On the other foot

AS MUSLIMS in mainland Britain endure a barracking from politicians, education officials and the press, in Ulster a different story is unfolding. There, too, Muslims have been castigated and accused of extremism. But, in contrast to the scene across the Irish Sea, the Muslims have emerged triumphant.

Islam in Northern Ireland is a world away from the Midlands and northern English cities where poor Pakistanis arrived half a century ago to take rough factory jobs. Many of the 4,000 or so Muslims who live permanently in Ulster are doctors, academics, entrepreneurs and property developers. Only in the past few years have they been joined by a poorer group of asylum-seekers from Somalia. They tend to inhabit leafy, cosmopolitan districts in south Belfast, near Queen’s University where many have taught or studied. Far from taking over schools to propagate hard-line ideas, they send their children to fine local institutions like Belfast’s Methodist College.