The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland has officially reopened its doors after its owners, Dubai-based Al-Maktoum Foundation, closed it down in 2025 – with mixed sentiments from the community, who discovered large quantities of Islamic books thrown in bins shortly after its reopening.
The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) in Clonskeagh, Dublin, was closed to the public in April 2025 following a controversial decision by the mosque’s board.
But now the mosque has officially reopened, with the ICCI board publishing a statement on February 11 2026: “We are happy to confirm that, after such a long period of closure, our Mosque is officially re-opening on Friday, 13th February 2026 in time for Ramadan.”
However, speculation and dissatisfaction with the mosque’s management has not wavered, after images were shared on social media on February 16 of large quantities of Islamic books dumped into the mosque’s rubbish bins.
The books allegedly contained verses from the Holy Qur’an, books of history, seerah, hadith, and much more, bearing the name of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which according to Islamic tradition should be treated with care and not discarded into physically impure places.
The ICCI is funded by the Al Maktoum Foundation, a charity based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) is the trading name of The Al Maktoum Foundation CLG and is a company registered in Ireland.
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The Foundation gives €2.5m annually for the management of the mosque and oversees its running through the appointment of its board and imam.
Why was the mosque initially closed?
The mosque cited “financial constraints” for its closure and an incident which occurred on April 19, 2025 where a meeting descended into “chaos” and violence.
An official statement issued by the mosque read: “On Saturday, 19 April, the ICCI Board had scheduled a closed-door meeting specifically for the parents of children enrolled at the Quranic School to discuss school-related matters. However, attempts were made to disrupt the meeting and transform it into an open community gathering at an incorrect venue.
“Despite this, there was a coordinated effort to instigate chaos, intimidate and harass parents, and obstruct their entry to the scheduled meeting, which also led to physical assault on staff and the Board. This resulted in a heightened security situation, creating an unsafe environment for our Board Member, staff, parents, the general public, and young people in attendance.
“Following this incident — and in light of credible information received by the Board regarding planned protests, including potential attempts to breach the Centre’s gates and forcibly take control of the premises — the Board determined that maintaining security would be impossible if the Centre remained open.”
There was also mention in the statement about the “serious concern” that the newly appointed board had regarding “financial irregularities”.
The controversy within the ICCI started when an independent Qur’an school named Nurulhuda, which was renting space in the mosque to conduct classes, alleged that the Emiratis running the mosque asked the independent management for private data on the students and their parents.
The provision of this data would be illegal under EU GDPR laws, however this was never confirmed and remains the topic of speculation.
ICCI has categorically denied all of these claims, saying in a statement: “Assertions circulating that any foreign party has made a request for any data are completely false and are categorically denied. No such request has been received, nor has any action been taken in this regard.
“These statements are defamatory and baseless. The Centre reiterates that rumors of pressure from abroad or any external actors/parties are false and without foundation.”
There were also reports in Irish media that among the parents of the students were Sudanese political activists who opposed Emirati involvement in the Sudanese civil war, allegedly including an asylum seeker from the Emirates.
Lengthy court cases
A High Court battle followed the incident on April 19 which led to a settlement last month where former ICCI director, Dr Abdel Basset El-Sayed, was ordered to pay the legal fees of other Emirati-based directors whom he accused of corporate criminality.
Last year, Dr Abdel Basset El-Sayed brought forward a court case alleging that several of the foundation’s board directors were appointed unlawfully, and sought to have them removed.
All the men are residents in Dubai, but operated their business out of Roebuck Road, Clonskeagh.
However, the mosque has now officially reopened with a newly appointed Board, of which sources in the community told 5Pillars are all UAE residents.
Rumours and speculation within the community
The Board dismissed the previous Imam of twenty years, Sheikh Hussein Halwa, and appointed a new Imam from the Emirates.
Upon the closure of the mosque last year, Sheikh Halwa described the news as “distressing” and urged people to “verify the accuracy of any news you hear and not to be swept away by rumours.”
However, rumours are still circulating around the community regarding the closure, and have been further fuelled by the discovery of up to four wheelie bins full of Islamic books.
Abdulhaseeb Abdulhaseeb, a local attendee of the ICCI, expressed his confusion to 5Pillars over why the mosque would discard such holy texts, stating that they were not even placed in recycling bins, but rather waste bins which were allegedly “grimy and dirty”.
Abdulhaseeb said that the bins were part of the mosque compound, located in the car park.
According to Abdulhaseeb, members of the community who had vans had gone to the site in an attempt to save the books from being wasted, in efforts to donate them to other mosques or local Islamic institutions.
There were allegedly Qur’ans within the bins, although 5Pillars was not able to confirm the contents of the books, only that they were works of Islamic literature.
Dissatisfaction from the community over the ICCI management has also continued as congregants allege that the mosque has issued strict prohibitions over mentioning political matters, such as Palestine or Sudan, in Friday Khutbahs.
5Pillars reached out to ICCI for comment over these claims but received no response.
Mosque reopening ceremony
The official reopening of the mosque in Clonskeagh, Dublin, was attended by various officials, including the ambassadors of Morocco and the UAE, Lahcen Mahraoui and Mohammed Hmoud Al Shamsi.
Ahmad Tahlak, chairperson of the board of the ICCI, also spoke to the attendees, reminding them that the mosque is “a home of faith that contributes positively to the society in which it stands”.
“Today marks not just an opening, but a new chapter,” Tahlak said.
In reference to the divisions that had infiltrated the mosque previously and contributed to its closure, UAE Ambassador Al Shamsi said: “Leave no room for extremism nor discord. Zero tolerance should be maintained towards discrimination and hate speech.”
A WhatsApp group which was opened independently by the community to follow updates regarding the mosque’s closure, also issued a statement in strong disapproval of the discarding of Islamic books:
“We intend to close this group now that the mosque has re-opened. However, we are saddened by the wholesale ‘dumping’ of Islamic books into waste bins. These books contain verses from the Quran and Hadith…
“Books can be physically burnt, dumped or even erased. But knowledge (علم) is a blessing. The free mind cannot be held in cages and walls of bricks and cement.”
