Sheikh Shaheed @Large The fallout between myself and the leaders of Ireland’s Muslim establishment occurred not in 2006, as many believe, but way back in 2003, when the Muslim Council of Ireland was founded. Then I acted as the financial development officer for the Islamic Foundation of Ireland, and I put them in touch with various financiers to support their extension of the mosque building.
I also suggested that we plan for a mosque in the Fingal County Council area, and founded the West Dublin Islamic Society. However, the suggestion of an Islamic Cultural Centre for north Dublin was met with disdain and ridicule, and I was personally scorned. I failed to understand their reaction to my very innocent and constructive suggestion, as there are well in excess of 40,000 Muslims living in Ireland. More importantly, the vast majority of Muslims live in the Dublin region and indeed many are concentrated in the Fingal area.
As I have found out afterwards, apparently the reason for their dissatisfaction was that they feared their leadership of the Muslim community would be challenged, which was not even on my agenda. I was merely addressing a dire need in the area.
Currently there are only three main purpose-built mosques in the Dublin area, in Dundrum, Clonskeagh and on the South Circular Road. The last two primarily service the largely Arab Sunni community, while the Dundrum mosque attends to their Shiah counterparts. All are in south Dublin.
However, while there is no official data available on where Muslims in Dublin are living, all empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority live to the north and west of the city – quite far from these places of worship.
This problem has been addressed by a number of prayer halls in the west of the city, located in houses, industrial units and sports halls. There is nothing particularly wrong with these places, but they are far from being ideal mosques, and certainly lack the full range of facilities a dedicated mosque can offer.
The most important element in a mosque is the prayer hall, but a mosque is far more than that. A mosque is a centre of learning about Islam; it is a centre for the community; it is a refuge for those in distress, a symbol of what the community represents, and much more.
In addition, the ideal mosque should have specific practical facilities associated with Islam, such as ritual washing facilities, a library, funeral and burial preparation facilities, dedicated female support areas, community administration areas and imam support facilities.
Much of the above are lacking even in the three main south Dublin mosques mentioned before. So the need for a mosque to serve the northern and western fringes of the city, in terms of facilities and future expansion of the Muslim community, is great.
But there is another aspect. The religion of Islam spans many cultures, many lands and many peoples, but until the last 15 years or so most Muslims in Ireland came from Arab countries, and therefore the expression of culture associated with Islam was essentially Arabic – and in many cases connected to the extremist Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.
The Arab culture is magnificent, but it is not the only culture in Islam. Today there are many different Muslim cultures in Ireland, from Turkish to Nigerian, Malaysian to Afghani, South African to Pakistani. Dublin needs a mosque that represents and celebrates that great diversity, which already exists in the Fingal area.
Dublin also needs a mosque that seeks a full integration into Irish society, with Muslims taking a more moderate stance in line with the correct teachings of Islam. This requires interacting with society as it exists, not as one wishes it existed. So there is a need for a specifically Irish mosque, one that embraces all cultures, that embraces the responsibilities of living in a non-Muslim society and reconciles the glorious truth of the Holy Qur’an with contemporary life in Ireland. Such a mosque would honour Islam, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Allah, and not condone horrendous atrocities committed in the name of our faith.
Dr Shaheed Satardien is imam of the West Dublin Islamic Society, president of the Muslim Council of Ireland, chairman of the European Muslim Council for Justice, Peace and Equality, co-ordinator of the Interfaith Roundtable and the 2006 Visionary of Peace Award winner
sheikhshaheed@gmail.com
