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Muslims in Northern Ireland:

The Belfast Islamic Centre

The famous Muslim historian and sociolo-gist Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) called the is-land of Ireis-land resis-landah in his Muqaddimah (the introductory volume to his Kitab al-Ibar (Universal History).1

The Muslim Community

It is difficult to know when the first Mus-lims arrived in Northern Ireland, but there are some indications that this was in the 1940s. We know that some Muslims cele-brated Eid al-Fitr in 1953 at a small house on Cromwell Street in Belfast. Early Muslims were mainly students from the Indian sub-continent, South Africa and the Middle East, studying at Queens University of Belfast.

The Muslim Community has grown in size since then. There is no accurate statistical in-formation on the exact number of Muslims, but the estimate is approximately 3000. The majority live in Belfast, while the rest are in Craigavon, Londonderry, Ballymena, Col-eraine, Bangor and Lisburn. They belong to different ethnic groups from Pakistan, India, Middle East, Africa, Malaysia, Gulf, Turkey and others. There are also small numbers of Irish/British that have recently become Mus-lims, yet have not formed a unified commu-nity. All of these Muslims are fully integrated together by sharing of mosques and Sunday school (madrasa) yet they have diverse cul-tural traditions and customs. Many of the Muslims have either Irish and/or British citi-zenship, some of them through marriage.

The Muslim Community in Northern Ire-land has certain features which distinguish it from other Muslim minorities in Europe. Since Northern Ireland did not bring over cheap labourers, as is the case with England, France and Germany, for example, the ma-jority of the Muslims are professionals who decided to come voluntarily. They work in medicine, university teaching, engineering, or business. The students form the biggest group among the non-residents. It is a young community, as they represent the upcoming third generation. These factors make it possible to prevent some social, ed-ucational and economical difficulties which are faced by Muslim communities else-where in Europe.2

Belfast Islamic Centre

The current Centre was established in the early 1980s, and it serves the Muslims in Northern Ireland. It is registered as a charity organization, and has a mosque, a small Is-lamic library, a few rooms for teaching, and a section for women. It holds the usual ac-tivities of a mosque and an Islamic centre, ranging from worship, Qura'nic teaching, eid prayers and celebrations, as well as so-cial and cultural activities. It holds a Month-ly Meeting when a guest speaker is invited. On the first Sunday after Eid al-Fitr, the Cen-tre holds the Annual eid Dinner when many non-Muslim friends of Belfast Islamic Centre are invited, including the Lord Mayor of Belfast.

The Centre has a Sunday school (madrasa) called Dar al-Uloom, where Muslim children attend three sessions: Qur'an, Islamic Stud-ies and Arabic language.

Belfast Islamic Centre has a Women's Group which organizes various activities or training for the Muslim women in Northern Ireland. Belfast Islamic Centre also has a popular website.3

The Centre has established good relation-ships with the Northern Irish Community, and institutions, such as universities, several colleges, and the police. The Queen's Uni-versity of Belfast has recently run a short course on 'Islam and Islamic Cultures', and the Ulster Museum, for the first time, recent-ly had an Exhibition on Arabic Calligraphy.

Along with other ethnic and religious mi-norities the Belfast Islamic Centre has estab-lished two important organizations. The first is the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum (established in 1993), with the first chairman from the Muslim Community.4 This Forum

has recently opened a multi-faith prayer room at Belfast International Airport, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. The sec-ond organization is Northern Ireland Coun-cil for Ethnic Minority (established in 1994.)5

Belfast Islamic Centre is a founding

mem-ber of the Muslim Council of Britain, estab-lished in 1997. It is also a member of the Eu-ropean Council of Islamic Cooperation in Strasbourg. It has a close relationship with the Muslim communities in the Irish Repub-lic, and throughout UK.

The Centre is run by volunteers, consisting of three trustees and an Executive Commit-tee, elected every two years.

Future projects

The Muslims in Northern Ireland are active-ly involved in the building of a new mosque. They would like it to combine the Islamic ar-chitecture with the Northern Irish heritage, and this should reflect their Islamic Irish iden-tity.

The Centre would like to arrange an 'Open Day' to invite non-Muslims to visit the mosque and see first hand what type of work it offers to the community at large.

Muslim children in Northern Ireland still have unmet needs regarding their Religious Education, as the Syllabus of Religious Educa-tion in Northern Ireland is exclusively Christ-ian. It is under review now, and Muslims are working with other minorities to identify the needs of their children, and subsequently to meet them. Many Muslims are not in favour of segregated schools provided that their chil-dren receive Islamic religious education at their local schools.

The Muslim Community in Northern Ireland is an example of the peaceful coexistence of different cultures and religious systems. ◆

Notes

1. Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah.

2. Nonneman, G., T. Niblock and B. Szajkowski (1997), Muslim Communities in the New Europe.

3. The address of the website: www.iol.ie/~afifi 4. Maurice Ryan (1996), Another Ireland. 5. Maurice Ryan (1996), Another Ireland.

Dr Mamoun Mobayed, is an Associate Psychiatrist, lecturer, author and President of Belfast Islamic Centre.

Northern Ireland, which is known for its 300-year

re-ligious conflict, is now going through what is called

'The Peace Process'. It has become a pluralistic

soci-ety with multi-religious diversity. The Muslim

Com-munity forms the second largest religious group

after Christianity and has always supported the

peace in Northern Ireland.

Three generations of Muslims outside Belfast Islamic Centre.

Muslim Centres in Europe

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