Saturday, 28 October saw the Lebanese Muslim Association in collaboration with participating masjids around Australia conduct the 10th National Mosque Open Day (NMOD).
The LMA’s famous Lakemba Mosque in southwestern Sydney was the first masjid in Australia to hold a mosque open day of any description back in 2008 before the Association expanded the concept into a national initiative.
This year, in addition to Lakemba and the LMA’s other mosques at Cabramatta and Young, other participating masjids included Parramatta, Regents Park and Guildford Rahma Mosque (all in Sydney), Cranbourne in Victoria, Slack’s Creek in Queensland, Hobart in Tasmania and Palmerston in the Northern Territory.
Overcast skies and the odd sprinkle of rain didn’t deter several hundred visitors from visiting Lakemba Mosque, including many individuals from other faiths.
In addition to the usual rides and giveaways for the kids, mosque tours and Question and Answer sessions, new features of Lakemba Mosque’s NMOD this year included OnePath’s breathtaking virtual reality (VR) tour of Makkah, as well as a display of Islamic artifacts, manuscripts and other historical relics courtesy of Khaled Sabsabi and Ivan and Amy from Powerhouse Museum at Parramatta.
Funeral director Ahmad Hraichie was also on hand to give a guided tour of the LMA Funeral Services facility.
Hejaz Finance was one of NMOD’s valuable sponsors. Business Development Manager Wealth, Mehdi Bokhari, was pictured here outside Lakemba Mosque during the big event.
LMA Religious Affairs Administrator Salim Allouche said, “it was a very successful day and as far as Lakemba Mosque is concerned, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our generous sponsors Hejaz Finance, The Tax Factor, GPS Real Estate, Kheir Accountants, Human Appeal, Kheir Lawyers and El-Khair Florist.”
“It was fantastic working alongside our partner in this initiative, Project Qur’an and my sincere thanks to Aladdin Elmir and the rest of the team, as in addition to their generous donations of Qur’an gift packs and other items to all participating mosques, they were also a big help to the LMA team on the ground at Lakemba.”
“We also appreciate the support of our media partners, The Bankstown Torch and AMUST and last but by no means least, a vote of thanks also goes to our hardworking team of volunteers on the day comprising LMA staff and a number of other brothers and sisters who gave up a valuable part of their weekend to assist us.”
National Mosque Open Day has several objectives including educating non-Muslims about Islam, the world’s fastest growing religion.
We are delighted to report that one brother and one sister accepted Islam during NMOD at Lakemba, capping off a truly wonderful day.
One final word of acknowledgement concerns well known community figure Osman Karolia, who did a superb job as MC and was the consummate professional as always.
OBA Cabramatta Mosque president Roy Halabi and resident imam Sheikh Mohamad Abdelzaher pictured outside the masjid with members of the local fire brigade during NMOD.
Recent Comments