Imams in Europe need to subdue egos to help stop extremism
First published in The Irish Independent on December 24, 2016. Part or whole letter also published by the Belfast Telegraph on December 28, 2016 and by The Irish Examiner on December 29, 2016
The Berlin attack, the assassination of the Russian ambassador and indeed the attack on a mosque in Zurich exposes the forms of extremism which are engulfing the world, and there is no doubt it needs to be addressed and restrained. But here, in Ireland, there is another form of extremism which is taking place – having germinated from extremist countries like Pakistan – which needs to be regulated, if not halted.
The extremist mind is very operational in many of the mosques of Ireland. This way of thinking is quite alive in the minds of many Imams, and their way of thinking is a stumbling block for the elimination of extremism.
It is not enough just to give the impression that one stands against extremism by announcing that you stand against extremism, while at the same time discriminating against a particular faith or community, like some Imams are doing in Ireland.
Such discriminative thought has spread into secular educational institutions in Ireland. This has also spread into Government departments and interfaith forums, where they are allowing themselves to be influenced by certain Irish Imams who define who is a Muslim and who is not.
I, as a Muslim, am facing on a daily basis religious discrimination at every level. As an Imam, I am fighting huge walls of bigotry, and my community, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, is being killed, persecuted, and all our basic human rights trampled on in Pakistan and other Islamic countries. We are also being persecuted here in Ireland, simply because we say we are Muslims and our faith is Islam.
Extremism in Islamic countries takes shape in many forms, the peak being killing innocent human beings. But in Europe and the Western world, it also takes the shape of discrimination, and this discrimination has and is causing hate, fear and enmity, which leads young men and women to join such fanatical groups like Isil.
If we are to stop such hate-filled extremism, then those Imams in Ireland and Europe must subdue their egos, removing the hate, anger and suspicion from their minds and hearts towards the West or humanity in general.
Only then can we prevent such attacks that are taking place in Europe and around the world and replace it with love, peace and harmony.
I take this opportunity to wish all the people on the island of Ireland and Europe a very joyous time.
Imam Ibrahim Ahmad Noonan
Imam of Galway Mosque
