Author Archives: Siobhan Benita and Cllr Hina Bokhari

Visit My Mosque Day – a fantastic initiative that we can all engage with

By Siobhan Benita and Cllr Hina Bokhari | Tue 5th March 2019 - 11:55 am

A video summing up our fantastic #VisitMyMosque day. @LondonLibDems mayoral candidate @SiobhanBenita and the GLA candidates were welcomed warmly at all the mosques.

Thank you @MuslimCouncil for organising a great event. pic.twitter.com/75H18lC7F0

— Hina Bokhari AM 🔶 (@HinaBokhariLD) March 3, 2019

It is easy to see our country as divided, especially when we watch the news about Brexit or, most recently, the public reaction to Shamima Begum’s situation. There is no denying that hate crime has risen and that extremists on either side of the political spectrum are increasingly exhibiting intolerance and prejudice.

Sunday’s “Visit My Mosque Day” initiative was, therefore, a very welcome and timely reminder that, for the most part, people from different faiths and communities rub along nicely and are very happy to celebrate the tremendous diversity and multiculturalism that make our capital and county so great.

Joined by other GLA candidates and London members, we embraced the initiative with a tour of three Mosques in the capital. We started with the Suleymaniye Cultural Centre – a beautiful Ottoman style mosque with a Turkish focus. From there we went to the East London Mosque, which is one of the largest mosques in Europe with a largely Bangladeshi congregation. Our final visit of the day was to the regal Central Mosque in Regents Park, a mosque that was officially opened by King George VI in 1944 and which serves a very diverse and international community of worshipers.