Vandals paint "Allah" on walls of Muslim home in Belfast

Categories: Latest News
Tuesday January 20 2015
The Belfast Telegraph and Irish Sunday Independent report on anti-Muslim hate crime incidents that have occurred in Northern Ireland and the Irish mainland in the wake of the murders of cartoonists at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris.
Brothers Asim and Adil Sardar who share the house in West Belfast were confronted with graffiti with the word “Allah” daubed on the wall of their house last Friday night. The brothers reported the incident and have removed the graffiti. Speaking to the local paper, Asim said that on a previous occasion his car windows had been smashed. Asim told the paper of their distress at the incidents saying “I will stay here for now but if things like this continue to happen and if I feel uncomfortable then I will think about moving.”
Ulster Unionist councillor for the West Belfast area, Bill Manwarring, said he suspected the attack was a result of events in Paris and the Middle East. He said. “This sort of incident is shocking. Intolerance like this leads to violence and aggression. There is no justification for such hatred. It frustrates me that bigots like this can create such a fear-factor in communities.”
The Irish Sunday Independent reports on further cases of Islamophobia in an interview with members of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland who disclosed the fears and anxiety among Irish Muslims following recent events.
Dr Ahmed Hasain Ahmed, executive secretary at the centre told the paper of email abuse that had been directed at them with comments like “many, many Muslims are not worth one white man.”
Dr Ahmed relayed the fears of Muslim women who were concerned about being out alone.
Dr Ali Selim, a lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin and a senior member at the centre who intends to run for political office, spoke of the support shown by Irish people towards Muslims given their own experiences of media misrepresentation and feeling like a ‘suspect community’.
Dr Selim said “One Irish lady from outside Dublin took the effort to call me and she said she is very much sorry for what we are facing now. She said the Irish already faced a similar situation when the British used to issue the Punch magazine. She told me: ‘we have been mocked in a similar way to Muslims. And you have our full support’.”
Ibrahim Al-Kaddo, another member of the centre who had lived for a time in the UK before moving to Ireland, said that he felt media bias of Muslims was more prevalent in the UK and France than in Ireland. “Do not follow the way the British and French portray Muslims. There is clear discrimination and bias,” he said.
“In the UK I don’t feel as safe and as happy as I am here. Racism and Islamophobia is very very strong but here in Ireland you are able to express your opinion. When I attended an Irish secondary school I was literally the only Muslim in the whole school and it was seen as ‘oh wow, this is the Muslim guy’ [sharing his opinion on global issues], and until this day some of my best Irish friends are from school,” he added.