Muslims in Ireland are disturbed by exaggerated media reports of the threat of radicalism in their midst, writes Mary Fitzgerald
It is hard to imagine two mosques more different than London Central Mosque and the one discreetly located in south Belfast.
While Britain's showpiece mosque is an elegant affair with its golden dome rising high above Regent's Park, the Northern Ireland equivalent is located in a modest Victorian terraced house. In contrast to London's main mosque with its space for up to 6,000 worshippers, Friday prayers in Belfast can mean a tight squeeze if the number attending nudges past 100.
It will take time to adjust, Sheikh Anwar Madi, Belfast's newly installed imam, admits with a smile. The Egyptian cleric arrived in Northern Ireland just this week after spending several years at London Central Mosque. It's early days yet but Sheikh Madi believes he already has some measure of his new congregation. "It feels very different," he says of Northern Ireland's estimated 4,500-strong Muslim population, which includes some 40 nationalities.
Leaving a city that has experienced increasing radicalisation among its Muslim youth, Sheikh Madi is far more optimistic about the situation here. "The community is small and perhaps that is why there are strong social relations within the community itself and also with the general population. There is less of a sense of separation."
It's an observation often made by his fellow imams about their community south of the Border. Sheikh Madi says he will be joining the recently established Irish Council of Imams, pointing out that Muslims North and South share the same concerns and face similar challenges.
One of those is the threat of extremism and radicalisation. Sheikh Madi is vaguely aware of the ruckus some months ago over comments made by Dr Shaheed Satardien, a South African Muslim who has lived in Ireland for four years. Dr Satardien claimed Muslim leaders were "in denial" about what he called "an ocean of extremism" among young Irish Muslims, alleging Ireland had become a "haven of fundamentalism".
After Muslim representatives angrily countered his allegations, Dr Satardien appeared to backtrack or at least dilute some of his claims.
"No one can dispute that there are extremist views within the Muslim community," he tells The Irish Times. "The issue is to what extent these exist and to what extent they could develop in the future. No matter how small, it has to be challenged."
Interviews with dozens of imams, community leaders and ordinary Muslim men and women living in Ireland show that the Muslim community here is still smarting from the controversy that followed Dr Satardien's widely publicised remarks. Most accept that there is a tiny extremist element within the Muslim population, but bristle at media coverage they feel unfairly and recklessly treats the community as one homogenous whole.
"You may find one or two individuals but you will find that anywhere," says Mostafidh Gani, youth co-ordinator at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland. "To give the impression, as these comments did, that there is widespread radicalisation and extremism among Muslim youth in Ireland is just ridiculous and dangerous."
Some question what is meant by extremism. Among other things, Dr Satardien told The Irish Times he was concerned over how much the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dominated discourse within the Muslim community here, with imams often devoting Friday sermons to the issue.
"My Islam does not just revolve around the Palestinian issue and I don't see why it should," he said.
This shows the difficulty of defining extremism, says Adam O'Boyle, a Muslim convert from Co Antrim. "Is it extremism to criticise Israel and get upset at what the Israeli government is doing? Most Muslims feel strongly about the Palestinian situation but so do a lot of other people."
Sheikh Ismail Kotwal, a British-born imam who preaches at a mosque in the Blackpitts area of Dublin, agrees. "It depends on how you define extremism. One person will say something is extremism, while another will say it's not. There are many different points of view."
A number of Muslims interviewed admitted that while they disagree with most of Dr Satardien's allegations, they feel some unease about certain issues within the community. Few were willing to have their names used. Some criticised the content of Friday sermons at certain mosques, others complained about fellow Muslims isolating themselves from the wider population.
One Pakistani man said he was dismayed to find an Urdu newspaper distributed in Dublin praising the Jordanian insurgent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after he was killed in a US air strike in Iraq.
"It was hailing Zarqawi as a shahid [ martyr]," he said. "I am totally against this way of thinking."
"With certain imams in Ireland, it's more a problem with what they don't do rather than what they do," said another Muslim man living in Dublin.
"When an attack or bombing involving Muslims happens, there are some imams who fail to condemn it at prayers. I accept that they are not encouraging or praising this kind of thing like some clerics in Britain do, but they should be the first to condemn and set an example."
Another man extended the same argument to the issue of integration.
"There are some mosques that never talk about integration and I think that is wrong. They are not talking against it but they are not talking about it either. It's an important subject that affects every Muslim living in Ireland and I think it should be discussed more."
One Muslim from Northern Ireland said he has noticed a seam of anti-western feeling among some Muslims he meets in the Republic.
"You do come across elements that can be very anti-western," he said. "I have noticed this far more in the South than up here. They are usually those who lean towards Wahhabism [ the rigid interpretation of Islam found in Saudi Arabia] which I believe is the biggest problem facing Islam right now, not just in Ireland but around the world.
"Many of them are living off the State, yet they complain constantly about Irish society, calling the men drunkards and the women loose. I must stress, though, that I have never heard anyone say they want to do something about it," he says.
Another man agrees. "There are some that can be critical of western liberal values and strongly against America and Israel but not in a militant way. It's more of an undercurrent."
One important distinction many point out is that while there have been a number of connections made between individuals in Ireland and Islamic militants elsewhere, these more often tend to involve people recently arrived here than members of the long-established Irish Muslim community.
"These are people who were often heavily involved in political activity in their own countries and had been radicalised long before they came to Ireland," says Mostafidh Gani. "But you cannot judge the whole community on the actions of a few."
Last year, Abbas Boutrab, an Algerian man with suspected al-Qaeda links, was jailed for six years after he was caught downloading information on how to blow up a passenger jet. Boutrab had lived in Dublin before moving to Northern Ireland. According to detectives, he had "a strong allegiance to a terrorist group that is linked to the al-Qaeda network".
In 2004 Jaybe Ofrasio, a Filipino man who had moved to Belfast the previous year, was charged with making funds and property available for the purpose of terrorism. The charges relate to Jemaah Islamiah, the southeast Asian militant group linked to the al-Qaeda network and held responsible for the Bali bombings.
After an unsuccessful attempt to have the charges against him dropped, Ofrasio's case is due for arraignment at Belfast Crown Court later this month.
Following the London bombings last year, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern disclosed that Garda and Army intelligence officers were monitoring a number of al-Qaeda sympathisers in Ireland, many of whom are suspected of providing financial and logistical support to al-Qaeda and other militant groups overseas.
At different times since the late 1990s, a number of these individuals have been arrested and questioned but no charges were brought. Ireland's main mosques are under regular Garda surveillance, something Muslim leaders here agree is a necessary precaution.
UK-based members of radical fringe groups such as Hizb ut Tahrir and the now disbanded al-Muhajiroon have tried to recruit in Ireland but failed to gain a foothold. One of al-Muhajiroon's most outspoken members was an Irish convert named Khalid Kelly.
"They came to Dublin in a bid to get rooted here but no one wanted to know," says Sheikh Zille Umar Qadri, who runs workshops and classes for young Irish Muslims at the Clonee Islamic Centre. "The majority of young people here are against these groups and their ideas."
Zainul, a Malaysian student who heads the Islamic Student Society at Queen's University in Belfast, says worries in Britain that university campuses have become fertile recruiting grounds for such groups do not apply here.
"Unlike in Britain, most of the Muslim students at universities in Ireland North and South are not coming from within the home community," he says. "Most Muslim students have travelled from places like Malaysia, Brunei and the Middle East just to study. It's a completely different situation."
While the ideology espoused by groups like Hizb ut Tahrir and al-Muhajiroon has not attracted significant support in this country, Muslim leaders here bemoan the publicity given to individuals belonging to such organisations when they travel to Ireland for debates and media events.
During a university debate last year, Anjem Choudary, a former member of al-Muhajiroon, warned Ireland was a legitimate target for a terrorist attack. He was on a visit to Dublin again yesterday and is a frequent guest on Irish radio and TV.
"People like him come here from Britain to shout and gain publicity for themselves but, when they leave, we are the ones who are affected even though we have nothing to do with them or their ideas," says Dr Farghal Radwan, a prominent member of Cork's Muslim community.
Sheikh Madi agrees, having watched such individuals and groups court publicity when he was based in London. "The media have let people like this talk for years, giving them far more prominence than they deserve," he says. "These people are not scholars or in any way representative but they are presented like this by the media. I believe the problem of radicalism and fanaticism has a lot to do with the way these characters were built up and given a platform."
There are many theories as to why Ireland's Muslim community has largely escaped the radicalisation that has emerged among young Muslims in Britain and other European countries. The small size and wide diversity of the Muslim population here, its relative youth as a community in Ireland, and the socio-economic background of the majority of Irish Muslims, have all been put forward as possible reasons.
Mostafidh Gani believes Ireland's foreign policy also plays a role. "I grew up in Britain and it's obvious that foreign policy decisions taken by the British government have directly alienated a large percentage of the Muslim population," he says.
"You don't see the anger here that you see among British Muslims, particularly the younger ones. Muslims in Ireland feel their country is not against them but part of them. It makes a big difference."
That is not to say that Muslim leaders feel they can be complacent. "Ours is small community and Ireland is a small place so if anyone is involved in sinister activities it is easily discovered," says Imam Yahya Hussein of the Islamic Foundation of Ireland.
Sheikh Hussein Halawa of Clonskeagh mosque agrees. "We tell our community that if they are suspicious of anyone or anything they should report it to the police," he says. "We see Ireland as our homeland and it is our responsibility and duty as Muslims to defend the country we call home."
• Mary Fitzgerald is the first winner of the Douglas Gageby Fellowship. Her final report on "The Faces of Islam" will appear in next Friday's Irish Times when details of next year's fellowship competition will also be announced.