ICCI Ramadan Banquet

ICCI Invited some Irish guests, neighbours, government officials and members of the Garda to attend a breaking fast feast.
Many people attended the feast and gave their impression on video which was encouraging for future events.
It was a chance for people to understand each other by respecting each other’s culture, and learn that we are all human, who have the same needs and same attitude to life, in that we all constitute a happy society.

Here is a poem that will give an insight to what a Muslim family would do in Ramadan:

Wish you the best of Ramadan,
May your Ramadan be full of Spirituality and good deeds
Key words: Atika is a girl’s name, Abo: is father of, Um: is mother of.

The month of Ramadan and Um Aatika

She burnt her fingers, called her daughters in anger
Mother, nothing to fear we hope yet wonder
Feeding the fast, reward will come to you in abundance
Rejoice, no despair, there will be plenty reward for the blazing burn hereunder
She mumbled: I only was teasing! It was my blunder
She was screaming of pain and anger
That woke them up from their slumber
They were to her the best helpers and comforters
By sunset, the table was full, everyone came under
Family from all around, they gather
Their food was thanksgiving, remembering those in hunger
Um Aatika! Paused, reflecting;
For the children of Palestine she was crying
For the children of Afghanistan she was grieving
For the children of Iraq she was brokenhearted
For the hungry children of Somalia she was despairing
She made sure that some money gets to them in a hurry
She said: charity protects us from god’s wrath and anger
Those present were comforting her and so Abo Aatika
He prayed that Allah will take care and feed those in hunger
When the family had their tea;
They rushed to a nearby mosque to pray
Conscious of time Abo Aatika’s program was full for the day
He divided the day to three parts so the time won’t plunder
He declared repentance and wore the robe of forgiveness
What shall I say:
His prayers were thanksgiving for the endless bounties in abundance
His supplication was worshiping in devotion and fondness
His crack of dawn was glorifying, reflection and repentance
He is reading the Quran one verse after the other
He took a prayer place in the first row full of tender
And made sure he would be early for it like a quick thunder
When people see him walking to the Mosque, he is calm, no anger,
They came to salute him as if he is the aficionado Legendre
And when he goes out of the mosque in linger:
An hour of chat and mixing bringer
When the last ten days of Ramadan come up
He’d be the first for seclusion monger
He shuns the world and worship the protector in humble
Atika said: father, the Eid is looming
And we love to know what happened to the presents we wonder
He consulted with Um Aatika
Many presents and valuables for all the family members
Their son, a gift from god, visited them and held him in circle
Mother, father, and sisters I missed you a bundle
I love to see you but work was a shamble
Mother showed him love and caring for his grumble
Proud was the father for his son’s return a bundle
He gave each of them a present to remember
Overwhelmed and happy Um Aatika was in cheerful temper
She came with sweets, coffee, and pancakes and sprinkle
Zakat was given to the poor and those in hunger
Good deeds, visits, worshipping the month dwindles

And it is dwindling now!
Poem by Bashir

the Banquet oppened with recitation of Quran

Taraweeh Prayer in Dublin

Taraweeh Prayer in ICCI Clonskeagh

Taraweeh Prayer in IFI South Circular Road

Irish Hijab Campaign

We third general meeting of the Irish Hijab Campaign will take place as follows:
Date: Saturday 27th September
Time: 1500 - 1700 (3-5pm)
Venue: Muslim Association of Ireland
Unit 1,2 Greenhills Business Centre
Off Greenhills Rd
Tallaght
Dublin 24

Chair: Suad McKenzie

Newspaper Watch: Media making up rubbish and misleading about Muslims

Wednesday, 31 May 2006
In March of this year, the results of a study into institutional racism in Ireland commissioned by Amnesty International were released at a press conference, at which leading British human rights lawyer, Imran Khan, described Ireland as being in the "dark ages" with respect to racism. The study documented hard statistical evidence of institutional racism, such as the fact that "only one per cent of non-EU doctors became consultants, even though almost half of junior doctors were from outside Europe". The Irish Times was the only newspaper to cover the launch and there was a grand total of one opinion piece written in reaction to the report, an article by Tom McGurk in the Sunday Business Post, which denounced the findings as "platitudinous and inaccurate moral indignation" by "politically correct thought police".
McGurk did not profer any evidence to challenge the report's findings, but relied primarily upon simple assertions "we are neither historically nor culturally racist", "the allegation that ? despite the extensive and comprehensive body of equality and anti-discrimination law it has enacted ? the state is still in the dark ages is simply nonsense". This article was the sum total of the newspapers' reaction to the worrying findings of the most professional, up to date and comprehensive study yet carried out on institutional racism in Ireland. The report's recommendations remain unimplemented and almost entirely unknown.
Wednesday 24 May saw a conference on Islamophobia in Dublin. The arguments and evidence presented at the conference were briefly described in both the Irish Times and Irish Independent. Niall Crowley, CEO of the Equality authority, described rising evidence of "physical and verbal abuse" and some "media reporting that does stereotype muslims". Once again, the evidence and arguments put forward by this conference only merited a single reaction in the newspapers.
Liam Fay, writing in the Sunday Times, simply dismissed the conference's validity, by attacking the straw-man argument that "critics of Islam are racists". Indeed, he got so carried away as to suggest that the very existence of such a conference amounted to a modern day "witch-hunt."
One of the trademarks of Islamophobia is the irrational assumption that Muslims are particularly likely to be both fundamentalists and terrorists. A very good example of such irrationality can be found in the media coverage of the Afghan hunger-strikers. Despite the fact that the hunger-strikers were clean shaven, seeking refuge in a Christian church and denied any sympathies for the Taliban, the possibility of them being connected to the Taliban was repeatedly raised in the media. The Irish Times was the first to raise the connection ? choosing to highlight the fact that the uncle of one of the men had been a Taliban minister and the man himself had been a civil servant under the Taliban, a tenuous connection which was repeatedly raised in subsequent reporting.
The Evening Herald, on Tuesday 23 May, went further still in claiming that the hunger strike had been directed by mobile phone by "senior Taliban figures".
Mick McCaffrey's article cited anonymous "sources" as the only evidence for these claims. He failed to explain how these sources were able to so easily trace senior Taliban figures whom the US army has been hunting for years. Maybe his sources could tell us where Osama is? In any case, why would the Taliban have any interest in our asylum process? If the Garda really believe that these men are taking direct orders from the Taliban, why are they now freely walking our streets?

Or is it just the case that Islamophobia is so strong that some journalists feel they can get away with making up any old rubbish about Muslims?

Source: Village Ireland Current Affairs

From Qasim: To Conor Lenihan, Thanks but No Thanks الى كونر لنهان شكرا ولكن ليس شكرا..

Salams All...
السلام عليكم
This is what we could do...

1). Write to Conor Lenihan saying something like Thanks but No Thanks... We should mention that there was no need for the hysteria about Hijab in the media since guidelines for the matter existed way back in 2005... The Muslim community was troubled over the whole affair (I personally know a few parents whose daughters go to school and they were really upset)... This was because there was a lot of uncertainity about the issue during this time as to what the Government would actually do... People were talking about what happened in France and Turkey etc.... The Government has a responsibility towards its minority citizens and had the government intervened properly in the matter none of this would have been a problem...
يقول الاخ قاسم: بان المسلمين في ايرلندا ما كانوا ليكونوا في الاخبار لو ان الحكومة رجعت الى قوانينها ولوائحها الصادرة في الفين وخمسة. ولما اصبح المسلمون في خوف مما ستعمله الحكومة استتب هذا الخوف الى ان خرج علينا كونر لنهان بقوله: ان الحجاب ليس قضية للنقاش . وان كان هذا في صالح المسلمين, الا ان الكثير من الاباء والامهات كادوا يؤثر فيهم الخوف من التضييق على فتياتهم.

2). The same platform should continue really... I am sure that all of you would agree that there are further issues about Islam and Muslims that could emerge in the future and since the Irish Muslim Population is pretty much apolitical there should be a platform to address local issues related with Muslims... A meeting is a good idea in that regard...
وانه لمن الطبيعي ان تظهر امور وقضايا اخرى نحن لم نعرفها بعد. ولهذا نطالب بعدم الخوض فيها في الاخبار والاعلام. الا بعد البث فيها مع ممثل سياسي اسلامي يفتح مشاكل المسلمين بدون اللوجوء الى الاعلام.
3) Finally there was a lack of consultation on the issue and that is very important... Had there been any consultation it would have been much better... and I am not talking about consulting unknown Imaams here...
ومن هنا نجد ان هناك فقر في الاستشارة مع الجالية الاسلامية ويجب ان لا نتكلم عن استشارة الائمة وانما مع الممثل السياسي للمسلمين
4) We could also write politely to the two parties Fine Gael and Labour and invite them to review their narrowminded views about the Hijab...
ويجب علينا ان نكتب الى احزاب المعارضة فينا قيل ولايبر بان يغيروا من سياستهم بالنسبة للحجاب.

Masalama
مع السلامة
Qasim
قاسم

Faheem Bukhatwa Says with regard to No directive for schools on use of Islamic scarf

Assalam,

May be the next step is start an active media campaign. But, I suggest this will require the getting the OK from the founding memebers. As this is a major shift in the guidlines decided on the forming of the campaign. I suggest calling for a meeting soon to keep the momentom going.


Faheem Bukhatwa

Brother Mujahid (Liam Egan) of the Hijab Committee says:

Dear All,The Gorey Muslim Community posted this article from the Irish Times this morning. It would now appear that Minister Lenihan is not going to make any changes to the existing guidelines. We would like the Irish Hijab Campaign to consider an official press release in response to this news and I would like people to consider the following:1. This move simply places us in the same situation that occurred when the issue first broke.2. The right to education for Muslim girls will still be subject to the whims of Principals and boards of management who can and have banned the hijab in the past. One such school in Dublin cited a Catholic ethos as its excuse for the hijab ban, the young Muslim girl was forced to find a school that would accommodate her.3. The question of the hijab has also raised concerns about the lack of consultation and inclusion in such decisions. As you are well aware over 4000 principals were opined but only a handful of Muslims were consulted about an issue that directly affects them. How does this lack of consultation contribute to the integration that we hear of?
Thoughts please

Mujaahid