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Members of the Windsor Mosque helped to explain the key principles of their religion and address misconceptions at an open house on Sunday.
“A lot of people outside of Islam have preconceived notions of Muslims,” said Hassan Hajje, a volunteer with the mosque. “’Muslims do this, Muslims do that. They worship this, they worship that.’
“The purpose of this is to address conceptions, to teach what Islam actually teaches about and to spread the message that we believe in.”
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Islam has a fair number of similarities to other religions, starting with the belief in one God, he said.
Reactions are usually positive, Hajje said. “A lot of people coming are confused. An open house like this helps them put things into perspective.”
Windsor Mosque is one of about half a dozen mosques across the city. The local Islamic community has grown significantly, comprising about 7.3 per cent of the city’s population, according to a 2021 census, up from 4.2 per cent a decade earlier.
The Islamic world is large with people coming from many different countries and ethnicities, Hajje said.
There are about two billion Muslims in the world, with about 90 per cent living in Asia and Africa.
During prayers on Sunday, volunteers present came here from Bosnia, Somalia, Lebanon, Syria and Afghanistan.
The Windsor mosque is actually always open and to all members of the community, regardless of religion, said Hajje. Prayers are broadcast live on social media.
Current events in the Middle East weigh heavily on the local Muslim community, said Hajje.
Israel is involved in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, following the Oct. 7, 2023, raid into Israel by the militant group Hamas, in which more than 1,200 men, women and children were killed and another 250 taken hostage. Some hostages have been returned, many have been killed and more than 100 are still missing.
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“A lot of members of the community have family members that are back home,” said Hajje. “They have family members that have been killed. Last night, the imam announced that one of the members of the community just had his sister and some of the family members killed.”
Those who come to the mosque are all equal during prayers, he said. “So when we line up for prayer, it doesn’t matter if somebody is a brain surgeon, if somebody is a janitor, if somebody is a bus driver.”
The mosque itself, on Northwood Street in Windsor, is larger than one might think viewing it from outside. Aside from the cavernous prayer hall, there is a gymnasium, food facilities, a youth room, an ablution room — where Muslims wash before prayers — and a study room to learn the Qur’an, as well as other facilities.
Wesan Hussain’s family moved to Windsor because there are leaders and teachers of Islam in this community, which also has good Islamic schools, he said.
“I came here because my family had heard amazing things (about the Muslim community) and because we had some family friends who lived here.”
Hussain, who helps to teach the Qur’an, has memorized the entire book. He said there are several hundred people in the community who have also memorized Islam’s holy book.
Some people can leave school to study the Qur’an and pick up their education again when they return, he said.
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