National Mosque Open Day is all about fighting against Islamophobia and educating people on Islam Photo SAMNET
South Africa – After a two-year hiatus National Mosque Open Day is back. It takes place on the 24th of September which is also Heritage Day. The day is all about breaking barriers and educating people on Islam.
National Mosque Open Day has been running for the past six years. Currently Islamophobia is spreading rapidly throughout the world. This event is to encourage Mosques to open up their doors for two hours to anyone who wants to learn about Islam.
How National Mosque Open Day helps with misconceptions of Islam
The event is hosted by the South African Muslim Network (SAMNET). Their goal is to get a mosque in every city and town on board for the day. Dr. Faisel Suliman, SAMNET Chairperson, explained it is a perfect opportunity to educate the local community on Islam. Those mosques which sign up will receive Islamic literature as well as being trained for the day.
“We’ll train you. There’s a lot that you can look up on YouTube. Open days are done all over the world very successfully. We will courier reading material, Quraans etc to participating masjids. It’s a wonderful opportunity for people to break barriers with the local communities of course. There are huge misconceptions about what goes on in the masjid, what we pray to, where we pray to, what’s inside a masjid.”
Suliman explained it is a wonderful opportunity for non-Muslims to speak to Muslims one-on-one and learn about Islam directly. Most people get their information from the media or movies. This is one way to properly educate people and eradiate the misconceptions that exist about Islam.
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The programme that runs and its success
There will be a two-hour programme that will take place in the mosques. It will focus on many aspects of salah as well as other things. Suliman and his team are ready to train and teach how to educate non-Muslims on Islam.
“It’s a two-hour short program. We are happy to tell you how to do it once you get a hold of us. Meet and greets, tour of the musjid, demonstration of wudhu. Many masjids have had people ask to watch the Asr prayer. There’s training on YouTube. We will talk people through it. Other masjids have done it very successfully over the years.”
There is a success story to this day as well. Suliman mentioned that in 2019 they had 18 people revert to Islam in that day.
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Spreading the word for the day
Not many people know about the day. Suliman has called for people to get their schools involved, their masjids involved by spreading the word using pamphlets and posters. The more people that know the better the turnout will be.
“We say to people you can provide pamphlets, you can talk to school principals, your local church leaders. You can even invite your politicians, civics, NGO’s and people around you in your community. Make up a pamphlet, put up a banner outside the masjid from the beginning of September. The masjid is open to the public on 24th September.”
Suliman stressed the day is not to discuss politics or about Palestine. It is a day to teach people about Islam and remove the misconceptions they have about it. Mosques that want to join can find the details on SAMNET’s site.
