Mosque Welcomes All Faiths
“We'll open our doors to everyone so people can see what we are about,” Mohammad Miah, treasurer of the group, told BBC on Monday, September 22.
The new Islamic centre will replace a former Quaker meeting house in Bridgwater town which was sold in an auction last summer for £100,000.
Receiving a £2,500 grant from Sedgemoor District Council, minor repairs and renovations will be undertaken to prepare the main hall for prayer meetings.
Currently, Friday prayers are being held in a backroom in the building until the main hall is completed.
Opening its doors for non-Muslims, the centre will organize school trips and day trips for elderly people to educate them on Islam.
Along with awareness trips, Arabic lessons will be also offered to children.
“I think it's very important that the community in Bridgwater and Sedgemoor have the opportunity to find out what true believers in Islam are like rather than sadly looking at the media and seeing one small minority of extremists,” said John Swayne, a conservative from Sedgemoor District Council's grants committee.
Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.7 million.
In July 2012, a report by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex found that Muslims are the most likely of all groups to be identified with the concept of ‘Britishness.’
In 2011, think tank Demo found that Muslims in the United Kingdom are more patriotic than the rest of population.
Responding to the statement “I am proud to be a British citizen”, 83% of Muslims said they are proud of being British.
The percentage came higher than the average across the population which scored only 79%.
Source: OnIslam.net
