SHAFAQNA- More than 1,000 mosques across Germany opened their doors to people of various faiths on Thursday to encourage dialogue and help overcome misunderstandings about Islam.
According to AA, Cologne Central Mosque, Germany’s largest mosque in the western city, was visited by several hundred visitors who had a chance to ask questions about Islam and traditions of Muslims.
DITIB, the Turkish-Muslim umbrella group which runs the mosque, offered guided tours for the visitors.
In Berlin’s prominent Sehitlik Mosque, imams responded to questions by parents, who visited the mosque together with their children, to learn about the Islamic faith and culture, Muslim values and traditions.
Muslims across the world usually open doors of their mosques to guests to enable them to have a glimpse of their faith and proper understanding of its teachings.
For example, Visit My Mosque Day is held annually in a number of countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway, and France.
In Canada, the first-ever Visit My Mosque Day took place in October 2017.
In October 2017, some 100,000 non-Muslims visited more than 900 mosques across Germany, aboutislam told.
Open Mosque Day, which takes place annually on the Day of German Unity, was organized by Germany’s Muslim Coordination Council (KRM), a platform bringing together the largest Muslim organizations in the country.
An estimated 100,000 visitors were expected to participate this year in the events in more than 1,000 mosques across the country.
Germany, a country of over 81 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France.
Among the country’s nearly 4.7 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin.
In recent years, the country has seen growing Islamophobia and hatred of migrants triggered by propaganda from far-right and populist parties.