The USI praised Irish Muslim leaders who launched an anti-extremism declaration in Trinity College last week.
The Union of Students in Ireland, who has said that violence associated with religion has caused a negative and false stereotype to be inflicted on peaceful Muslims, applauded the Irish Muslim leaders who signed the declaration last Thursday evening.
USI President, Kevin Donoghue said, “The discrimination and stereotypes faced by foreign nationals and Muslims because of extremists is unfair, unjust and largely unfounded, as can be seen in shocking documentaries like RTE’s I Am Immigrant”.
“It is a shame that the Muslim leaders feel the need to speak out against extremism and violence, to disassociate themselves from it and to guide Muslims in a different, peaceful direction,” he added.
The declaration was first officially signed by visiting Muslim speaker Shaykh Fakhruddin Owaisi, chairmen of the Council of Sunni Imams in Cape Town, South Africa.
Both Shaykh Owaisi and Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, chairman of the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council were speakers at the TCD seminar ‘Preventing radicalisation within the Muslim community’, which was organised by the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council, IMPIC, to coincide with the launch.
The anti-extremism declaration was drawn up by IMPIC to ensure that all visiting Islamic speakers to Ireland preach peacefully and respectably.
It says, “I believe that terrorism is never a legitimate and honourable act of war, but is always a cowardly act of indiscriminate murder. I believe that the sanctity of human life overrides the sanctity of religious laws”.
Katie Gallagher
Leave a Reply