Open Mosque Day at Akbar Mosque
The Ceylon Mosque Program, a unique interfaith initiative involving opening up mosques for visitors of other faiths was held at Akbar Mosque in Colombo on 10th September 2017.
The public ‘Open Mosque Day’ was an immense success with over 80 visitors participating to learn about Islam and the role of mosques. Visitors were also given free calligraphy of their names in beautiful Arabic script and traditional Muslim foods.
This program, more properly known as Awareness Through Mosque Tours (ATMT) aims at sharing the beautiful message of Islam to those of other faiths through a tour of a mosque. Since mosques lend themselves well to teaching people about Islam, the program has been successful in creating awareness of Islam, especially in countries like Bahrain where it originated and in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong where it is practiced in a big way.
Asiff Hussein, Vice President, Outreach, Centre for Islamic Studies, which organized the program in association with the Trustees of Akbar Mosque, said that the event was in keeping with the example of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) who hosted a delegation of Christians from Najran in his mosque in Medina. He added that they planned to have similar events soon, the next program to be held in Kandy’s Meera Makam Mosque on 20th September.
