Center for Islamic Studies CIS
The Centre for Islamic Studies is organizing a full-day workshop on Mosque Tours on Saturday, 12th April. The sessions will commence at 10.00 am and continue till 4.00 pm. The program will comprise of a lecture on Reaching out to those of Other Faiths by Dr.Ghazali Basri and Sharing of Experiences on Mosque Tours by Sister Normah Sulaiman and her team from Malaysia.
The workshop is meant to create awareness on the Awareness Through Mosque Tour (ATMT) program, a unique method of reaching out to those of other faiths through the medium of the mosque. ATMT is planned to commence in May this year at Wekanda Jumma Mosque, Slave Island. Other mosques where ATMT is planned to be implemented are Red Mosque (Sammankot Mosque) in Pettah and Masjidul Abrar in Beruwala, the country’s oldest standing mosque.
ATMT at Wekanda Mosque will commence with an Open Mosque Day on a weekly basis (Saturdays) in the mornings (10.00 am -12.00 noon) and evenings (4.00 pm-6.00 pm). At a later stage the mosque should be able to accommodate casual tourists once a pool of qualified tour guides are trained for the purpose, so that they could be present as and when needed. To reflect the traditional Malay culture of the area, batik sarongs and songko headgear for gents and baju kurung with selendang for ladies will be made available for visitors to wear before they enter the mosque. Free literature will also be provided, including A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam and Pocket Guide Book on Muhammad. The prospect of twinning Wekanda Mosque with a well known ATMT Mosque in Malaysia has also been discussed so that ideas and experiences could be shared between the two mosques.
