On Saturday 26th September a group of 16 of us from Horsforth Churches Together gathered to set off to Harehills for a visit to Shahjalal mosque (or Masjid, as they call them).
Most of us travelled together in the Horsforth Community Minibus, ably driven by Phil Maud of The Grove, which gave us chance for a natter along the way.
When we arrived, the ladies donned their headscarves and we were warmly welcomed by the Imams, members of the Mosque committee and Cllr Abdul Hannan who had been the main person arranging the visit on our behalf.
We took off our shoes, placing them on the shelves, and proceeded to one of the halls where we heard a reading of the Qu’ran in a melodic voice, and given a translation, as well as given a talk about the Five Pillars of Islam and also about the history of the mosque and how it had grown from one house, to two houses and then pulled down to build the current bigger building.
Then we were treated to pastries and drinks and had a great time mingling and chatting with the men from the mosque – one gentleman turned out to be a former colleague of one of our party!
This was followed by a tour of the mosque and explanation of the way they do their cleansing, prayer times and services. This mosque is mainly attended by those with a Bangladeshi heritage who live in this area, so some services are in Bangladeshi, others are in English.
At the end we had some time to ask questions, which which was a great way of gaining more understanding of their traditions and beliefs.
Here’s what some of the attendees had to say about the visit:
‘Thanks for organising this lovely visit. Right from the start the gentlemen of the mosque made us feel welcomed. They took time to carefully explain aspects of their religion and answered our varied questions with patience. Their refreshments were very welcome and the tour to various parts of the mosque was informative. Then to end it all we were treated to a thoughtful gift as we were leaving.’
‘A big thank you for organising yesterday’s trip and everyone else involved. The visit was superb and very informative. We were very warmly welcomed and nothing was too much trouble for them, I just wish we had even more time to ask questions!’
All of this arose from our Interfaith Lent Talk earlier this year where Cllr Abdul Hannan and Rev Heston Groenewald shared about their mutual understanding, friendship and ways they work together in the community. So we were very grateful to Cllr Abdul Hannan and the members of the Mosque committee who obviously put a lot of care and thought into preparing this ‘open day’ for us; we all found it very interesting and feel we have gained a much better understanding of Islam, mosques and Bangladeshi culture and traditions.
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