{UAH} Mosques open their doors to reach out to non-Muslims and help tackle 'negative stigma'

Mosques open their doors to reach out to non-Muslims and help tackle 'negative stigma'

The majority of people who seek support from social welfare services at the Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham are non-Muslim.

By Becky Johnson, Sky News correspondent

Sunday 3 March 2019 06:32, UK

Image:Visit My Mosque day takes place today

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Mosques across the UK are opening their doors today to show the public what goes on inside in an attempt to bring communities together.

The Muslim Council of Britain which organises the event says around 250 places of worship will be welcoming people on the fifth annual Visit My Mosque day.

A YouGov poll carried out last year found that 70% of Britons have never visited a place of worship other than their own.

Image:It is hoped the event will help tackle the 'negative stigma that people have around Islam'

Suffyan Ali who works at the Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham hopes the event will help tackle the "negative stigma that people have around Islam" following Islamist terror attacks.

"For instance, I've walked onto a train and people are looking like 'oh is he going to sit next to me?'. And it's like 'yes I am and I'm not going to do anything, I'm actually travelling to work'," he said.

"The majority of us actually condemn those actions, and we don't preach and we don't follow those kind of actions, but with that small minority it puts a cloud over all of us."

Image:Women are very much part of the community at Green Lane Masjid

The mosque already works closely with people from the wider community. During the recent cold snap a hall in the mosque was turned into a homeless shelter for anyone needing a place a stay and food to eat. Members of the mosque also run a food bank twice a week.

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Humayun Saleem who is head of social welfare at the mosque said: "A lot of people are surprised when they come here and hear that the majority, especially of our social welfare services which are open for the whole community, of our service users are non-Muslim."

Image:Sidrah Awan says mosques need to work harder to make women feel welcome

Like all mosques that allow women to pray Green Lane Masjid has a separate prayer room for women. But unlike many mosques the newly appointed head of education is a woman.

Sidrah Awan heads up a programme of classes run for adults and children, teaching Arabic and Islamic studies.

Asked if mosques need to work harder to make women feel welcome, she agrees.

"There are mosques where women aren't welcome or aren't even facilitated to be in the prayers," she said.

"Here at Green Lane we go far and beyond any other mosques that are out there because we do feel that women are part of the community, and they do need to have their voices heard."

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