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Politics & social justice
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“Don’t look at ISIS, visit a mosque and see it yourself,” say Muslims in Cardiff.

On the eve of World Day of Social Justice, are Muslims being marginalised worldwide after Trump’s ban on residents from seven Islamic countries?

The VisitMyMosque Day was very well rounded off on February the 5th for wider community to visit their local mosque. On the open day, three mosques and more than 300 people in Cardiff participated in this awareness event.

Tanvier Ahmed, 42 years old, a volunteer at the Dar-ul-Isra Mosque in Cardiff.

“We had over 100 non-Muslim guests attend the event. It was so successful that we are trying to do the same event in different cities in Wales.” Said Tanvier Ahmed, a volunteer at the Dar-ul-Isra Mosque in Cardiff.

 

Prior to this, the new president of the US, Donald Trump, issued a ban on the residents from 7 Muslim countries entering US, which triggered a huge backlash worldwide.

This incident culminated in the UK due to the coming state visit of Trump. Thousands of Cardiff citizens rallied on the streets on January the 30th and protested against Trump conducting a state visit to the UK.
“We are seeing many non-Muslims protesting in Cardiff to stand in solidarity with Muslims. We can try and do as much as we can raise awareness of the situation. And do more work to show the real beauty of our religion.”

Over the past few years, the earth-shattering turmoil in Syria has dominated headlines in countless newspapers and social media platforms. ISIS, which also sets itself as Muslim, changed people’s perceptions of Muslims in Cardiff.

“Because of the negative stories constantly circulating on the media, people have reinforced their stereotypes about Muslims.”

Lectures demonstrating what Muslim really is.

In order to increase awareness about Islam and the Muslim community, a number of events have been organized inviting non-Muslims to Mosques around Cardiff.“We have to do even more to show people who we are. This is our belief. Don’t look at ISIS. Don’t look at the news. Come to the mosque and find it out yourself.”

Apart from organizing events, volunteers at mosques do other types of outreach work to present Muslim community as well.

“We go out to church groups and schools. We do a lot work reaching out to the community. We have been doing this for a long time, we will carry on doing this.”

Among the visitors, there were a considerable number of non-Muslim visitors who flocked to the mosque to show their support of Muslim communities, which perfectly showcases social justice.

A senior Muslim talking to a British visitor.

Tanvier recalled the Opening Day, “they said, ʻ we are here to show we are standing in solidarity with you. We want to show you our support on behalf of the majority of people in the UK, in Cardiff.’ They are fully supportive of the Muslim community.”