London, UK (BBN)-More than 90 mosques across the UK are opening their doors to visitors to allow Muslims to “explain their faith beyond the hostile headlines”.
The Muslim Council of Britain hopes Sunday’s open day will show unity in “a tense time for faith communities”, reports BBC.
Three times as many mosques were participating this year as last year, it said.
It comes after a rise in the number of anti-Muslim attacks in London, with hundreds reported last year.
‘ADDRESSING FEARS’
The Visit My Mosque Day also comes after supporters of the Pegida anti-Islam movement staged a silent march in Birmingham on Saturday.
The BBC’s religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt said fewer than 200 people turned up, but the protest was a sign of the fears over Islam that the open day is aimed at addressing.
There are about three million Muslims – about 5 per cent of the population- and an estimated 1,750 mosques in the UK.
The mosques involved in the open day include those in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast.
Organisers said the list represents the diversity in Islamic traditions, with mosques from a wide variety of Islamic schools of thought and traditions taking part.
And they said mosques would be inviting leaders of other faiths, “and all will be asked to come together to demonstrate unity and solidarity during what has been a tense time for faith communities”.
BBN/TR/AD