In fact, one of the features of Islam’s religion is its universality and Globality, which is a divine expression and is confirmed by Allah (S.W.T). In fact, Islam’s religion is a religion that has a universal nature. And this feature of the trans-temporal and trans-spatial nature of the religion of Islam has made it possible for this great religion to adapt and be a way of life in every corner of the world. This religion has spread from the Middle East to North Africa, from Europe to the heart of Black Africa, from Russia to Southeast Asia.
Since the religion of Islam has the best solutions for humanity in its commands; For many regions of the world, the presence of Islam is a big change and the beginning of a new phase in history, that’s why the presence of Muslims in them is significant.
Ireland is the official name of a country on the island of Ireland with Dublin as its capital, sometimes this country is called “Republic of Ireland” to avoid confusion with Northern Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland covers 80% of the total area of the island of Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland borders the North Atlantic Ocean from the north and west, and the Irish Sea and St. George’s Strait from the east and southeast. The island of Ireland is located in the west of England. The length of the international borders of Ireland is 360 km in the north, which border with England in the Northern Ireland region. The length of the country’s coasts is 1448 km.
The spread of Islam in Ireland
Islam is the fastest growing religion in Ireland and the number of Muslims in Ireland, estimated at over 48,000 in the 2011 census, is expected to reach 100,000 by 2020 and beyond.
According to the provided statistics, every year more than 500 Irish converts to Islam, and the number of new Muslim women is more than men. Ireland’s Muslim population is growing and flourishing, and next year Ireland’s largest Islamic cultural center will be built in north Dublin.
In all the cities of Ireland, there are mosques and schools for Muslims, and unlike France, in Ireland, female students are allowed to wear the hijab in schools, and they all wear the hijab.
Muslims in Ireland have established special centers for Muslims, especially new Muslims, where every Irishman, when he embraces Islam, learns Islamic teachings in those centers. “Muslim Sisters of Ireland” is an Islamic organization located in the Islamic Cultural Center “Clonskeagh” in Dublin, which is run by Irish Muslim women and is one of the organizations supporting the new Irish Muslims.
Religions in the Republic of Ireland
There are different religions in this country and people turn to their favorite religion based on their research or their family’s marriage proposal, the majority of people in this country are Catholics, so it can be said that 92% of the country’s population follows the Roman Catholic religion. 3% of Irish people consider themselves Protestant and the remaining 5% are Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox and other Christian denominations.
The second largest Christian denomination after the Catholic Church is the Church of Ireland, which is considered to be an Anglican religion, and during the 20th century, it faced a decrease in the number of participants in the church and Mass, but according to the statistics of 2002, the number of members of this church has increased. The Shaikhi Protestant Church is one of the other major denominations in this country, followed by the Methodist Church in terms of the number of members. The number of followers of Judaism in this country is also very small.
History of the arrival of Islam in the Republic of Ireland
In fact, Islam in Ireland dates back to the 1950s. Some of the country’s newspapers describe the history of the arrival of the heavenly religion of Islam in Ireland with the arrival of Turkish immigrants in the early 20th century, but it is not clear whether all of them were Muslims or just Turks.
By examining the history of the establishment of the first Islamic Association in Ireland, it goes back to 1959, which was created by Muslim students studying in this country and named it the Islamic Association of Dublin, and later it was renamed the Islamic Federation of Ireland.
Before the establishment of the first Islamic Society of Ireland, there was no mosque in Dublin, and Muslims first used their own homes and later rented halls to perform Friday prayers and various holidays.
And this situation prevailed among Muslims until 1969 when Irish Muslim students contacted relatives and some Islamic organizations and Islamic countries with the aim of collecting funds to build a mosque.
Fund raising and land acquisition for the mosque and Muslim center continued until the process took eight years, after which in 1976 Ireland’s first mosque and Islamic center opened as a four-story building on St. Harrington Dublin opened.
Demography and Ethnic History of Irish Muslims
According to the data and statistics prepared by Ireland in 2002, 19,147 thousand people of the Republic of Ireland are Muslims. Also, the statistics of Northern Ireland in 2001 show that the number of Muslims in this region was 1943.
Among the Muslims, it is not possible to name a specific country or region in Ireland and attribute the Muslims of this country to it. In fact, the Muslim community of Ireland is significantly diverse and extensive, and the members of the Islamic community of this country cannot be classified based on the country. In Conclusion, it can be said that there is no dominant ethnicity among the Irish Islamic community. Muslims of this country have migrated to Ireland from South and East Asia, China, Oceania and Indonesia.
The establishment, construction and increasing number of mosques in the Republic of Ireland is proof that the Muslim community is growing and stable in the Republic of Ireland despite being small. And this is a promise that this religion orders.
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