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.

“A lot of people came to the centre and we took, and continue to take, the opportunity to clear the misconception about Islam. We explain to people if a Muslim did something wrong we cannot blame all Muslims for that thing.”

He said the visit of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the centre in Clonskeagh and comments by President Mary McAleese were a great boost to the 15,000-strong community.

In the two months after the attack they ran out of copies of the English version of the Koran - the holy book of Islam: “We give it freely. We used to give very little amounts, but now we have at least given out five to six hundred copies and we are expecting a few thousand in by the end of the month.”

The Irish racism watchdog said there was a sharp rise in incidents against Muslims after September 11.

“Certainly there was a dramatic increase and that went on for about three weeks and then levelled out again,” said Philip Watt of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI). Even before September 11 there was an upward trend of racist incidents against the Muslim community, particularly towards women in traditional dress.

“There’s a general ignorance and lack of understanding of the Islamic community in Ireland,” he said.

Dr Al-Kaddo said the media’s portrayal of Islam needed to change.

“The media, especially, were not fair and are still not fair. If a Catholic did something wrong, you cannot go to all Catholics and say he did this, your religion is this and that. That’s not fair.”

Anyone interested in Islam can attend an educational exhibition between September 30 and October 12 at the centre followed by a cultural exhibition between October 14 and 31.