Lakemba Mosque, an Australian mosque in Sydney, organized an Open Mosque day to welcome non-Muslim visitors.

The occasion was the National Open Mosque Day, with 14 mosques around the country taking part in the event.

In this video, a number of interviews were conducted with non-Muslim visitors, including the following with an non-Muslim Australian man:

“What brings you here today?”

“I found out there was an open day, and I’m interested in supporting the Muslims. There are some hardships that you are going through, and I think we should try to respect each other more than we do.”

The next interview was with an Australian lady:

“How was your experience? Were you welcomed?”

“Yes, very welcoming. Really great for me to make sure I have a better understanding, a chance to observe how everyone prays, and how everyone integrates. It was great.”

Another visitor said:

“I’d never been to a mosque, so I thought I would come along and have a look at what you guys do.”

“And how did you find it?”

“It was good, it was interesting asking the questions.”

A fourth visitor said:

“I just feel our society is never going to work unless we all do it together.

“And I admire your religion, and the devout people.

“It’s just unfortunate that we concentrate on things that happen.

Another lady visitor said:

“It seems that some of the worst people in all religions are the ones that get the headlines. And the ordinary people trying to serve God in the best ways they can just get ditched. So I don’t like that.”

She then added:

“Look, to tell you the truth, because of the problem, I really make sure I say hello to every Muslim woman I see, and they are always lovely to me, and I think to myself what do people have a problem with?”

Don’t miss this interesting report from Sydney, of this excellent Australian mosque initiative.