Irish Independent – 20 Sept
2014
Lorraine O'Connor
has had to get used to the "go back to where you come from" taunts. They occur
more frequently than she cares to think about - on the street, in the park, at
the supermarket.
But the Dubliner who proudly wears the Muslim headscarf, the hijab, every
day never lets a verbal attack go unanswered. "I say to them 'I'm from Coolock.
Where are you from?' You should see the look on their faces. They weren't
expecting to have abused an Irish woman."
Lorraine converted to Islam 17
years ago at a time when Muslim numbers in Ireland were in
the thousands rather than the tens of thousands of today. "There are definitely
more of us now," she says. "And more and more Irish people are finding that
Islam is what they have been searching for."
The immigration of the Celtic Tiger years helped swell numbers to an
estimated 65,000 (the 2011 Census lists the number of Muslims here at 49,204)
but so too has the numbers of Irish who are now converting. Muslim leaders here
insist that as many as 500 Irish are embracing Islam each year. "Like me, people
are looking for a simple message and Islam provides that," Lorraine says.
The mother of four daughters - "they all wear the hijab, by choice" - is
steeped in the country's new Islamic tradition. She is the founder of the Muslim
Sisters of Éire - a group where like-minded Muslim women go swimming or for
picnics together - while her husband, Abdul Haseeb, is the "project
co-ordinator" of the Clongriffin Mosque development. If completed, this north
Dublin
mosque and conference centre will be the biggest of its type in
Ireland with the capability of
accommodating 3,000 people.
"When I converted to Islam, my family and friends were supportive and I
would say that the majority of Irish people have a live-and-let live attitude to
Muslims," Lorraine says. "But there are people on the
street who think it's OK to shout 'terrorist' at a Muslim, for instance, or to
assume that the behaviour of fundamentalists abroad is in some way supported by
Muslims here."
She is also bothered by Islamaphobia of a more low-level variety,
including those liberals who believe that the modest dress expected of devout
Muslim women is a form of male oppression. "It's Western women who are
oppressed," she says. "They feel they have to be size zeroes and show off as
much skin as possible. I feel very liberated that I wear the hijab and those of
my friends who wear the burka [the full head-dress covering everything except
the eyes] also feel liberated. They are comfortable with who they are and they
don't feel they have to conform to western
norms."
It's a view shared by another Irish convert, Liza Caulfield, who is now
known by her Muslim name Aishah. "I wear it because it's a sign of my devotion
to God," she told the Irish Independent recently. "It shows humility with my husband and with the male members
of my family. It's a way of sharing your faith with people, of saying: 'Don't be
afraid of us - we're all human, we all come and go the one
way'.
"I always dressed modestly. I was never comfortable with showing the
figure off. We're living in a society where people feel threatened because I
choose to not show my body, whereas you have girls as young as 11 or 12 looking
at Rihanna. She has a video and she's barely covering her nipples. And there are
ladies twerking and pole-dancing. Girls are looking at that and going: 'Yeah,
I'm going to get a husband if I do that.' You should be valued for your soul and
your personality, not because of how much flesh you show - that's private, and
that's your beauty."
Thanks to the hijab, women tend to be more readily identified as Muslim
than their male counterparts and that has made them more susceptible to
Islamaphobia. James Carr
from the University of Limerick has extensively researched discrimination
against Muslims in Ireland and notes that a greater
proportion of females to males suffer abuse. "I visited 14 towns and cities in
Ireland as part of this work and
found that 44pc of Muslim women said they experienced hostility directed to them
as a result of their faith as opposed to 28pc of Muslim
men.
"While men get called 'terrorist' and 'suicide bomber', women are
sometimes called 'Osama's wife'. I spoke to two younger Muslim women who had
been physically attacked by a group of young men. They had been approached by
the group and asked if they were upset that their father was dead - they were
referring to Bin Laden because this happened in the days following his
death."
Carr says the abuse tends to be verbal but it can go beyond that too.
"People have had bottles thrown at them and women have had their hijab pulled
from their faces.
"Another thing that I often hear is the sense that many Muslim people do
not feel as though their identity is valued in Irish society. You also find
Irish people who have converted to Islam have difficulty being accepted by other
Irish people, some of whom taunt them with the 'terrorist'
line."
Since the beheading of American journalist James Foley at the hands of
Isis jihadists, some Muslim men in Ireland have experienced a heightened
rise in the abuse. Two north African men who worship each day at the Dublin
Mosque on the city's South Circular
Road agreed to speak to Weekend Review on the
condition of anonymity.
"Most people are good to me," one says. "But every single day I get
called a terrorist by someone, usually someone in a car who pulls over as I walk
down the street. It has got a lot worse this year because of Isis and it's particularly bad now that they are executing
Western people.
"I am a man of peace and I abhor what Isis is doing, but some people are looking at these
fundamentalists and thinking that all Muslims are like that. And nothing could
be further from the truth."
His friend says he has been asked straight out if he agrees with
Isis practice by members of the public.
"People have stopped me in the street and asked if I will condemn the
murders. They are almost surprised when I say 'of course I do' - Isis are
barbarians who do not represent all true Muslims and, what's more, it is mainly
other Muslims who they are killing. What is very worrying though is the fact
that this organisation seems to be able to reach out to disaffected Muslims in
the West as we can all see on the news when we hear this guy 'Jihad John'
speak."
Interpol believes up to 25 Irish jihadis may have joined the ranks of
Isis at present, but one of Ireland's Muslim leaders, Dr Ali
Selim, insists that "every effort" is being made to ensure that impressionable,
disaffected young Irish Muslims are not seduced by the organisation's
sophisticated propaganda.
"The actions of Isis are reprehensible
and cannot be justified in any way. They have caused huge damage to how Muslims
are perceived around the world and their use of the phrase 'Islamic State' is an
outrage."
Dr Selim insists that the Muslims he meets every day are appalled by the
actions and hope that non-Muslims can see that "the behaviour of these
extremists bears no relation to the lives of Muslims here".
He says Irish people have been "very accepting" of the Muslim way of life
which has been borne out in the international surveys that point to this country
as one of the most tolerant in the world for being Muslim.
"Your country never invaded anywhere else and your people have emigrated
for many years," he says.
"People here are welcoming because they themselves may have gone to make
a living in another country or seen a loved one emigrate and know how
challenging it can be.
"For those who are fearful, don't be: we come in
peace."
Comment:
This article should open the eyes of anybody in the Irish diaspora who
continues to believe that Ireland remains the way it was in the
“Quiet Man days”. The days when nearly every family in Ireland,
especially in rural areas, went to Sunday Mass together are fast disappearing.
Immigration to Ireland by people of other faiths and the growth of secularism
have had a profound effect on Irish Catholicism in a country that was considered
the most Catholic in Europe only a generation ago. Attendance at Sunday Mass is
dismal at best, All Hallows Seminary which sent Irish priests all over the world
is now closed and it was reported in the news just last week that it is being
sold. Times are changing in Ireland and many who claim Irish
heritage would be of the opinion that the changes are not for the better.
Jack Meehan, National President
Emeritus
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America
