Visitors Flock to Mosques in Germany
October 3, 2005More than 100,000 visitors are reported to have visited a total of 2,200 mosques Monday on the occasion of "Open House" day for mosques throughout Germany. Organized by the Central Council of Muslims (ZMD) since 1997, the aim of the event is to allow visitors, largely Germans, to get a glimpse of Muslim community life in the country and get first-hand information about Islam. Several mosques organized tours, informal discussions and lecture series towards that purpose. Mounir Azzaoui, the coordinator of the event, said that by organizing the event, Muslims in Germany had taken an important step towards improving trust between Muslims and non-Muslims. Azzaoui added that this year the ZMD had deliberately selected German unification day to organize the event in order to express Muslim solidarity with German society.