More than 100 UK Mosques opened their doors yesterday to invite non-Muslims to tour their premises and meet with their Muslim neighbors.

This initiative is part of an annual campaign to counter false perceptions about Islam.

The ‘Visit My Mosque Day’ seeks to educate the public about the faith beyond the media’s hostile narrative. The initiative comes amid a rise in Islamophobia and anti-Muslim attacks in Britain.

This report covers this event which took place on Sunday 7 February 2016, and gives a glimpse on a group of visitors to the Finsbury Park Mosque and their reactions to the visit.

It also includes words of praise and encouragement to this initiative by the leader of the Labour Party, Mr. Jeremy Corbyn, who said after commenting on the rise of Islamophobia in Europe:

“The only thing that gives us hope for the future is all the people that have come to this mosque today and all the other hundreds of mosques around Britain throwing the doors open saying come in. Understand what we are about, understand our faith, understand our principles. We are here as part of the community in modern Britain, and we are playing our part.”

Another visitor said:

“It’s quite good for people from the community to come in and have those views reaffirmed, that Muslims who live side-by-side with us are exactly the same.”

A third visitor reacted by saying:

“I think it’s very important that every religion does this… It would be really interesting to see other religious organizations also opening up and going please come in, and a lot do.”

Last month, mosques around France held a similar open day to invite non-Muslims into their mosques and to meet Muslims in their place of worship.

Don’t miss the brief three minute summary of this excellent initiative by UK Muslims.