The introduction of rotating imams, a staff clear-out and an investigation into alleged Muslim Brotherhood links all preceded the reopening of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) on Thursday following a bitter and protracted dispute.
Prayers at its mosque, the largest in Ireland, were due to take place throughout Friday.
It also means the mosque, which can accommodate up to 1,700 people, will be open for Ramadan beginning at sundown next Tuesday.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Al Maktoum Foundation built the Clonskeagh Centre in 1995 and has funded it since, at approximately €2.5 million annually.
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Relevant departments at the centre are to be reopened on a gradual basis with a future emphasis on volunteers as opposed to permanent staff. Staff costs at Clonskeagh were about €1.6 million annually, which, it has been found, could be at least halved with a shift toward increased volunteerism.
The clear out also means there are currently no plans to install a permanent imam at the centre to replace Sheikh Hussein Halawa (70), who reached an out-of-court settlement with the foundation last year following legal proceedings he initiated. It is now intended that a system of rotating imams will be employed at the centre.
Halawa had been imam at the centre for almost 30 years, since it opened in 1996.
The national school at the ICCI has been open throughout. However, the centre’s Koranic school has remained closed and is not to reopen in the foreseeable future.
[ Clonskeagh Islamic centre dispute reaches High CourtOpens in new window ]
Gardaí have been investigating alleged financial irregularities at the centre which, it is believed, may have been continuing over decades and could involve millions of euro being sent abroad as charitable donations. Amounts as high as €1 million are believed to have been sent abroad each year, in 2023 and 2024. Gardaí have been liaising with foreign authorities.
A serious dispute between the Al Maktoum Foundation and prominent officials at Clonskeagh over governance and due diligence issues came to a head in 2024.
Over recent years concerns had been raised with the foundation about management and oversight at the ICCI.
These also involved the handling of what were claimed to be charitable donations, including funds raised for Gaza and other causes abroad, as well as cash payments at the centre itself. Claims were also made about alleged links between officials at Clonskeagh and the Muslim Brotherhood.
An international Sunni Muslim organisation set up in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt with the aim of establishing the Koran as sole reference point for ordering life in the family, community and state.
It has been designated a terrorist organisation in Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia and, most significantly where the Clonskeagh Centre is concerned, the UAE, home to the Al Maktoum Foundation.
However, it is not designated a terrorist organisation in Ireland or any other EU country.
On receipt of these claims and expressions of concern about the running of Clonskeagh, senior figures from the Al Maktoum Foundation visited the ICCI a number of times in 2024.
This included the chairman of the Al Maktoum Foundation, Muhammad Dahi, and a director of the board of management, Dr Zahid Jamil, who has played a central role in the current reorganisation at the ICCI. They appointed an auditor to investigate matters at the centre.
This investigation met resistance, particularly at the Koranic school. Totally separate from the national school and founded in 1999, the Nur-ul-Huda School taught the tenets of Islam to its approximately 2,000 Muslim pupils, at an annual fee of €250 each. It had a principal, a deputy principal and about 40 teachers.
Much of the controversy at the ICCI concerned the Koranic school and how it was run.
When information was sought from the school it responded that, because of data protection legislation, this could not be supplied. The ICCI pointed out that such legislation did not apply as it was not a third party. The Koranic school still refused to provide the required details and some of its senior staff resigned.
Jamil called a meeting of parents of pupils attending the Koranic school for April 19th last year. Large numbers turned up. It was contentious and went on for over two hours. A second meeting was agreed and, as it continued, there were concerns for Jamil’s physical safety. Gardaí were called to protect him and escorted him to safety.
Then, information was received at the centre that a demonstration was being planned. Out of concern for people’s safety and security , Jamil decided to shut it down until investigations were completed, with just the national school remaining open. As it prepared its reopening, the internal investigation at the centre remains ongoing.
Lengthy court proceeding followed last year involving a director of the ICCI board who alleged corporate criminality against fellow board members. This was dismissed by the High Court last December as baseless and entirely misconceived. Costs were awarded against the complainant.
Legal proceedings were also taken by imam Halawa but these too failed and an out-of-court settlement was agreed with him.
Halawa came to Ireland from his native Egypt in 1995 having studied theology at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and securing his doctorate in Islamic studies at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan.
In 2017 his son, Ibrahim, was released after being jailed without trial in Egypt for more than four years. Ibrahim was detained in Cairo, along with three of his sisters, during a Muslim Brotherhood “day of rage” in 2013 over the removal of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Halawa sisters were released after 15 days.
It was suggested by US officials in WikiLeaks correspondence from 2006, released in 2011, that Imam Halawa was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but he denied this. In 2016 Soha Gendi, then Egyptian ambassador to Ireland, claimed that “the whole [Halawa] family is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, whether they deny it or not”.
Sheikh Halawa has also been general secretary of the European Council for Fatwa and Research in which role he provided theological guidance (fatwa) on issues facing Muslims in Europe.
It was claimed that the council’s founder and former president, Egyptian-born, but Qatari-based, Yusuf al-Qaradawi was also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which he too denied. A controversial theologian and scholar, al-Qaradawi was banned from the US in 1999, the UK and Ireland in 2008, and France in 2012. He died in 2022 aged 96.
Dr Ali Selim, long-recognised as the public face of the ICCI for which he was spokesman for over 20 years until September 2024 when he stood down, has “warmly welcomed” its reopening. He congratulated “all those whose dedication and hard work have made this possible.”
He did not feel free to discuss his reasons for standing down from his role at the centre in 2024, due to a non-disclosure agreement. Subsequently, following the closure of the ICCI in April 2025, he was appointed manager for media affairs there by the Al Maktoum Foundation.
He hoped that the reorganised ICCI would be “a place that nurtures unity among Muslims, encourages mutual respect and co-operation, and supports the spiritual and educational growth of all generations.”
He also said he hoped the centre would “actively foster positive engagement with the wider society in Ireland, building bridges of understanding, contributing to the common good, and reflecting the nobles values of our faith through service, dialogue and exemplary character.”
