancellable operating leases as detailed below:
|detailed below:|||
|---|---|---|
||**Land and**|**buildings**|
||**2021**|**2020**|
|Operating leases which expire after more than 5 years|-|-|
|Operating leases which expire between 2 to 5 years|£68,909|£97,709|
|Capital Commitments at 31st March, 2021 were:|||
|Approved and Contracted|£8,795|£8,795|
## **17 Subsidiary undertakings**
The unlisted investments are two wholly owned subsidiaries, Oxcis Limited and Oxford Endeavours Limited. Oxford Endeavours Limited wholly owns two subsidiaries Oxford Real Estate Limited and Oxford Islamic Finance Limited. All of these companies are registered in England.
At the start of the year a loan of £3.77m was outstanding from Oxford Real Estate Limited,
a Gift Aid donation of £524,853 from distributable profits is to be made to the Trust. The outstanding loan at 31st March 2021 was £3,859,168. This amount is unsecured, repayable on demand and carries interest at 2%.
The results, net assets and principal activity of the companies are as follows:
|**Company and principal**
**activities**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Profit /**
**(Loss) for the**
**year**|**Assets**|**Liabilities**|**Funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Oxcis Limited|10,062|(11,211)|(1,149)|104,941,603|(105,426,513)|(484,910)|
|Design & build services|||||||
|Oxford Endeavours Limited|2,001|(1,449)|552|1,406,656|(1,826)|1,404,829|
|Holding company|||||||
|Oxford Real Estate Limited|623,751|(89,478)|534,273|10,215,749|(4,057,873)|6,157,876|
|Property investment &|||||||
|management|||||||
Oxford Islamic Finance Limited
The company had no financial activity during the year and was dormant.
Page 22
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **18 The Charity's own financial information**
||**2021**|**2020**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|Gross Income|9,836,237|9,834,937|
|Net incoming resources|5,281,577|5,207,904|
|Gains / ( Losses ) on investments|13,243,580|(2,818,724)|
## **19 Comparative Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31st March 2020.**
|||**General and**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Note**|**designated funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2020**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Income From:**||||||
|Donations and gifts||5,983,293|976,197|1,025,240|7,984,730|
|**Charitable Activities**|**5**|158,534|-|-|158,534|
|**Investment income**|**6**|48,385|1,702|1,725,854|1,775,941|
|**Total income**||6,190,212|977,899|2,751,094|9,919,205|
|**Expenditure as:**||||||
|**Cost of raising funds**||||||
|Costs of raising voluntary income||685|-|-|685|
|Investment management fees||-|-|137,440|137,440|
|Development||62,212|-|-|62,212|
|Trust administration||74,394|-|-|74,394|
|||137,291|-|137,440|274,731|
|**Charitable Activities**||||||
|Centre||2,521,291|-|-|2,521,291|
|Fellowships and Scholarships||1,243,188|473,298|-|1,716,486|
|Publications||40,458|-|-|40,458|
|Conferences & Events||85,623|-|-|85,623|
|||3,890,560|473,298|-|4,363,858|
|||||||
|**Total expenditure**|**7**|4,027,851|473,298|137,440|4,638,589|
|**Net income / (expenses)**||2,162,361|504,601|2,613,654|5,280,616|
|**for the year before transfers**||||||
|Transfer between funds||1,725,854|-|(1,725,854)|-|
|**Gains / ( Losses ) on investment assets:**||-|-|(2,818,724)|(2,818,724)|
|**Net movement in funds in year**||3,888,215|504,601|(1,930,924)|2,461,892|
|Total funds brought forward||(1,596,610)|109,644,188|76,738,074|184,785,652|
|**Total funds carried forward**|**14**|2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|
Page 23
## OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the year ended 31st March 2021**
## **20 Comparative Consolidated Balance Sheet for the year ended 31st March 2020.**
|||**General and**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|||
||**Note**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2020**|**2019**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Fixed assets**|||||||
|Tangible assets|**8**|261,879|111,036,915|5,617,513|116,916,307|116,509,748|
|Investments|**9**|-|-|65,966,992|65,966,992|63,512,383|
|||261,879|111,036,915|71,584,505|182,883,299|180,022,131|
|**Current assets**|||||||
|Debtors|**10**|84,588|61,024|96,926|242,538|269,563|
|Cash at bank||2,390,708|(910,139)|3,359,161|4,839,730|5,635,656|
|||2,475,296|(849,115)|3,456,087|5,082,268|5,905,219|
|**Creditors**|||||||
|Amounts falling due|||||||
|within one year|**11**|(191,342)|(39,011)|(233,442)|(463,795)|(731,686)|
|**Net current assets / (liabilities)**||2,283,954|(888,126)|3,222,645|4,618,473|5,173,533|
|**Provision for liabilities and charges**|||||||
|Pension scheme liability|**12**|(254,228)|-|-|(254,228)|(410,012)|
|**Net assets**||2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|184,785,652|
||||||||
|**Funds**|**14**|2,291,605|110,148,789|74,807,150|187,247,544|184,785,652|
## **21 Related party transactions**
There were no related party transactions except those with Charity's subsidiaries which are covered in note 17.
## **22 Approval of accounts**
These accounts were approved at a meeting of the Trustees on the 9th of September 2021.
Page 24
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Marston Road, Oxford OX3 0EE, United Kingdom Telephone: 44 1865 278730 Fax: 44 1865 248942 Email: islamic.studies@oxcis.ac.uk Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No: 293072