Abdisatar Sheikh is a
19 year old Muslim student studying linguistics in Dublin Institute of
Technology (DIT). He is the Chairperson of the DIT Islamic society. I
interviewed him in a quiet radio studio in Aungier Street away from
distractions. When you meet Abdisatar his welcoming personality and broad smile
immediately becomes apparent.
I wanted to get an
insight of what it is like for him being a Muslim in this city. He began
the interview on a positive note. Abdisatar said that being a “Muslim in
Ireland is not very hard. It is a nice life being a Muslim here.” Then he
mentioned that there were some challenges. “In terms of prayers, Muslims pray
five times a day. Continuing your faith and at the same time continuing your
college work is a challenge of being a Muslim here.”
I then asked
Abdisatar if he has suffered from stereotyping in Dublin and he immediately
spoke of the treatment of his sister. “My sister for example wears the hijab
and people sometimes say bad comments like ‘what are you wearing’ and ‘what is
this towel on your head.’ She tries to explain to them what it is and in
general people in Ireland tend to accept it.”
Abdisatar described how
Irish media’s portrayal of Islam through their coverage of terror groups and
conflicts in the Middle East affects Irish Muslims.
“Maybe Irish media
don’t have the knowledge of Islam whereas some of them like to take the
stereotypical view. In Ireland I would say this does affect us because the
Irish people are aware of the media and some of them who do not know anything
about the religion think the media’s version of the story is the correct one. I
think the media always uses repetition of negative Muslim coverage and this
creates an atmosphere and mistrust; it creates doubts in people’s minds towards
the Muslim community."
He then explained the
affect coverage of Islamic State (IS or ISIS) has on Irish Muslims. “When ISIS
are in the media you feel an unease that they are associated with you but at
the same time they shouldn’t be really be associated with us as we are not a
part of that. The media do not differentiate between what’s happening in the
Middle East compared to what Muslims are doing in Ireland and they mix us
together when they should be separated.”
Dr Ali Selim lectures
on Middle Eastern studies in Trinity College and is a spokesman for the Muslim
community. I got a bus to Clonskeagh to interview him at the Islamic Cultural
Centre of Ireland to get another perspective.
He was in agreement
with Abdisatar about the affect coverage of groups like Islamic State has on
Muslims in Ireland. However he strongly disagrees with certain language the
media uses when reporting these stories.
He said: “Unfortunately
the terms we use could be unhealthy. When you talk about militant groups
killing and slaughtering and then you call them the Islamic State it definitely
gives bad connotations and it doesn’t help peaceful co- existence. It
stigmatises people who have nothing to do with a group based that far away from
us. I think the terms that media is using is very much offensive for Muslims
and they should be very careful because it doesn’t help anybody.”
Dr Selim added that the
media “can simply call them the so called Islamic group, fair enough, but if
you call them the Islamic State what does it mean? It leaves a profound
negative impact on peoples understanding when it comes to Islam and Muslims.”
I then asked Dr Ali
Selim about comments he made in the past about a revolution of inclusivity that
he says is absent from Irish public schools towards Muslims. He spoke of how
things could be fairer.
“If you look at the
admission policy, it gives preference to certain children on religious grounds.
Education has to be seen as a primary need. Nobody should be denied this right.
We would need more activities of inclusion, mutual activities that would help
children mix together and have some commonality that they can share together
and not feel they are isolated or left behind. It encourages a peaceful
co-existence and it irradiates Islamophobia or currently we here about
Christian-phobia at the moment so all of that would be good, that would help
cooperation.”
Dr Ali Selim concluded
the interview by mentioning a new topic, which was Gaza, to highlight the
oppression of Muslims worldwide.
“To see something like
this in Gaza, barbaric attacks within the hearing and the sight of our
international community is shocking. People turn a blind eye to it and this
definitely leaves no room for credibility. We are talking about democracy, we
are talking about human rights, we have the United Nations and we have all
these bodies. In light of what is happening, they basically mean nothing.”
