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Irish Imam says Irish women should wear Muslim veil as sign of religious freedom

Controversial Imam denied that London 7/7 bombers were Muslim

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral.com

Published Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 10:03 AM
Updated Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 10:29 AM

 

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Niqab: The Muslim face veil
Niqab: The Muslim face veil

IrishCentral.com Poll

Do you think Irish women should wear Muslim veil?

Yes. Ireland should be more diverse


No. Ireland is a Catholic country


A controversial Irish Islamic leader says female Muslims should wear the veil in Ireland as a sign of religious freedom.

Ali Selim, Secretary-General of the Irish Council of Imams, says Europe should respect the rights of Muslim women to wear that they want.

And he pointed to Ireland as a positive role model in the row over the niqab or face veil.

“While there is no problem with the niqab in Ireland, it is something which is being debated in many places right now.”

Selim attracted controversy in 2006 in an interview with Ireland's Hot Press when he denied that the London bombings on July 7 2005 were carried out by Muslims.

"Events that happened in England - I personally haven't seen compelling proof that that was done by Muslims." Hot Press: "But the 7/7 bombers were Muslims." "In my understanding, I haven't seen proof that those who did that were Muslims."

Selim's call for the Muslim veil as a symbol of religious freedom comes as several European countries are in the midst of a fierce debate over banning the Muslim veil.

France has recommended banning the niqab in hospitals, schools, public transport and government offices.

Italy is currently considering a move to ban the veil while similar debates are brewing in Denmark and Germany.

Islam is thought to be Europe's fastest growing religion and there are already some 50,000 Muslims in Ireland.

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Posted by IrishAndProud on Mar 02, 2010, 07:25 PM EST
Here's what Europe in general is saying about this matter (thank goodness): http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e0c0e732-254d-11df-9cdb-00144feab49a.html Now, if only they'll go the next step and just flat-out GET RID of these people, entirely (and by that I mean: DEPORT them, back to their own countries). Even if they were born and raised in Europe, that does NOT, automatically, make them 'European.' Many of them are still just as foreign and unassimilatable as their grandparents were. OUT with them -- AND their languages, culture and religion.
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Posted by sully1167 on Feb 14, 2010, 03:14 AM EST
Wake up Ireland, Before it is too late! Irish People Unite! Put a stop to this BS!
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Posted by JBRAFTREE on Feb 13, 2010, 05:12 PM EST
Please don't let these people take over Ireland!!!!Where are the young saviours that Makem/Clancy sang about? Their message applies here too. The old ones are turning over in their graves and actually spinning!!!!!
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Posted by ciarrai on Feb 13, 2010, 05:03 PM EST
I hate to say "I told you so", but once Ireland got into politically correct mode this garbage would be inevitable. I think it appropriate for Ireland to ask Muslims to become assimilated into Irish culture or go back to their native countries. France is spot on in not allowing this headgear as it is a sign of rejection of French culture and shows disdain for the concept of a homogenious society. I have heard the comment that Muslims expect their new country, e.g., Ireland to bend for them. It wasn't that way for immigrants to the USA and yet Ireland is expected to allow such provocations as the "niqab"? It is ludicrous and insulting that these just arrived people are looking to call the tune. No. This is not acceptable. I hope the Irish government has the ball to say "no" and maybe even "go back where you have come from".
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Posted by maramaure on Feb 13, 2010, 04:35 PM EST
50,000 Muslims in Ireland? OMG! I'm glad my parents are deceased and do not have to experience this. I hope Ireland will not drag its feet and let what has happened in the UK, France and Germany happen in the Republic. Why are they in our country? 50,000?! They have openly told us that they want to take over Europe and I'd say they have a pretty good head start.
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Posted by Sparklet on Feb 13, 2010, 02:39 PM EST
I'm all for religious freedom, but I'd like to see it a little more in non-Christian countries too.
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Posted by borefield on Feb 13, 2010, 01:15 PM EST
If the Christian world does not start takeing a stand, the muslims will take over the world. When the freedoms of the bleeding hearts that support them is comprimised then, and only then will they realize the type of people they helped put into office. There is NO SUCH title as an IRISH iman, it just doesn't exist. Wake up Christian World.
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Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 13, 2010, 03:13 AM EST
'Irish Imam' -- those two words together side-by-side are a contradiction. There is no such thing as an 'Irish Imam.' This 'Imam' is NOT an Irishman. He's a mid-eastern (or Paki) interloper who just happens to be LIVING in Ireland (though why he's ALLOWED to live there, I have no idea. Something is desperately wrong with the Irish government). Send the Imam back home -- and every Muslim in Eire along with him. He has no business there, whatsoever.
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Posted by cavan61 on Feb 13, 2010, 01:09 AM EST
When Irish eyes are smiling T'will be like a night in fall. Like a somber moan in a graveyard With a niqab covering all.
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Posted by Spiritranger on Feb 12, 2010, 06:05 PM EST
Islam is un-Irish and un-American. Period. And it hates all of you weak, politically correct, leftist twits who are in awe of it. It will use you to put the nail in the coffin of Christianity and then turn to stick your neck under it's bloody sword. Wake Up!
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Posted by annemariew on Feb 12, 2010, 03:49 PM EST
Ireland has to stick to its Catholic identity. muslims, little by little are trying to take over the world. Here in Minneapolis, MN, the muslim airport cabbies have already tried to go for the..."I can't take people with alcohol or dogs in their cabs" because that is considered unclean. I agree with the earlier post, Christians need to start haveing more babies or our grandchildren will have no freedoms. The muslims will take over in a generation.
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Feb 12, 2010, 03:31 PM EST
irishamerica46 is right. Go see for yourself why here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a60A3mw2XgQ&feature=related Will the men and women of the western world please make more babies and rear them as Christians? Time to step up to the plate.
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Posted by irishamerica46 on Feb 12, 2010, 01:17 PM EST
Ever ask yourself why they are leaving their own countries and settling in Europe? It's not paranoia to believe their numbers will grow so they can be in control of just about everything ie religion, politics etc. Being "politically correct" will have us all wearing veils very soon if we don't put a stop to it.
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Posted by Emeraldeyes on Feb 12, 2010, 01:06 PM EST
The wearing of the hijab (face covering) is not acceptable in western society, its downright creepy. I have been to a mosque here in Los Angeles where the women cover their heads with head scarfs but not the face, this is totally acceptable in western society. If you dont like it go back to whereever you came from.
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Posted by beachline on Feb 12, 2010, 12:40 PM EST
Muslim women wearingveils to cover their faces is akin to the archaic Catholic church ruling of nuns wearing "habits". Both are meant to supress women and though now the nuns can wear civilian clothing, the muslim women should also refuse to wear the veil if they live outside of a middle eastern country. The rest of us respect our religions quietly and without flaunting it in everyones face.
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Posted by myravancouver on Feb 12, 2010, 11:52 AM EST
Can someone explain how covering one's face and beautiful features constitutes freedom? No one should be told what to do, in any religion, at any time. We are masters of our own destiny.
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Posted by Searlit on Feb 12, 2010, 10:12 AM EST
A sign of religious freedom? When I see pictures of veiled women it makes me think of how controlled they are. Frightening!
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Posted by BishopSean on Feb 11, 2010, 10:16 AM EST
Since we cannot go and evangelize Muslims in Muslim countries, we should thank God that Muslims have come to us in a free country, where we can evangelize them. But this requires that we get to really know the Word of God and know how to evangelize. Jesus told us we should be SALT and LIGHT. Our next job is to get out of the saltshaker and into non -Christian communities in Ireland and elsewhere. blessings!
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Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 10, 2010, 10:24 PM EST
JimmyIrishMan, I see nothing moronic whatsoever with saying (of Muslims in Ireland): MASS EXPEL THEM. With their aggressive foreign culture (as in demands, which inevitably go to terroristic threats, if not met), openly-stated desire to overrun and destroy Ireland and the west, and refusal to assimilate (which they're flatly not able to do, even if they wanted to), I consider it utterly moronic NOT to mass expel them. Where are the Irish people themselves, with FIFTY THOUSAND or so of these aliens living in their land? Are they asleep at the switch, or merely apathetic? Obviously many feel as I do but clearly not enough to see drastic action taken, yet. Further, Jimmy, I felt this way about Mohammadans in Ireland LONG before Ms. Kelly wrote this article. Finding Pakistani Muslims praying toward Mecca in a small Gaeltacht hamlet utterly cut it, for me -- and I was already leaning that direction, before then.
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Feb 10, 2010, 10:14 PM EST
Thinking about unnecessary jobs... having a job as a Hair Dresser. Now that’s a job the world can do without. Then no one wouldn't need any veil.
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Posted by SingleDonald on Feb 10, 2010, 07:41 PM EST
What a shame! While growing up, I thought it silly that the Catholic sisters had to partially "conceal their beauty" by covering their hair! I'm happy most sisters have discarded their habits. To think that, in this modern age, women should be encouraged to not only hide their hair, but faces too, is deplorable! Muslim women should act like adults, and defy this repressive tradition of their faith. They should go outside with uncovered heads, unless the weather demands otherwise. These Muslim women can then say, "If Allah, my husband, or my brother don't like this, that's their problem"!!
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Feb 10, 2010, 06:10 PM EST
JimmyIrishMan completely misses the core of this debate (debated elsewhere on ICentral as well). We are very definitely and unapologetically Islamophobes. We do not want their false religion and its horrific consequences affecting our western way of life which is intrinsically based on Christianity. We want them out of Ireland, out of Europe, out of the USA and other countries. If they want to live that false kind of life they should go and live in countries that suffer that false style of life and belief and which will gladly accept them.
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Feb 10, 2010, 06:07 PM EST
Caseyindy might be interested in a little story told to me by a man who worked in a Saudi Arabian hospital while I was living there. He was a medical machines technical maintenance man and his work took him freely to all parts of Saudi hospitals. One day, on his duties, he walked through a door into a post-natal clinic where he found a line of black clothed Saudi women sitting on a bench, openly breast-feeding their infants. On his sudden appearance in front of them, they all quickly covered up (guessing?) their faces. What caseyindy doesn’t realise is the difference between Western and Islamic cultures. The beauty of the face and hair of a woman are seen as enticements to sex by Islam, so Islam requires their women to cover up and protect themselves against such illicitness. Conversely, Islam sees all Western women as promiscuous for wearing the clothes they do by choice in their idea of street dignity.
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Posted by JimmyIrishMan on Feb 10, 2010, 04:27 PM EST
This is a completely stupid article that twists and contorts what the Imam said to an incredible degree. First, the headline says that the Imam said that Irish women - not just Muslim Irish women - should all wear the veil. But nowhere in the article does Ms Kelly use a direct quote from the Imam to support this claim. Then, the introduction in the article says that the Imam said that Muslim women should wear the veil. But once again, there's no direct quote to support this. Clearly, this article was directly lifted from a story the Irish Times did on Saturday, in which the Imam in question was interviewed. This article is here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0206/1224263887684.html Anyone interested in getting an accurate idea of what the Imam meant should read it, rather than the plagiarised version above. You can see that no where in this article, which had the headline "Muslim Imam urges acceptance of Niquab", did the Imam say either that Irish women should wear the veil, or that Muslim women should wear the veil. The point he made was that there should be no ban on women wearing the veil, as there is in France, which is obviously completely different to calling on all Irish women or Muslim women to wear to veil. Either Ms Kelly seems to have gotten completely confused in her cut and paste job here, or she is an Islamophobe, and likes stirring up hatred and making people out to be extremists when they are not. If the latter, then unfortunately as the moronic comments of IrishAndProud illustrate ("Mass Expel Them"), then she has already succeeded.
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Posted by caseyindy on Feb 10, 2010, 03:56 PM EST
THAT'S CRAZY! WHY ARE MUSLEM MEN SO AFRAID OF A WOMAN'S FACE THAT THEY THINK THEY NEED TO HIDE IT? LET THE WOMEN BREATHE AND WALK AROUND WITH SOME DIGNITY AND NOT HAVE TO HIDE. MUSLEM WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL AND DESERVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE A CHOICE IN THIER DRESS AND APPEARANCE. I'M SURE THAT THEY CAN MAKE WISE AND DIGNIFIED CHOICES.
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Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 10, 2010, 02:20 PM EST
And further...FIFTY THOUSAND MUSLIMS in Ireland?!?!?! H-O-L-Y FREAKIN' CATS, folks! MASS EXPEL THEM! GET THEM THE H-LL OUT OF THERE!!! Does Ireland not see the DANGER of this??? Do they want to end up like Britain or FRANCE, for crying out loud???? I've found these people out in the GAELTACHT, not just in the cities (like they should be there, either)! ISLAM OUT OF IRELAND, FOREVER!!!!! I wish this Imam could see and read these posts of mine!!!
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Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 10, 2010, 02:15 PM EST
Okay...the headline of this article was a bit misleading. It says, "Irish Imam says Irish women..." It's not just talking about Irish women in general, as the headline makes it sound. It's talking about MUSLIM women who are living in Ireland...which is an entirely different matter. They, and this b-stard Imam, should NOT...EVEN...BE...IN...IRELAND. There is NOTHING Irish about this Imam, or these women, or Islam, itself. Say what you will, 'Ali Selim' just doesn't come across as all that Irish-sounding, does it? Ali needs to be forcibly DEPORTED back to whatever Asian or Mid-eastern hell hole he came from, and every single one of his followers along with him, and Islam should be forever BANNED from Eire. This man (or any Muslim) trying to pass themselves off as Irish is an insult to all REAL Irish people -- and as we can see, they're actually not even TRYING to be 'Irish' at all. They're being fully Muslim (an alien and incompatible identity with Ireland), and attempting to slowly Islamicize that country. Wake up, Ireland...and EXPUNGE this alien cancer from your midst!
 


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