“Best Ever” Mosque Open Day just around the corner

Saturday 28 October will see Australia’s Muslim community celebrate the tenth National Mosque Open Day (NMOD), an initiative of the Sydney-based Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA).

On NMOD, participating mosques from around Australia open their doors to members of the public, regardless of their religious beliefs.

The aim of NMOD is to foster interfaith understanding and cultural exchange by welcoming people of all backgrounds to learn more about Islam – its beliefs and its culture.

The mission of the LMA and all participating mosques for NMOD is:

To enhance understanding of Islam, empower Australian Muslims and build a better future for the Australian Muslim community.
To facilitate a greater understanding of Islam and Muslims in Australia by opening up the mosque to the wider Australian public.
To promote community inclusion at grassroots level nationally.
To counteract various forms of prejudice, most prominently Islamophobia, whilst nurturing mutual respect and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The Q & A panel at Lakemba Mosque last year on NMOD.

This year’s NMOD promises to be by far the most successful held to date, with close to 200 masjids from throughout Australia being issued invitations to participate.

“In 2022, mosques from seven of Australia’s eight states and territories were involved in NMOD but this year we have invited more masjids than ever before,” the LMA’s religious administrator Salim Allouche told AMUST.

“Almost 200 Invitations have been sent out to mosques in all areas – from the major masjids in the capital cities to smaller venues in regional areas throughout Australia.”

“2023 sees us celebrate NMOD number 10; the event was initiated by the LMA in 2014, five years after the Association held Australia’s first ever Mosque Open Day at Lakemba.”

Of course, the Imam Ali Bin Abi Taleb mosque at Lakemba in southwestern Sydney is Australia’s most recognised and most iconic masjid and is one of three mosques owned by the LMA – Cabramatta (also south west Sydney) and Young (NSW south west slopes) being the others.

The Fire and Rescue truck was a big hit with the kids at last year’s NMOD at Lakemba.

“The LMA has big plans for each of our three masjids for NMOD but we have offered our support to all other participating mosques; we’ll be sending them Qur’ans and a variety of information leaflets for their visitors, assisting with digital marketing and helping them with their promotional artwork,” Salim concluded.

Owing to AMUST’s publishing deadline for the monthly print edition, we are unable to publish a full list of participating mosques at the time of writing but an updated list of participating mosques and other NMOD updates is available if you click on the following link: www.lma.org.au/nmod2023

And with invitations issued to masjids throughout Australia, hopefully a mosque in your area will be involved….so mark down Saturday 28 October in your diary as a date not to be missed!

AMUST is proud to be the media partner of National Mosque Open Day and another major, upcoming initiative of the Lebanese Muslim Association, the 2023 LMA Career Expo.

“We are delighted to come on board as media partner for NMOD for the first time in 2023 and again for the Career Expo, for which we partnered with the LMA last year,” AMUST Editor-in-Chief Zia Ahmad said.

“The two organisations have built up a very strong working relationship over the past 12 months or so and AMUST looks forward to being actively involved in publicising these two iconic LMA initiatives.”