{"id":1197,"date":"2021-04-07T21:12:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/islam-fastest-growing-religion-ireland\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T21:12:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:23","slug":"islam-fastest-growing-religion-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/islam-fastest-growing-religion-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Fastest-Growing Religion in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Maggie Armstrong <\/b><\/p>\n

\"Islam<\/a><\/p>\n

It is estimated that up to 500 Irish people convert to Islam every year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Islam is Ireland’s fastest-growing religion, with the number of Muslims recorded in the 2011 Census \u2013 48,130 \u2013 expected to reach 100,000 by 2020. In a country where only 34pc of approximately 3.8 million Catholics attend Mass, many people are drifting away from religion. But a small number are finding that Islamic beliefs and practices, which allow for a peaceful and community-oriented life, fit their spiritual needs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Growing Community<\/b><\/h1>\n

It is estimated that up to 500 Irish people convert to Islam every year. There is no official register and no baptism \u2013 to convert you simply have to recite the Testimony of Faith (Shahadah)<\/a> in front of two Muslim witnesses.<\/p>\n

While more women convert than men, and most conversions are for marriage, people can have very personal reasons for converting \u2013 or reverting as it is known in the Islamic faith, in which it is believed that everyone was born Muslim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ireland has a thriving Muslim community. Building begins next year on what is set to be the biggest Islamic cultural center in the country, in Clongriffin on Dublin’s northside. There are mosques and dedicated primary schools in each of our cities. And unlike the situation in France, there is no policy against Muslim girls wearing the hijab<\/a> (veil) to school.<\/p>\n

Support for converts is offered by the Muslim Sisters of Eire, an organization run by Irish Muslim women, and at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin, where theologian Dr. Ali Salem teaches a course for new Muslims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people revert, they can be very enthusiastic,” says Dr Salem. “We teach a moderate understanding of Islam<\/a>, and we also teach them (converts) how to change their lives gradually<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aishah (formerly Liza) Caulfield (36, cr\u00e8che worker)<\/b><\/p>\n

I come from Irishtown in Dublin 4, born and bred Irish. I became interested in Islam around 12 years ago.<\/p>\n

My lifestyle wasn’t typically Irish on the social level. I wasn’t going to nightclubs and I wasn’t into drinking. I always wondered if there was a group of people out there who had a quieter lifestyle, a faith that matched how I lived my life.<\/p>\n

I was missing a piece of the puzzle, and I was always searching. I already fitted this religion \u2013 I just needed to find it.<\/p>\n

Through research I kept coming across Islam. I wasn’t very outward about it at the beginning. When 9\/11 happened I thought, \u201cRight, maybe not now, but I’ll continue looking\u201d. I took the Testimony of Faith (the Shahadah), three years ago and got married last year to a Muslim from Mauritius.<\/p>\n

My dad said, \u201cIt’s about time\u201d, when I took the Shahadah. My family bought me hijabs and my dad was like, \u201cI’ll get you one of those Qur\u2019ans.\u201d He was very hands-on. He’s a staunch Catholic, goes to confession every month and Mass every Sunday. He’d be praying morning and night.<\/p>\n

I’m definitely happier<\/a>. Islam is a quieter, more peaceful way of life<\/a>. There’s a great sense of unity \u2013 our prayer times change day-to-day as the sun rises and sets. Everybody who’s Muslim, a quarter of the inhabitants of the world, is facing Mecca and praying at the same time. That is a very powerful and sacred feeling, putting your face to the floor and submitting to God<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The one big change is wearing the hijab<\/a>. I wear it because it’s a sign of my devotion to God<\/a>. It shows humility<\/a> with my husband and with the male members of my family. For me my beauty is my hair and my body, and that’s not for everyone.<\/p>\n

I also wear it because one part of my faith<\/a> is to discuss Islam with non-Muslims<\/a>. If I’m in the supermarket and someone hears my Ringsend accent, they’ll ask, “Oh, how long are you here, love?” And I’ll reply, “Actually, I’m Irish”. It’s a way of sharing your faith with people, of saying: “Don’t be afraid of us \u2013 we’re all human, we all come and go the one way.”<\/p>\n

I always dressed modestly. I was never comfortable with showing the figure off. We’re living in a society where people feel threatened because I choose to not show my body, whereas you have girls as young as 11 or 12 who take it to the extreme.<\/p>\n

You should be valued for your soul and your personality, not because of how much of your body you show \u2013 that’s private, and that’s my beauty.<\/p>\n

People often look at Muslim women <\/a>and think we must feel oppressed. I, for example, when got married, I was given a dowry (mahr<\/i>) which is a right of the woman<\/a> in Islam.<\/p>\n

You’re going to hear negative stuff in the media \u2013 \u201cOh, the poor Afghan women” and that \u2013 but I often say to people: \u201cPlease, don’t confuse culture <\/a>with the faith itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridget Darby (68, retired hotel manager)<\/b><\/p>\n

I was born in Trim into a Catholic<\/a> family. In the 1950s you were brought up in the fear of God and told, \u201cYou’ll be punished, you’ll go to hell\u201d. It was the culture and you did what you were told.<\/p>\n

When I was 18 I went to England to study nursing. I met an Englishman in the Royal Air Force. I was at a very vulnerable time and I fell in love with him and we got engaged. He wasn’t a Catholic, so he and I had to have some religious instruction.<\/p>\n

One day I showed up by myself and the priest asked me, \u201cHave you got your dress?\u201d He went from the dress to say, \u201cHave you got new underwear?\u201d I tried to answer as best I could, cringing on the edge of the seat. I got out of that office immediately, shaking.<\/p>\n

I made myself a promise: that after we married I wouldn’t walk into a Catholic church again, and I never did. We got married, had a child and were stationed in Cyprus and Australia. We got divorced after about 15 years, and in 1985 I went to America. I still had no religion, but I was a good person \u2013 I believed in God.<\/p>\n

In 2006, I went to Cairo for a vacation. That’s where I was formally introduced to Islam. I had leased an apartment and the owner asked if I would like to visit her ranch outside the city. She picked me up \u2013 her husband was driving. She’d asked me to cover appropriately because her farm workers hadn’t seen a Western woman before.<\/p>\n

I got in this car, scrunched into the back, and she asked me if I believed in God. \u201cYes, I do,” I said. Then she asked, \u201cDo you believe in one God?\u201d I said I did. She got really excited and started babbling in Arabic to her husband. She had me reciting, “Mohammad is the prophet and there is only one God”, by the time I got to her house. She was wonderful.<\/p>\n

She explained to me about the five pillars (obligations) in Islam<\/a>. She walked me around her farm and showed me the area where she prayed five times a day.<\/p>\n

I walked over to the river and was bathing my feet in the Nile. I can’t describe the feeling, to see the peaceful, respectful way they went about their lives. I had this idea that it was a terrible religion, but by the end of the day I was so taken by it \u2013 and I don’t do things on the spur of the moment.<\/p>\n

All the years that I’d not been recognizing any religion, trying to survive by myself, I used to feel that someone was guiding me<\/a>. I realized when I accepted Islam that God was with me anyway.<\/p>\n

I’ve been back in Ireland a short time and I haven’t gone around waving a banner that I’m a Muslim. I know that people are afraid of the religion. You don’t see peace, you see violence. The media tells you that al-Qaeda bombed America and brought down the towers, so you tend to stereotype.<\/p>\n

A lot of the restrictions are cultural<\/a> \u2013 some are not Islamic.\u00a0I now have a purpose. I have a belief, I have faith, I have new friends<\/a>. It’s a sense of security to believe in God<\/a>. I pray five times a day<\/a>, but sometimes I miss it. I have the Qur’an<\/a> by my bed. Islam is very much in your heart<\/a>. You don’t have to stand on the street and wave the Qur’an<\/a>. What I have is beautiful<\/a> for me.<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

The article is taken from \u00a0Irish Independent\u00a0<\/i>with slight editorial\u00a0modifications.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

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What does make some 500 Irish citizens convert to Islam every year? What were they looking for? How did they find it since becoming Muslims? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[510,2],"tags":[656,1529,612,202,1530,516,1532,5787,519,520,10,240,524,525,585,167,604,647,5788,5789,531,5790,1538,27,533,565,299,1540,474,535,536,1542,537,1544,138,1545,1546,145,5791,652,574,1792,544,1547,1548,546,1549,312,575,547,1551,548,551,553,919,1552,554],"class_list":["post-1197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversion-stories","category-new-muslims","tag-656","tag-authenticity-of-islam","tag-baptism","tag-be-better-person","tag-beauty-of-islam","tag-belief-in-allah","tag-buddhism","tag-catholic-church","tag-christian-belief","tag-christianity","tag-concept-of-god-in-islam","tag-converts-to-islam","tag-devout-adherents-to-islam","tag-eternal-happiness","tag-european-muslims","tag-featured","tag-from-catholicism-to-islam","tag-from-christianity-to-islam","tag-irish-catholics","tag-islam-and-critical-thinking","tag-islam-in-america","tag-islam-in-ireland","tag-islam-worldwide","tag-islamic-beliefs","tag-islamic-way-of-life","tag-journey-to-islam","tag-judaism","tag-knowledge-about-islam","tag-learn-about-islam","tag-meaning-in-life","tag-message-to-all-people","tag-misconceptions-about-islam","tag-multi-cultural-religion","tag-need-for-religion","tag-new-muslims","tag-peaceful-way-of-life","tag-practices","tag-prophet-muhammad","tag-quietness","tag-reading-quran","tag-search-for-truth","tag-september-11","tag-shahadah","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-study-the-quran","tag-submit-to-god","tag-taoism","tag-teachings-of-islam","tag-testimony-of-faith","tag-the-one-god","tag-true-message-of-god","tag-true-religion-of-god","tag-western-muslims","tag-why-i-chose-islam","tag-why-islam","tag-why-people-convert-to-islam","tag-worship-god"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Islam-in-Ireland-1.jpg?fit=518%2C342&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ZvKT-jj","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}