Is it time for the Muslim call to prayer to ring out across Dublin?

Paul McRingo | Political Correspondent

Is it time for the Muslim call to prayer to ring out across Dublin or should we hold out for another few years?

That’s the question being asked more and more as Ireland’s Muslim population continues to grow rapidly.

In 1991 there were approximately 3,000 Muslims in the country. Now there are more than 100,000 and that number continues to rise steadily with no sign of it slowing down.

We asked Dublin Imam Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad Hisham Kabbani Al-Ashi Al-Ali Abdulaziz Bin Mufti Al-Tayeb Abu Hanifa if he thinks it’s time Dubliners woke up each morning to the sound of the Adhan, the Arabic name for the Muslim call to prayer.

“Of course. If it doesn’t happen now it soon will so why wait? You’re only putting off the inevitable. The Muslim population has gone from zero to 100,000 in a few short years. In 10 years it will be 500,000 and if things carry on the way they’re going it will be a million in no time at all. Hey, you know what’s funny? If a white Irish guy said that he’d be called far-right and racist. Lol.”

Mr Abubakr Ahmad Hisham Kabbani Al-Ashi Al-Ali Abdulaziz Bin Mufti Al-Tayeb Abu Hanifa said Ireland is now the number one destination for people on the move from all over the world.

“Thousands are fleeing desperate situations and making their way to Ireland as we speak. I’m here nearly two years now but I still have nightmares and sometimes wake up screaming in the middle of the night. I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from the trauma of living in Luton. What a dump!”

He added that the call for each of the five obligatory daily prayers will not be restricted to Dublin.

“Very soon our beautiful Adhan will be heard blaring loudly across all 32 counties of Ireland when all of your disused and empty churches are transformed into mosques. As the saying goes, use it or lose it, and you guys ain’t using it.”

Sinn Féin has welcomed the idea and called for the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf to be incorporated into school uniforms nationwide.