Sunday Tribune

Mosques open to visitors

TASCHICA PILLAY taschica.pillay@inl.co.za

NON-MUSLIMS are urged to visit a mosque on Heritage Day as a way of learning about the Islamic faith and practices.

The national mosque day was to build bridges between Muslims and people of other faiths, said Faisal Suliman, the chairperson of the South African Muslim Network (Samnet).

He said people would be taken on a tour of the mosque, given a demonstration on how the prayers are conducted and have an opportunity to ask questions between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday.

“People may wonder what a mosque looks like inside, why do we pray facing Mecca and how do we pray. It is good for other faith groups to meet their neighbours. The visitors would meet members of the local Muslim community and over refreshments have a tour of the mosque, as well as a demonstration of the washing and prayer rituals.

“It is an opportunity to build bridges, community relationships and renew the concept of an inclusive and tolerant multicultural and multifaith rainbow nation,” he said.

“This is a good opportunity to meet the elders of the mosque and ask questions, so we don't have incidents like we had recently where a Grade 11 Greytown pupil was suspended for growing a beard for religious purposes or when Muslim girls choose to wear pants with their school uniform.

“We rather build relationships instead of going to court,” said Suliman.

Owing to Covid-19, the open mosque day did not take place for the past two years, said Suliman.

He said a few more mosques had joined the initiative, while others had added other attractions with their open day.

“It's Heritage Day, after all, so we are here to celebrate our heritage and cultures,” he said.

A list of the mosques that are part of the open day is on the Samnet website.

HERALD

en-za

2022-09-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

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African News Agency