Wimbledon Mosque will throw open its doors to the greater community on October 3 and 4 as part of its inaugural open day event.
Neighbours are invited to drop in over the weekend and see the calligraphy, Islamic coins and paintings on display, as well as to explore the mosque itself.
Mosque secretary Talat Malik has been trying to encourage more outreach programmes to stimulate involvement with the greater community.
“You can walk in any time between 11am and 6pm and just walk around and look at the exhibition and the mosque in your own time,” he said.
The mosque’s community outreach programmes have proved successful in the past and have paved the way for other Muslim communities in south west London to participate.
For example, they have been volunteering at Merton Winter Night Shelter for the last few years.
Mr Malik said: “When I first went to the night shelter meeting they said we were the first mosque to ever turn up. The Croydon and Morden mosques are now also getting involved.”
The Wimbledon Mosque community have also been inviting neighbours to join them to break the fast during Ramadan for the last three years.
“The first year we invited people to come into the mosque during Ramadan there were people who said they’d never been into a mosque before,” said Mr Malik.
“I think people are more comfortable knowing the unknown, so to say.”
He sees these kinds of events as opportunities to foster a better sense of community and inform people about Islam and Muslim culture.
The mosque has distributed 5,000 flyers for the event in the surrounding area to encourage participation and hope as many as possible will take up the invitation.
Picture courtesy of Wimbledon Mosque, with thanks
