Irish jihadi fighters – police investigate group using Ireland as base

As Britain scrambles to assess its counter-terrorism security following the horrific beheading of Irish American journalist James Foley by an ISIS militant with a British accent, Ireland is also weighing the threat homegrown jihadists may pose.

Irish authorities confirmed yesterday that they are closely watching the movements of nearly 30 Irish Muslims who have been traveling from Ireland to Iraq and other conflict zones in recent months.

Three of those who were under surveillance are believed to have been killed, including a 16-year-old boy.

The remainder are also being monitored by international security agencies, the Irish Independent reports, as suspicions emerge that potential jihadists with Irish papers have been using Ireland as a base between tours of fighting in the Middle East.

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Irish Muslims targeted in ‘hate mail’ campaign

Source: Irish Independent

A “hate campaign” against the Muslim community in Ireland is being investigated by gardai.

It has emerged that mosques and schools have received anonymous letters containing violent threats against Muslims living here.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter condemned the hate mail and revealed he had brought the matter to the attention of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan for appropriate action.

“I utterly condemn racism and religious bigotry in all of their forms and am appalled by the nature of these communications. Religious intolerance has no place in our society. Incitement to hatred and incitement to violence are offences under our laws,” Mr Shatter said.

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Four Irish citizens held in Cairo jail after al-Fateh mosque demonstration

Source: The Guardian

Four Irish siblings caught up in the violence in Cairo are being held by Egyptian authorities, their family said on Sunday.

Sisters Omaima Halawa, 20, Fatima, 22, and Somaia, 27, and their brother Ibrihim, 17, were among hundreds of people cleared out of the al-Fateh mosque when security forces stormed the building on Saturday.

Their father, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, is the imam of Ireland’s largest mosque, in Dublin. At the family home in Firhouse, south Dublin, another sister, Nasaybi, said the four were being held at a jail in Cairo.

“The latest we know is that they are in one of the jails in Cairo. But we do not know if they are all together or whether they have been separated, boys and girls,” she said.

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Ramadan in Ireland

Source: Statesman

Abdul Hassib, who is involved in the Islamic Cultural Centre being established up in Clongriffin, writes about the experience of Ramadan in Ireland

Ramadan is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar cycle. The lunar calendar is about 10 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar. Consequently, the month of Ramadan falls during different seasons every decade or so.

Fasting is considered to be a pillar of Islam, as it is mentioned in the Quran: “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you (O Muslims) just as it was prescribed for people before you, so that you may be more pious.” [Quran, 2:183]

For Muslims, fasting was not a new thing. Before the advent of the Prophet of Islam in Arabia, people of different faiths fasted in different ways and forms. With the establishment of Islam, fasting became a cornerstone of Islam practiced by Muslims with great enthusiasm and passion.

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Ali Selim: Stereotyping all Muslims simply a form of oppression

Ali Salim

By Ali Salim for Irish Independent

The resurgence of intolerance and discrimination against Muslims after September 11, coupled with related racist tendencies challenging the exercise of fundamental human rights and freedoms of Muslims in some western countries, had no serious impact on Muslims living in Ireland.

When Irish Muslims faced a critical juncture around the time of 9/11, the Irish people made a difference. They expressed their solidarity with Muslims here.

Some visited Muslim organisations and handed over letters of solidarity and others presented flowers. They all passed one message: “This is not you. We are with you.”

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New rules for Muslim burials in Ireland

Source: Irish Independent

Muslims will be allowed to bury their dead in the traditional way from next month without the need to seek special permission.

New regulations will facilitate un-coffined burials for Muslims and members of other faiths, unless they’re likely to pose a health and safety risk.

Members of the Islamic faith typically bury their dead as soon as possible, with the deceased wrapped in shrouds, a spokesman for the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland said.

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Irish residents who’ve died fighting in Syrian Civil War

Source: Irish Times

A Jordanian-born man who grew up in Ireland has been killed fighting with rebel forces in Syria.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Alaa Ciymeh (26) remain unclear given the difficulties of obtaining reliable information from inside the country.

His father, who lives in Dublin, was informed of his son’s death this week. Mourners gathered at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh, Dublin, on Wednesday to offer condolences to the family.

The Ciymeh family, who are Palestinian, moved to Ireland when Alaa was very young. He attended the Muslim National School in Clonskeagh, before going on to study at De La Salle College in Churchtown.

Source: Irish Times

Two young volunteers from Ireland have died fighting with Syrian rebels in recent months. There is increasing disquiet, here and in Syria, about the role of young men from abroad in the conflict

The story of how Shamseddin Gaidan’s short life took him from a Navan classroom to an untimely death amid the chaos of Syria’s uprising begins in early 2011. In February that year the Libyan-born schoolboy watched, fascinated, as anti-regime demonstrations inspired by the toppling of dictators in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia erupted in the country that he and his family had left years before.

Source: Irish Central

Shamseddin Gaidan joined rebels in Syria last year without his parent consent. The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. His father Ibrahim, who runs a halal grocery shop in Navan, was informed of his son’s death in a phone call from Syria the Irish Times reports.

“We don’t know where or how he was killed and we don’t know where his body might be,” said Mr Gaidan.

“It is very difficult to get any information. This confusion makes our grief much worse.”

Source: Irish Times

A 22-year-old man from Drogheda who earlier this year joined rebels battling to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been killed by regime forces in the northern province of Idlib.

Hudhaifa ElSayed was shot dead on Tuesday during a skirmish between rebels and forces loyal to Assad. Syrian state media reported he had been killed but the exact circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. He was one of an estimated 10-20 men from Ireland who have joined the Syrian uprising as rebels.

Mr ElSayed was born in Egypt but his family moved to Ireland when he was a young boy after his surgeon father, Abdelbaset, secured a job here. He attended St Mary’s diocesan school in Drogheda before working as a coach and trainer. Mr ElSayed, a naturalised Irish citizen, was well-known within the Muslim community for his involvement in youth projects.

He and other men from Ireland joined the Syrian rebels as part of Liwa al-Umma, a brigade founded by a Libyan-Irish man named Mehdi al-Harati, who also commanded a rebel unit during the Libyan revolution last year.

Ireland resident dies fighting in Syria

Alaa Ciymeh (26), a Jordanian-born man who grew up in Ireland has been killed fighting with rebel forces in Syria. Source: Irish Times

Source: Irish Times

A Jordanian-born man who grew up in Ireland has been killed fighting with rebel forces in Syria.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Alaa Ciymeh (26) remain unclear given the difficulties of obtaining reliable information from inside the country.

His father, who lives in Dublin, was informed of his son’s death this week. Mourners gathered at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh, Dublin, on Wednesday to offer condolences to the family.

The Ciymeh family, who are Palestinian, moved to Ireland when Alaa was very young. He attended the Muslim National School in Clonskeagh, before going on to study at De La Salle College in Churchtown.

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Muslims find a welcoming home in famously Catholic Ireland

By Megan O’Neil for The Atlantic

Perhaps because of its strong religious background, the nation has been more accepting of Islam than many of its European neighbors.

A new 60,000-square-foot development is likely to generate friction in any urban setting, much less a mosque in the capital of a historically Catholic country.

And yet a proposal to construct a multi-use Islamic center — including a three-story domed mosque, school, and fitness facility — in the north Dublin neighborhood of Clongriffin has triggered little of the anti-Muslim blowback surrounding similar projects in other parts of Europe and in the United States.

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• Ireland’s largest mosque in Clongriffin set for construction (muslimireland.wordpress.com)

Irish ‘Hijabi Monologues’ breaks down stereotypes

‘Hijabi Monologues’ Source: The Journal

Source: The Journal (Ireland)

The experiences of Muslim women in Ireland will be explored when an Irish version of the Hijabi Monologues receives its European premiere in Dublin this month.

The council says the show can break down stereotypes and assumptions around Muslim women in Ireland, with personal and true stories being dramatised. The production is being co-hosted with the ICI, the British Council and axis theatre, Ballymun.

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