Irish Muslim emigrates over ‘religious interests’
A MUSLIM FATHER at the centre of a past controversy over Islamic hijabs in schools is no longer living in Ireland as his “religious interests” are not being served here, he has claimed.
Liam Egan from Gorey, Co Wexford came under the spotlight four years ago when his family sought permission for daughter Shekinah to wear a hijab, or headscarf, while attending Gorey Community School. The school granted her permission to do so but called on the Department of Education to develop guidelines for schools on the issue.
Recommendations in support of allowing the hijab were subsequently issued, but garments obscuring the face such as the burqa or niqab were not recommended.
Egan, a former Metro Éireann columnist who is now living in a “Muslim country” which he did not want publicly disclosed, said that Ireland does not treat its Muslim citizens and residents as equals and that’s why he has emigrated.
“I’ve left Ireland twice in my lifetime; the first in 1986 was to pursue opportunities that Ireland simply could not offer its youth. The second and most recent, because it would not afford me, an Irish Muslim, and others like me, the same opportunities it promised everyone else.”
Asked what aspects of Irish society allegedly made life difficult for Muslims from a faith perspective, Egan responded: “The Celtic Tiger has bred a lamentably feral generation that is self-seeking, self-indulgent and wholly distasteful to someone seeking to live a righteous life. I can’t think of anything that makes it particularly easy for a Muslim from a faith perspective.”
Specifically he referred to “the continuous barriers erected to prevent Muslim participation in wider society, discrimination in terms of job opportunities and equal access to education”.
The Irish convert to Islam, who has since remarried, said he hopes “that all my wonderful children will one day be in a country that has some semblance of Islam”.
As to the suggestion that it is not possible to be truly Muslim in Ireland, a number of imams disagree.
According to Sheikh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, who is head imam at Al-Mustafa Islamic Centre in Blanchardstown, Muslims “are working in all fields of life here and there are also Muslim schools, mosques and Islamic centres in Ireland which are all proof that Muslims are participating in the wider society and also fulfilling their religious and moral duties.
“The freedom of religion we find in the west today is unfortunately not found in many Islamic countries,” he added. “If anyone strongly believes that as a Muslim he is not able to fulfil his religious, spiritual and moral duties then he is obliged by Islamic law to migrate to a land where he will be able to fulfil these duties.”
While in Ireland, Egan wrote columns in Metro Éireann in favour of such issues as polygamy. He also ran the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC) which he described as an “online presence”, and attracted some criticism from fellow Muslims.
