Anti-Muslim activity overwhelmed by good wishes

THE Muslim community in Ireland feared for the worst following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, but a year later the good wishes and interest of the majority of citizens have overwhelmed the isolated incidents of abuse and attacks from the ignorant and the racist.

“To be honest, in the first three days after the attacks we were panicking,” said Dr Nooh Al-Kaddo, executive director of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin. “The media and everyone was talking about Islam, so we thought we would be in big trouble. But fortunately nothing happened, neither to the Muslim community or to the centre.”

He said there was some racist abuse, but it was not widespread: “Generally, there were isolated incidents here and there, but that was overwhelmed by the numbers of people coming here, especially in the first few weeks, asking about Islam.