Visitors
Guide
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Introduction
Belfast Islamic Centre is situated in South Belfast,
which is the multi-cultural hub of Belfast city.
Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland.
Belfast is considered the most important city in
Northern Ireland as it represents the largest cultural
and economic centre in the province.
The two main universities in Northern Ireland (Queen’s
University Belfast and The University of Ulster)
attract hundreds of Muslim students from all over
the world. Muslims began arriving in Northern Ireland
in the early 1950’s according to records,
mainly as students and menial workers. There is
evidence however, of visits by Muslim trading ships
from Africa and Asia to Irish ports a long time
before the 1950’s. Some Muslim scholars actually
wrote of their visits to Ireland centuries ago.
Today there is almost five thousands Muslims in
Northern Ireland, with the Muslim community increasing
almost on a daily basis. This has been exacerbated
especially after the period of relative peace experienced
in the province subsequent to the Good Friday Agreement.
As well as this increase a lot of Muslims from other
parts of the U.K. have decided to settle in Belfast
and make it there home.
The Belfast Islamic Centre, formally set up in 1977,
is the only mosque in Belfast. It is a large terrace
house which is used mostly for daily prayers, Friday
prayers, funeral prayers and tarawih prayers. The
Mosque also organises some social programmes for
the community such as weekly study circles for men
& Women. The Mosque conducts Nikah (Marriage)
procedures for marriages, which is then followed
by legal registration from the Belfast City Hall.
There is also a school for children (5-16years)
to teach them Quran and Religious instruction classes.
At this present moment there are almost one hundred
students at the school. This number has the potential
to increase to around two/three hundred if there
was adequate facilities and space for the school.
As well as these there are also many other different
religious and social activities in the mosque.
The Belfast Islamic Centre is a registered charity
organisation, run by an elected executive committee.
This committee is elected every 2 years.
Travelling to & from Belfast:
Air
There are two airports serving Belfast: Belfast
City Airport (http://www.belfastcityairport.com/)
is three miles from the city centre, connected by
rail (Sydenham - Great Victoria Street). Belfast
International Airport (http://www.bial.co.uk/) is
nineteen miles from Belfast at Aldergrove. A shuttle
service connects with the city centre, operated
by Ulsterbus.
Note - Taking a taxi directly from Belfast International
Airport to the University is expensive - approximately
£20-£25.
Many airlines fly regularly to Belfast, including:
Aer Lingus http://www.aerlingus.ie, British Airways
http://www.britishairways.com, BMIBABY http://www.bmibaby.com,
British Midland http://www.flybmi.com, Easyjet http://www.easyjet.com,
flybe http://www.flybe.com/
Sea
A selection of routes and ferry operators are available.
Belfast is most easily reached from the following
ports:
Belfast Port is located 1.5 km from the city centre
and can be reached by bus, taxi or on foot.
Larne lies 32 km east of Belfast, with bus and rail
connections.
Dublin is over 160 km south of Belfast but well
connected by rail and bus services.
The following operators run ferries across the Irish
Sea:
Belfast-Heysham: Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
(Seacat) (http://www.steam-packet.com/ )
Belfast-Liverpool: Norse Irish Ferries (http://www.norsemerchant.com/
)
Belfast-Stranraer: Stena Line (http://www.stenaline.co.uk/
)
Belfast-Troon: Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
(Seacat) (http://www.steam-packet.com/ )
Belfast-Douglas (IOM): Isle of Man Steam Packet
Company (Seacat) (http://www.steam-packet.com/ )
Larne-Cairnryan: P&O European Ferries (http://www.poirishsea.com/
)
Larne-Fleetwood: P&O European Ferries (http://www.poirishsea.com/
)
Dublin-Holyhead: Irish Ferries(http://www.irishferries.com/
)
Dublin-Holyhead: Stena Line(http://www.stenaline.co.uk/
)
Dublin-Liverpool: Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
(Seacat) (http://www.steam-packet.com/ )
Coach
The following companies provide long-distance services
to Belfast, including cross-channel routes and Belfast-Dublin:
Ulsterbus (UK & Irish services) (http://www.ulsterbus.co.uk/
)
Bus Éireann (UK & Irish services) (http://www.buseireann.ie/
)
National Express (UK & Irish services) (http://www.buseireann.ie/
)
Rail
Rail connections are available from both UK and
Dublin.
NI Railways (http://www.nirailways.co.uk/ ): Belfast-Dublin
Enterprise service.
Information on connecting services sometimes available
from ferry operators.
Road
All ferry ports and airports are well connected
by road. Within Northern Ireland, motorways link
Belfast with the north and the west of the Province,
and the Westlink between the M1 and M2 and a city
ring road make it easy to navigate Belfast's traffic
system. A good road link connects Belfast with Dublin
in the south.
Bus
Local bus services within Belfast are provided by
Citybus. Long-distance services across Northern
Ireland are run by Ulsterbus.
Taxi
Taxis are relatively cheap and easily available.
London-style metered cabs operate from airports
and railways stations: private cabs are plentiful
and can be booked by telephone.
Value Cabs :02890323000
Fon A Cabs : 02890233333
City Cab :02890242000
Other useful links
Northern Ireland Tourist Board (http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/
)
Belfast City Council - Tourist Information (http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk
http://search.yell.com/
http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/
Accommodation
There are a number of estate agents which you can
get in contact with through these websites:
http://www.propertynews.com/
http://www.findaproperty.co.uk/
http://search.yell.com/search/DoSearch
Also there is university accommodation:
Queen's university Halls of Residence (Queen’s
ELMS):
78 Malone Road,
Belfast,
BT9 5PW
Tel: 02890974525
Halal Meat and Halal Restaurants
(1) Top- Mark: Linfield road (Behind the Europa
bus stand)
(2) Asian Supermarket: Ormeau road
(3) Cam-Seng: Off Lisburn road (entrance after post
office before Tesco)
(4) Esperanto Restaurant: Lisburn road.
(5) Jaipur Tandoori: Donegall road (Shafstbery Square)
(6) Monsoon Restaurant: Bradbury Place
Health information - You have to register with medical
centre on arriving to Northern Ireland and there
are a lot of medical centres according to your residence
area, the nearest for the Islamic centre and to
Queen’s university are:
Queens University Health Centre
5 Lennoxvale
Belfast
BT9 5BY
02890335551
Dunluce Health centre
1 Dunluce Avenue
02890204060
There are many hospitals in Belfast but the main
and the nearest two hospitals to the Islamic centre
and to Queen’s university are:
Belfast City Hospital
Lisburn Road, Belfast, Tel: (028) 9032 9241
Royal Victoria Hospital
Grosvenor Road, Belfast
BT12 6BA Tel: (028) 9024 0503
Opening a Bank Account
Banks here in Northern Ireland are different than
that in England but you still can find branches
for HSBC bank, Halifax and Abbey National banks.
There are a lot of other local banks. You can use
any cash machine to manage your account if you have
an account with other banks. Opening a bank account
is easy all you need is an I.D. with signature and
a proof of address, however, every bank has its
rules in opening an account and you can get more
information from the branch. Complete listings of
banks which are available in Belfast are available
from yellow pages or on the http://search.yell.com/
website. Sterling notes here are different than
that in England but English notes are valid here,
Euro currency also can be accepted in some shops.
