Prophet for all: Mumbai's Vikhroli mosque opens its doors to non-Muslims, offers guided tour

MUMBAI: A common feature of ‘khuda ka ghar' or God's House is that it should not be under lock and key. In other words, it should be open to all. The over three-decade-old Madrassa and Masjid Mohammadiya at Park Site in Vikhroli lived up to this maxim when it welcomed around 50 non-Muslims recently.

As part of the ‘Prophet For All' campaign to celebrate Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi or Prophet Muhammad's birthday (September 16), the mosque management recently invited a group of non-Muslims for a guided tour.

Led by Khursheed Siddiqui, general secretary of Madrassa and Masjid Mohammadiya, the group spent around one hour at the mosque learning about rituals in namaz, the status of a mosque, and its imam in Islam.

"This is an outreach to tell our non-Muslim fellow citizens about what we do in the mosque. This is an attempt to remove misunderstandings and misconceptions about the mosques," said Siddiqui.

Normally, chairs are not kept at the mosques, except for a few worshippers who are prescribed to pray seated on chairs, but the Hindu visitors here were made to sit on chairs inside the mosque. Usually, prayers are held on the prayer mats.

The visit did help remove some misconceptions. Ranjan Kedar, one of the visitors, is ecstatic. "We were quite happy to visit the mosque. Unlike what many say about the mosque, it is nothing but an empty prayer hall where Muslims hold congregational prayers. We were told where the imam stands and how they perform the namaz. Such initiatives help foster peace and brotherhood," said Kedar, who is also chairman of the local peace committee. "Just as Muslims opened their mosque to facilitate our visit, other communities should open temples, gurudwaras, and churches to welcome Muslims."

Dr Pervez Mandviwala, who has organised such visits in Mira Road and attended the "Masjid Parichay" or visit to mosque programme at Park Site, said the best part of the exercise is the questions that non-Muslim visitors ask.

"There were many interesting questions from the Hindu visitors. One visitor asked whether Allah is another name for cosmic energy and why Muslims keep beards," said Mandviwala. "I replied that according to Muslim belief, God is a formless power who is self-governed and runs this world. Muslims sport beards as part of the Prophetic tradition," explained Mandviwala.

Poppat Satpute, a civic worker, is overwhelmed with the experience he had. "I had passed by this mosque innumerable times but had never seen the inside of it. It was an unforgettable experience since we knew how they perform different rituals in the namaz. We were also given a live demonstration of ablution, azaan, and namaz," said Satpute.

Imam Mufti Mohammed Sharfe Alam Qasmi, who leads prayers and delivers the Friday sermons here, said that the visit enabled non-Muslims to see what actually happens in a mosque. "At the time of the evening prayer, we made the group sit in a side room and see how we offered namaz. We also explained what is mehrab (the place in the mosque where the imam stands to lead prayers)," said the imam.

Yusuf Abrahni, president of the Islam Gymkhana, which is leading the ‘Prophet For All Campaign', said several mosques had held such visits by non-Muslims.

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