Greg Daly
In an act of inter-faith solidarity, four leading Cork clergy have jointly condemned an attack on a popular and prominent Muslim cleric.
Imam Ihab Ahmed, leader of the Cork Mosque Foundation, was attacked around 11pm on June 29 while walking with his wife on the city’s Cathedral Street. He was pushed to the ground by an assailant who stole the imam’s hat and fled. Following the assault the imam’s hands needed to be x-rayed and bandaged, after which he reported the attack at Gurranabraher Garda Station.
The imam said he believed that the attack had been religiously motivated, and that he and his wife had been shocked by the assault, unprecedented in his 10 years in the city.
“Ihab is someone we know, because it has been the practice of Ihab and his community to invite us to join the Iftar meal, which is the meal that they celebrate which breaks Ramadan,” Fr Christy Fitzgerald, convenor of the Cork Ecumenical Standing Committee, told The Irish Catholic, continuing, “We’ve gotten to know this community a little bit. They’re mainstream Islam – they do not have any truck with extremism and are very strong on that.”
Respect
On hearing of the assault, he said, he and his fellow ecumenical secretaries – Canon Daniel Nuzum of the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian Valerie Fletcher, and Charles Payne representing the Methodist Rev. Geraldine Gracie – felt something needed to be said.
Deploring the “dreadful attack”, the committee expressed their hope for “a growing respect, mutual understanding and flourishing as fellow people of faith and citizens of our city of Cork”.
Rejecting the idea that Muslim tension is a serious issue in the city, Fr Fitzgerald said “we felt very strongly that as a representative group of the Christian communities whose work is to build relationships with people of faith, that we should condemn unequivocally the violent act that was perpetrated against Ihab”.
“Attacks,” Fr Fitzgerald continued, “for any reason, but in particular for sectarian reasons are unacceptable and run contrary to the Christian message, a message which is one of tolerance, respect, and peace.”