The Muslim Brotherhood’s Irish Waystation? The Geopolitics Behind the Clonskeagh Mosque

Clonskeagh Mosque remains shuttered this afternoon as rumours circulate among the Dublin Ummah, ranging from American FBI agents to links to Islamic extremism following an ‘unprecedented incident’ reported by the facility’s management.

In the aftermath of the as-of-yet ambiguous altercation on April 19th, the mosque and the community behind it have been in disarray, with Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri vaguely declaring the centre to be in a “transitional period.”

Serving as a religious, educational, and cultural hub since 1996, the mosque has been dogged by repeated accusations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood since a leaked US diplomatic cable aired by WikiLeaks revealed fears of Islamist penetration.

Financial auditors from Deloitte have criticised the mosque for its sloppy handling of foreign cash, with resident academic Dr. Ali Selim coming to national prominence for his support of the practice of female genital mutilation in 2018. 

Regardless, the mosque authorities have maintained what they say is a zero-tolerance policy towards extremism.

For background context, the mosque and adjacent ‘cultural centre’ are funded by the Al Maktoum Foundation, a charitable organisation established by the eponymous Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of the UAE.

Sheikh Al Maktoum and his extended family are synonymous with various equestrian ventures in the UK and Ireland as well as funding Trinity College’s Middle Eastern Studies program, wherein the UAE’s poor human rights record was highlighted by campus activists.

The Burkean reported in 2022 on lobbying attempts to reduce the flying time of the LGBT flag in TCD, potentially at the behest of Gulf money.

According to its website, the Foundation is operational in 69 countries. It specialises in educational grants and focuses on effectively advancing the UAE’s agenda under a humanitarian guise and to counter political Islam, which Dubai fears to be a direct threat to its national security. 

Mysterious events in Clonskeagh coincide with Dubai’s support for the RSF militia in Sudan, where it is accused of fueling violence for its interests through a covert NGO empire.

Former President Mary Robinson came to global disdain for her accidental legitimisation of the UAE following the kidnapping of Princess Sheikha Latifa in 2018, indicative of the complex PR operations the Emirate can use against the West. 

This tactic of reputation laundering extends to “greenwashing” with the gas-producing UAE sponsoring the environmentalist COP28 summit, as it remains a leading global emitter. Billed as the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland was represented at COP28 in Dubai by Minister Ryan, with the meeting going a long way to set the Republic’s climate agenda. 

Indeed, the UAE is a growing partner for Ireland (the IDA in particular) in the Gulf region. The Irish government only signed a new economic partnership earlier this month, with the work of Clonskeagh Mosque and Al Maktoum Foundation potentially able to be seen in the context of the UAE cementing its soft power in Ireland and keeping tabs on the Islamic community resident here.

The Emirate is generally regarded as one of the ‘safer’ Gulf States, which consciously combats Islamism due to domestic security concerns, as the West is accused of looking the other way on human rights violations.

This, however, was not always the case.

In 2013, the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood by the UAE prompted a fierce low-level Cold War across the Gulf region following accusations that the Islamist group (previously harboured in Dubai) was planning a coup.

Following the ban, the UAE engaged in a diplomatic stand-off against the more Islamist-inclined Qatar as it launched an institutional and regional war against the Brotherhood, including purging its own institutions globally. This battle for influence extended to Europe as the UAE was revealed to be hiring spies to discredit Qatari-linked projects through guilt by association with the Brotherhood.

This meant bad news for the UAE-funded Clonskeagh, considered by many to be something of a safe haven for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Clonskeagh earned further negative press for its ties to Qatari-based cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, banned in multiple EU countries for his support of terrorism. This flirtation with Muslim Brotherhood adjacent figures almost certainly strained relations between Clonskeagh and its UAE backers throughout the 2010s.

For example, one of the mosque’s most prominent figures, Hussein Halawa and his son Ibrahim, have felt the need to fend off allegations of Brotherhood ties in the wake of the latter’s arrest in Egypt following the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime there.

DCU academic Marky Humphys has dutifully chronicled the various controversies involving Clonskeagh, with the arrest of Ibrahim Halawa raising fresh accusations of Islamist ties. On paper, an Islamic theocracy, the UAE is security-conscious against any trace elements of Islamism in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Despite this, a report from the European Parliament in 2022 again pointed the finger at the Clonskeagh mosque for harbouring Islamist sympathies and being a key operational node for the Muslim Brotherhood in Ireland. 

Known for their practice of entryism and civil society work, even anti-racist organisation INAR Ireland, through its former European affiliate ENAR, has been linked to the Brotherhood.

While no evidence in Clonskeagh so far exists of laundering cash for Islamist causes, many such cases exist across Europe and the UK of similar ‘cultural centres’ being weaponised by hostile extremist actors such as Hamas’ Al-Aqsa Foundation or the British-based Muslim Aid charity.

With this new ambiguous controversy now hanging over the Mosque, one ponders if this is forced closure is just the culmination of decades worth of dodgy practices by the PR friendly face of Islam in Ireland, a factional dispute, or part of a wider power game by its UAE funders looking to clip the wings of Irish-based radicals?

Portrayed as a mere religious centre beneath the rocks at the Clonskeagh Mosque is enmeshed in a subterranean and sprawling world of Gulf power politics and potential Islamist extremism, which may be just bubbling to the surface for all to see.