Final Reflections of the 25/26 Blog Rep

 Assalamu-alaikum everyone.

In what feels like the blink of an eye, the academic year has come to an end, and with it my role as IMed's blog representative. Although this blog is not necessarily the most well-known aspect of IMed, I am proud of what it has become and the progress we made this year.

You may have already heard by now, but the IMed blog will be discontinued next year, as we make space for IMed Voices, where there will be more of a focus on sharing ideas with the community via social media and short-form content. I look forward to seeing what the Voices team has in store for our community, inshallah. The blog website will still remain available, and while I will likely reformat it, all articles will still be accessible for you to read and continue to share with others. 

Now, here is some reflection on my behalf on the blog. April 2025, I decided I wanted to be part of the IMed Committee. Looking through the list of roles, I remembered the blog that had just been started that year, and decided that I wanted to help keep running it. Funnily enough, I'd already had experience editing since I was 10 years old. From the primary school newspaper club to the science section of the secondary school newsletter when I was in sixth form, I've read and edited countless articles- and realised how barely anyone knows how to use a semi-colon properly (even my writers this year are guilty of this!). Article writing also runs in my family; both my paternal grandparents write and publish Islamic articles, so it was always something I wanted to take my shot at.

September 2025, the second year of the blog was launched, and with it, a slight redesign! I wanted the sections to be more accessible and ended up adding buttons which redirect to different sections, as well as the 24/25 archive.  

From November 2025 to July 2026, with the help of my amazing team of writers, we began to upload monthly articles. I would also send out monthly emails to subscribed members, which included new dhikr and advice reminders as a special addition.

And now, in July 2026, I prepare to bid farewell to my Blog Rep role as I move on to new endeavours within the committee. 

A reflective piece would not be complete without some critique. If I could change anything, I would have pushed harder to give the blog more publicity, especially for school students looking into getting into Medicine. We've all been school students at some point, scrambling to figure out what it is that happens in the minds of medical students, and how one can become just like them. It would have been very beneficial to introduce the blog during fresher's week and advertise it more in events - especially the annual mock MMIs.  

That's why, in spite of the blog being discontinued, I still ask of you all to share it as a resource to aspiring medical students and new first years. Especially the IMed Minds section, which touches on struggles that students may not realise are common in medical students. 

Before we conclude, here are my favourite articles (that I think everyone should read) from each writer. 

Special thanks to all of you for making the blog what it is today. 

• Tips and Tricks for Your Dream Elective Abroad: A Muslim Student’s Perspective from Gibraltar by Omar El Khatib

• Dr Husain Sattar - Reorienting the Mind and Heart by Abdulsattar Hussain

• The Purpose of Porsches by Saud Qureshi

• Why Medicine? by Amal Al-Ashwal

• ‘You're a Failure’ by Amarr Syed

• DIW 2026 by Sami Zahid 

• The Threads of Thought: A Chain of Contemplation by Minnah Issa (yes, my own article)

Finally, a special thank you to you, the reader, for making this blog possible. You have, in equal parts, also contributed to making the blog what it is today. For what is a performance without its audience? And what is an article without its readers?

The first words sent down from the Quran were ‘read’ (‘iqra ’).

ٱقْرَأْ بِٱسْمِ رَبِّكَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ١

Read, ˹O Prophet,˺ in the Name of your Lord Who created— Surah Al-'Alaq (96:1)

There is power in reading and writing. This is evidenced by how, in times of oppression, history is deleted and burned down, and knowledge is restricted, and words are censored.  

ٱقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ ٱلْأَكْرَمُ ٣ ٱلَّذِى عَلَّمَ بِٱلْقَلَمِ ٤عَلَّمَ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ ٥ 

Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous,(3) Who taught by the pen— (4) taught humanity what they knew not.(5)  Surah Al-’Alaq (96:3-5)

So keep on going, reader; in a world where people take shortcuts, never stop reading, never stop questioning, and never stop thinking for yourself. There is a reason the Quran has been, and will be, preserved through human memorisation and not by some AI chatbot. 

وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍۢ ١٧

And We have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful (?) Surah Al-Qamar (54:17) 

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا ٱلذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُۥ لَحَـٰفِظُونَ ٩

It is certainly We Who have revealed the Reminder (quran), and it is certainly We Who will preserve it. Surah Al-Hijr (15:9) 

Jazakum Allahu khairan.

Signing off for the last time,

Your (former) Blog Rep, 

Minnah Issa.