Intimidation alleged at Muslim singles event

A singles event aimed at introducing Irish Muslims to prospective marriage partners has been cancelled amid claims that female participants were put under pressure by members of their own community not to attend.

Just under 50 Muslim men and women were due to take part in the first Dublin Professional Muslim Singles Matrimonial Evening at Jury's Hotel in Ballsbridge last night, and most had paid the €90 fee.

However, after more than 10 of the women pulled out alleging intimidation, organiser Mr Kamran Beg, a Manchester-based management consultant, cancelled the event.

"A number of females complained about intimidation from certain members of their community," he told The Irish Times yesterday. "It's very sad. The women told me they felt they would be penalised and frowned upon for attending."

Traditionally Muslim marriages are arranged by family members or professional matchmakers, while dates are chaperoned by parents.

Mr Beg said he feared the intimidation was based on ignorance about such events. No alcohol was to be served at the function, which would have been a sedate version of western-style singles nights.

None of the women involved were prepared to speak out but two of them - a 29-year-old doctor and a 28-year-old teacher - forwarded statements to Mr Beg.

The doctor claims that a community representative said the match-making dinner was "the work of the devil", and warned that if she attended she and her family would have to find another place to worship.

The teacher told Mr Beg that community representatives had a habit of "slating any idea which is designed to help our generation".

She added that one of the elders had told her father if he was in a hurry for her to marry he should find someone in India. "He said there are plenty of willing parties he could think of so it wouldn't be a problem," she said.

When contacted, Imam Yahya al-Hussein, from the Islamic Centre on the South Circular Road in Dublin, said he had no knowledge of the event and questioned the authenticity of the women's statements.

He said he believed such events were "inappropriate and not a dignified way to find a husband".