Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 27— With an aim to remove misunderstandings about mosque, if any, in the minds of members of the Hindu faith, Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), in collaboration with some other Muslim groups, is planning to open the mosques across the country for members of the general public on November 3.
“There are some negative concepts about mosques among some non-Muslims. We want to clear those misunderstandings. We are planning to invite people to mosques on Nov 3. We have listed 2,500 mosques across the country,” Syed Azharuddin, General Secretary of SIO, told India Tomorrow. He, however, made it clear that SIO will not claim credit for the event, nor will use its name because it would be a program from the entire Muslim community.
“We have taken the initiative but we are not going to take credit for it as we want to involve all Muslim groups and organizations for it. We have instructed our units across India to take help of Muslim organizations including Jamaat-e-Islami Hind to convince management committees of mosques to open the doors for non-Muslims on that particular date. We are also involving Muslim youths and students in this program,” he said.
SIO leader informed that members of the organizations are taking support of students and youths and approaching Hindu brethren with request to attend the event.
“Our members are meeting Hindu residents of a Muslim locality and offering them the invite,” he said.
Talking about the details of the Nov 3 program, he said: “During the program on Nov 3, we will put an introduction of mosque, its position and role before our Hindu brethren. If they ask any questions about mosque or Islam, we will provide them relevant booklets. We will also share tea with them at the mosque.”
On social media, his team has started hashtag #VisitMyMasjid. They are requesting Muslims to invite their non-Muslim friends to Masjid, introduce them about the importance of Masjid in Islam, have tea and snacks with guests, and take a selfie/photo and share on social media with tag #VisitMyMasjid.
Meanwhile, entire country is awaiting the Supreme Court verdict in the 134-year-old title suit involving 16th century Babri Masjid and claim about Ram Janmasthan. The hearings in the Ayodhya dispute ended on October 16 before the five-judge Constitution bench. The top court is likely to pronounce verdict before November 17, the last day of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi in office. Justice Gogoi was heading the Constitution bench.
