Eid Open House begins – Visitors Flock To Grand Mosque

The annual Eid Open House festival opened with vigour yesterday, with a number of people from various countries visiting the Grand Mosque to learn more about the religion of Islam. The two-day event, which is expected to draw over 3000 visitors, will end today. If you haven’t attended it yet, make you plan today itself and make use of this knowledgeable opportunity.

Manama

 Hundreds of people from different faiths and nationalities visited Grand Mosque yesterday, the first day of two-day annual Eid Open House festival, being held since 1998.

 Not just Muslims, but a number of Christian and Hindu women also arrived wearing hijab.

 Traditional Arabic tea was served at a specially designed stall inside the mosque for visitors as a token of Islamic hospitality.

Speaking to the DT News, Senior Coordinator, Visitors Section, Farahat Mohammed Al-Kindy, said the purpose of the event was to build trust and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

 “We have an open door policy and we don’t discriminate against anybody. We are not here to convert anybody,” said Al-Kindy explaining, “It is just to share with them our faith and have them celebrate Eid with us.”

 He said social interaction was the best way for Muslims and non-Muslims to understand each other in a better way.

 He said over 3000 people are expected to visit the mosque in the two days and welcomed everybody to be a part of the special event.

  “We have different corners - Quran corner, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) corner, calligraphy corner, henna corner for ladies, books corner, kids corner, gift corner and prayer corner,” he said, “Basic information about Islam is covered in these corners.”

 We encourage the visitors to ask questions and clear any misunderstandings about Islam, he added.

Later, books in different languages were distributed among the visitors.

 “Fifty per cent of our visitors are from the Indian community, 20 per cent are British and Americans while the rest are Philipino, Europeans, Russians, Chinese, and a few from the Arab countries.

 “People get wrong notions from media, which portrays Islam as a terrorist-religion. When they visit here and see things for themselves, they understand Muslims are peace-loving people and they don’t hate non-Muslims,” he said.

He added people generally wanted to know why the women wear hijab and their misgivings were clarified by experts.

 A volunteer tour guide Asif Usman said The Grand Mosque was the only mosque in Bahrain that allows non-Muslims inside. He said that it was necessary for the ladies to wear abaya and men to wear thobe before visiting the mosque, available free of charge at a tent outside the mosque.

A tour guide volunteer, Ramiz Muhamadiyev, an Uzbek national, said the event was a big opportunity to bridge the gap between Muslims and other communities. “It was heartening to see happiness on the faces of visitors. The tour guides were there to facilitate the visitors’ visit and to answer their questions. Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Budhists and even atheists come here,” he said, “Jews do come but not many.”

 Dominick Oreilly, an Irish national and Christian by faith, who was visiting the mosque with his family, said it was a fantastic opportunity to look around the mosque and learn a little bit more about Islam.

  “Al Fateh mosque is a very relaxing and is a good place to meditate,” he said, “It has plenty of scope to learn about Islam. Every time I come, I find a new piece of information about the religion,” he said.

 Pierlugi Spano from Italy said he enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahraini people.

 “The culture what we see here is quite different from what we have heard media,” said the Italian, visiting with his wife and baby.

 “After coming here, I learnt Islam and terrorism are completely two different worlds.  I no longer feel afraid to go to any Muslim country.

 Representative of Aisec Society Hussein said they had brought people to work on a project about the visually impaired people. The participants of the project from a number of countries including China, Netherland, Russia and Turkey, visited the mosque as part of their visit, he said.

 A large number of visitors are expected to visit the Grand Mosque today, the last day of the event.