There are now more than 60,000 Muslims living in Ireland, making it the fastest growing community in the country. In America there are over 300 million people so this number would not be alarming, but in Ireland there are about 4.5 million. Just wait and see, the demands for social, political and cultural change will begin flooding this tiny island nation if someone is not guarding the gates. As one small example of what I am addressing... a Muslim ‘academic’ not only calls on Catholic schools in Ireland to allow Muslim students to wear Islamic headbags in school, he also wants the religious crests on school uniforms to be removed. Independent Trinity College Muslim lecturer Dr Ali Selim said: “The headbag (hijab) for Muslims is an essential aspect of character. Depriving Muslims of the right to wear hijabs is very threatening to their identity.” Although there is no legal ban on the hijab in Irish schools, Dr Selim said wearing the headscarf is a “divine obligation” for Muslim girls and urged schools to be more flexible about incorporating it as part of their uniform. “In today’s society we need to apply a more pluralistic approach when it comes to the school uniform,” said Dr Selim, who has lived in Ireland since 1999 and formerly served as Secretary General of the Irish Council of Imams. Dr Selim, whose five children attend Catholic schools, also wants religious crests on school uniforms to be removed. “Sometimes our school uniform might have a religious identity. If I don’t believe in this religious identity does this put me in a difficult situation with regard to my faith values. In order to provide children with an inclusive educational environment these obstacles need to be removed.” Dr Selim, who is also the author of a new book called Islam and Education in Ireland, also accused some Catholic schools of having discriminatory admission policies. “Admission policy . . . is a practice of discrimination in my understanding,” he said in reference to the 1998 Education Act. However, Iona Institute director David Quinn, who attended the launch, said he had “issues” with Dr Selim’s views. He said that while Muslim parents have the right to send their children to Catholic schools, the ethos and identity of the school should not be compromised. Mr Quinn told the Sunday Independent: “A faith school is by definition set up to mainly cater for children of the faith of the school.” There are now more than 60,000 Muslims living in Ireland, making it the fastest growing community in the country.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 18:29:33 +0000
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