Sunday Times 2
Mosque tours catch on
View(s):Mosque tours are fast catching on in Sri Lanka. The latest Open Mosque Day held at the Kollupitiya Jumma Mosque in Colombo on January 22 had around 800 people of other faiths participating. Besides a tour of this beautiful mosque, participants were taken around clearing misconceptions of Islam, given free calligraphy of their names in beautiful Arabic script and were served traditional Muslim foods, besides a henna corner for the ladies.
“Mosque Tours” is a unique interfaith initiative where people of other faiths are invited to mosques to learn about Islam. The Centre for Islamic Studies (CIS) launched its pilot Mosque Tour program at Wekanda Jumma Mosque Colombo in 2014 and since then it has taken off in a big way.
Mosque Tours have been held in various parts of the island, including in Colombo, Kandy, Beruwala, Akurana, Gampola, Anuradhapura and Pottuvil. This included the first Open Mosque Day held at Akbar Mosque, Slave Island in March 2017, which was the first occasion in Sri Lanka where a mosque was open to the public to visit. More such mosque tours are planned to be held in the southern parts of the country like Aluthgama, Weligama and Galle this year.