Cork Islamic Cultural Center
| Formation | 2013 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Cork, Ireland |
Imam | Sheikh Hussein Halawa |
| Website | http://www.corkmosque.org |
The Cork Islamic Cultural Center (CICC) is an Irish-registered non-profit organization established to "invite Muslims back to the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah and to educate Non-Muslims about Islam."[1] It opened in October 2013 in an effort to serve the second largest Muslim community in Ireland.[2] The "mega mosque", as it’s often called, was constructed with about €800,000 in donations from the Wahhabi country of Qatar.[3]
Vision and mission
According to its website, the vision of the Cork Islamic Cultural Center is to form a "strong community of faith to avoid social phenomena." CCIC also hopes to promote understanding and awareness of the practice and appreciation toward lifestyle that is based on the teaching of Islam. The center aspires to develop a community based on Islamic faith and morality which focuses on the family and the mosque. They desire to develop the individual toward the welfare of the community and to develop a thoughtful civil society between secular and religious claims.[4]
The CCIC is a place of worship and imparting knowledge. They hope to set an example to other mosques by collecting and organizing Islamic knowledge. They hold prayer five times a day, give fair treatment to all applicants who wish to use the facilities and equipment as long as they follow guidelines, and provide religious advice to all of the customers in a timely fashion. The CCIS provides recitation classes for all ages based on a set curriculum and provide services to people at home and abroad.[4]
Al Resala School
The purpose of the Al Resala School is to provide sound Islamic education to children aged 5–16 to help them to develop a sense of belonging to a community of Muslims. They aim to nurture their students’ personality toward moral conduct, healthy attitudes, self-discipline, responsible citizens, and contributors to the welfare of society and humankind as is taught in the Quran and Sunnah. They also enable students to worship Allah in the manner set by the Quran and Allah’s messengers.[5]
Al Reseala offers classes in the Quran and in Arabic as well as teaching stories from Muhammad and from other prophets. They also hold classes on morals and manners.[5]
The objectives of the school include teaching students the ability to read, write, and understand Arabic terms and phrases as well as Quran recitation. They aspire to instill full understanding of basic Islamic beliefs, and to be able to perform the rituals, etiquette, and morals practiced in Islam.[5]
Imam
The Imam at CICC is Sheikh Ahmed Hussain Halawa who is an accomplished teacher of Islamic sacred sciences.[6] He holds a B.A. in Islamic Daw’ah from Jami’a Al-Azhar[6] and is originally from Egypt.[7] He was given a license to teach the Quran in 2007. He is a part time teacher at Dar al-Arqam where he teaches Quran memorization. He was formerly the Imam for the Islamic Society of Monmouth County, New Jersey, and served as a member of the Imam Council of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He has spoken as the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Islamic Relief, and Muslim Students Association (MSA) conferences. He holds a certificate to teach Arabic from Cordoba University.[6]
According to The Independent, Sheikh Ahmed Hussain Halawa does not like to speak English in public, does not have a desire to understand Irish society, and does not believe in assimilation.[8] His daughters were jailed in Egypt in 2013 for open support of ousted Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]
Controversy
Several articles have been written that list the Cork Islamic Cultural Center as an example of one of many properties throughout Europe, paid for by the Qatari government, in an effort to spread an extreme and intolerant form of Islam known as Wahhabism.[2][3][8]
In 2013 the center faced scrutiny over the fact that the initial building, the Cork Dawah Center, was operating more as a place of worship than an information and cultural center. The center was issued a letter of warning by the local city council.[1]
References
- 1 2 "New Islamic Cultural Centre opens in Cork city". The Irish Times. 2013-10-13. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
- 1 2 "No Petrodollar Land Grabbing for Qatar in Brussels". Consortium Against Terrorist Finance. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
- 1 2 "Qatar Financing Wahhabi Islam in France, Italy, Ireland and Spain". The Free Republic. 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
- 1 2 "Profile & News - CICC". Cork Islamic Cultural Center. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
- 1 2 3 "Al Resala School - CICC". Cork Islamic Cultural Center. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
- 1 2 3 "Imam - CICC". Cork Islamic Cultural Center. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
- 1 2 "Four Irish siblings held in Cairo". The Guardian. 2013-08-18. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
- 1 2 "If there is any terrorist trend among Muslims in Ireland, the Muslim community will take every step to stop it". Independent.ie. 2006-09-23. Retrieved 2016-03-18.