The Islamic community opened the doors on Sunday to the largest Mosque in the UK yesterday.
The East London Mosque invited the public to take a tour and talk to Muslim leaders about anything, from extremism to President Trump’s suspended travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries.
The suitably huge palace-like building can accommodate more than 7,000 worshipers for congregational prayers.
The air was charged with the hustle and bustle of visitors and Muslims gathering for prayer yesterday on the annual visit my mosque day.
It’s the third year running, for the national initiative called ‘Visit My Mosque’ started by the Muslim council of Britain.
Trump’s push against Islam
It comes at a pertinent time for the global Islamic community as US President Trump has tried to ban travel to the states from seven mainly Muslim countries.
Sparking worldwide controversy and protests against Mr Trumps push against members of the Islamic faith.
Londoner’s embrace Islamic culture
Over three hundred members of the public were anticipated to visit, upon arriving the public were given a brief history of the building and a tour but importantly, they welcomed any questions regarding the Muslim faith.
A spokesperson from the East London Mosque, Salman Fasi, spoke about the importance of offering the wider London community a rare glimpse into Islamic culture. He said: “It’s a fantastic initiative to allow members of the public to come and see inside a Mosque when there is so much misinformation about Muslim’s and Islam.
It’s crucial that members of the London community are given the opportunity to learn about Islam on their own terms.”
President Trump’s ban blocked by US courts
Mr Trumps travel ban was blocked by Seattle’s federal judge on Friday and the federal appeals court rejected Mr Trump’s administration’s request to reinstate the ban on Saturday.
Mr Trump attacks the judge who blocked his travel on twitter today saying, Americans should blame the courts “if something happens”.
Trump has nothing to worry about
Mr Fasi answers this attack on members of the Islamic faith by saying Mr Trump has nothing to worry about. He said:
“He can trust and rely on the Muslim community to be peaceful. If you look at the statistics I think there is only about 20 extremists out of thousands of Muslims living in the UK alone. Unfortunately it’s that few that attract the media’s attention casting a negative attitude towards Muslims in general.”
Trump needs to visit a Mosque
An openness to talk about the Islamic community and directly pointing out misinformation is an effective way East London Mosque has chosen to inform local Londoners about the Muslim community.
Although, this is only effective to the people who are open and willing to visit a mosque. The jury’s out on whether Trump would ever visit a mosque himself, although Mr Fasi argues it would give him some insight and understanding of Islam at this poignant time at the very beginning of his presidency.