Archive post. Issued by SAMNET on 9 August 2024 for National Mosque Open Day 2024. Published here as part of SAMNET’s archive. For the current campaign, see the National Mosque Open Day pages.

SAMNET is calling on mosques across South Africa and Southern Africa to take part in National Mosque Open Day on the Heritage Day holiday, 24 September.

What Liverpool showed

The protests in the UK, and the public’s reaction to them, demonstrated how much it matters to engage local communities and to explain what a mosque is, why it is there, and the role it plays in the lives of everyone around it — not only Muslims.

The Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool is considered the first mosque in Britain. When protesters arrived, drawn by fake social media posts pushing Islamophobia and xenophobia, the mosque took a different approach and engaged them. It was also protected by local citizens — mostly non-Muslim — who stood with the Musalees in defence of the mosque and of their city.

That wider community did not come together by accident. It took years of effort to inform and to educate.

Be proactive

South African Muslims need to be proactive. Recent Islamophobic incidents here have shown that, for all our general inclusion, there is a real risk of growing hate and prejudice against Islam being promoted by extremists.

We need to take control of our own narrative. National Mosque Open Day is one valuable part of that effort.

Learning from others

The Abdullah Quilliam Mosque has been part of the UK’s Visit My Mosque programme for close to a decade, and its historical standing makes that participation invaluable. The professionalism of the messaging is plain — and worth remembering that the mosque itself was only restored after 2003.

NMOD in South Africa

SAMNET has promoted National Mosque Open Day in South Africa for over eight years. Alhamdulillah, it has grown from a handful of mosques to participation across Southern Africa.

Heritage Day, 24 September, was chosen to highlight the role and contribution of Muslims to South Africa’s heritage — from political exiles and slaves at the Cape, to indentured labourers and merchants in Natal and the Transvaal, to African Muslim communities, to the fight against apartheid and the building of a free country. It is also the day on which, logistically, all South Africans are able to attend and to help.

SAMNET offers guidance, coordination, support, material and media messaging to build a successful Open Day. It takes time, planning and patience. Each participating mosque is only ever expected to offer what is within its ability and resources — there is no prescribed formula.

Our NMOD 2030 vision

  • Every suburb, town and city in South and Southern Africa
  • opening at least one mosque to the public on Heritage Day
  • for at least two hours, 14h00 to 16h00
  • and recognised as part of the national Heritage Day celebrations.

Call to act

SAMNET is calling for Musaajid leaders and Imaams to join the NMOD project; volunteers to help coordinate and run it, and to build a long-term NMOD team; volunteers to take part at their local mosques; and for everyone to encourage their mosque and community to participate. Let’s just do it.

Resources

Shared by the South African Muslim Network (SAMNET) in the interest of engaging and educating our neighbours, and recognising the contribution of Islam to South African heritage.