Hundreds visit Peterborough mosques on open day

The Masjid Khadijah, Faizan-e-Madinah and Masjid Ghousia mosques all took part in the Visit My Mosque day on Sunday - a national scheme which saw more than 250 mosques across the country holding open days. People from across the east of the country came to Peterborough to visit the religious buildings, speak to the congregation and learn more about the religion. Abdul Choudhuri, chairman of the Faizan e Madinah Mosque, said: “The Visit My Mosque day was most successful and we had well over 150 people who attended, including Gillian Beasley (chief executive of Peterborough City Council), Adrian Chapman (service director for community & safety at Peterborough City Council) and church leaders.” Mr Choudhuri said the VIP guests were given a copy of the Quran as a gift during the day. Amir Suleman, spokesman for the Masjid Khadijah, said the day was an important part of the mosque’s calendar. He said: “This is something we celebrate every year, and it is getting bigger and better every time. This year we had a steady stream of visitors from all walks of life coming - from white British and Eastern European to other Muslims. We want to encourage people to come along and ask questions - there is no taboo question. Some people, for whatever reason, have views on Islam, and we want to answer those questions, and build bridges. It is important to say we have an open door policy all year round - we regularly have school visits, and we can arrange visits if people give us a call or drop us an email.” Ansar Ali gave tours at the Masjid Ghousia mosque and explained its internal and external features to visitors. He said: “It was a fantastic interactive day with lots of positive comments from our visitors.”