For years, British Muslims have opened doors of their mosques to bring British community closer to Muslims and demystify myths about Islam.

As these tours become less likely, due to the COVID-19, some mosques are going virtual with a series of live virtual tours.

Jalalia Jaame Mosque, on Trafalgar Street in Wardleworth, Rochdale, Greater Manchester is one of these mosques opening its doors for a virtual open day, to connect with the local community.

They filmed a guided tour of their Mosque with the aim of educating those who had never been inside a mosque before.

“Mosques and Islam have been in this country for a long time, however most of the British public have never actually been to a mosque despite a lot of them knowing a lot of Muslims either as friends or colleagues,” Organiser Mohammed Iqbal Hossein, who has been a member of the Mosque since he was five years old, told In Your Area.

“So we just wanted people to feel what the inside of a mosque looks like, the various rooms, the operations of a mosque and the purpose of a mosque.

“We wanted to show to our local community here in Wardleworth, where we’ve been since 1971, that we’re not just there to serve the Muslim community, this is your local mosque too.”

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Connecting Community

The idea of the video came after a shared Ramadan event a couple of years ago, which featured non-Muslims who took part in fasting Ramadan.

“In the past some of our congregation took part in a shared Ramadan where they invited colleagues to the mosque who had never been to the mosque,” he said.

“Out of that there was an idea to actually do a Mosque open day.

“It was a fantastic event. We had RE teachers who watched and they requested if they could have some clips that they can use in their classrooms.”

Jalalia Jaame Mosque also plan another shared Ramadan event on the 25th April. People are encouraged to fast during the day before members of the mosque deliver food for the iftar.

Mosques in the UK have been holding open days for their local communities for decades.

Not only in the United Kingdom.

Muslims across the world usually open mosque doors to guests to enable them to have a glimpse of Islam.

For example, a number of countries host Visit My Mosque Day annually, including Australia, , Norway, and France.