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AROUND THREE KILOMETRES from the Co Tyrone site where a replica mosque was set alight this week is the Dungannon Islamic Centre.
The Moygashel bonfire was due to be burned on Friday night, but when it was confirmed that contractors were due to remove the replica mosque from atop the pyre, a decision was made to “light it up ASAP” on Thursday, before the PSNI could remove it.
“It’s very, very stressful and scary for us,” said Amadu Djaura, a trustee and committee member of the Dungannon Muslim Community, just over a five-minute drive from the bonfire site.
“It’s not acceptable. It’s offensive and we don’t understand why it’s happened because we never cause any trouble, we’re not doing anything wrong. We are just practicing our faith and respecting other faiths.”
Djaura said the PSNI carried out regular patrols of the Dungannon Islamic Centre on Thursday to ensure its safety but that officers “didn’t encounter anyone because people are too scared to go there”.
Last year’s bonfire in Moygashel was topped with an effigy of refugees in a boat.
There have been other Islamophobic acts carried out across Northern Ireland in recent months.
In Newtownabbey, a mural reading “Islam is Satanic” was erected and in many loyalist areas of Belfast, the words “Muslims out” can be seen spray-painted on walls.
Last month, an old Gospel Hall on the Shankill Road in Belfast that was due to be turned into an international food store was gutted by a deliberate arson.
DUP MLA Brian Kingston said he was “appalled” by the arson and added: “Some people have gone out of their way to engender opposition to this, including intimidation and spreading false information online.
“It was not going to sell halal meat. In fact there would be no meat as they are Hindu people who are mostly vegetarian.”
Nora Rashwan runs a busy city centre takeaway restaurant in Belfast – Nora’s Palace – and says that while she has always felt welcome, recent events are having a detrimental effect on minority communities.
She came to Northern Ireland as an asylum seeker after fleeing Syria 16 years ago.
Rashwan said that recent riots in Belfast, sparked by a horrific stabbing incident in north Belfast, and the burning of the replica mosque has left the Muslim community feeling “unsafe” and “scared”.
She added that many immigrant families, workers, and business owners are playing a vital role in society in the North.
“If someone of any nationality commits a crime or does something wrong, they should be punished by the authorities, but it is not right to then target everyone who shares their background,” Rashwan said.
Rashwan also said she has “never seen anything at this level in Belfast”.
“Before, people were not focusing on religion like this or on people’s colour, now something strange has happened, and everything has changed,” she said.
Speaking to The Journal this week, the Church of Ireland’s Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson, who is from Northern Ireland, remarked that it’s “extremely alarming” to see sectarianism “morph” and “shift from sectarianism to racism, while retaining the sectarian component”.
“I think is a massive wake-up call to us all,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rashwan said she has a friend who lives in Kuwait, and her two daughters came to Northern Ireland this year to study in Queen’s University Belfast.
However, Rashwan said they are now planning to leave as they do not feel safe in the North.
She urged Northern Irish authorities to take action to protect the Muslim community, and to protect the Mosque in Belfast from “any threats aimed at us”.
Meanwhile, Djaura said the message from the Moygashel bonfire is clear: “We are not welcome here.”
He said the bonfire arises from a “misunderstanding about Islam, because the word ‘Islam’ means peace”.
“We live and work here and consider this place our home.
“We simply joined the local community and are working together as brothers and sisters.”
When asked how it felt to see the replica mosque on top of the bonfire, Djaura said “it’s terrifying and shows that some people are looking at us like we are criminals”.
He added that such “acts of hatred and disorder is not good for the community and it’s not good for the reputation of Northern Ireland either”.
Djaura also warned that the Islamophobia in the area is getting worse and pointed to a banner that has been erected outside a children’s playground in Moygashel.
The banner is an AI-generated image which shows children and families playing in a park on one side, and men being stopped at a barrier on the other side.
A sign by the men reads “not welcome, not wanted, not here”.
While the AI image shows men from the Sikh faith, it’s understood that those who created the image intended for it to portray Muslims.
The banner has been removed by the PSNI and then replaced by the local community on several occasions since it first appeared in late May.
Other regions across Northern Ireland have since adopted the banner.
“The poster basically said, ‘Muslims not welcome here’,” Djaura said.
“This year, it’s getting worse. The message is just hatred, but we don’t know why there is this hatred.”
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