Hundreds of visitors showed up at the Open Mosque Day at ICN

Hundreds of visitors from several faiths showed up on the Open Mosque Day at The Islamic Center of Naperville (ICN) during Unseasonable cold, freezing weather. The Mosque Open House was held on Sunday, April 15th, 2018 from 11 am to 5 pm at the Islamic Center of Naperville (ICN) located at 2844 Ogden Ave, Naperville, IL 60540
“Visitors of all faiths were welcomed with smiles and open hearts today. We were trying to build bridges between all the faith and communities. It is very important now days. We are hoping when all guests go home, they will have a better understanding and concepts of Islam” Yusuf Siddiqui, The Chair of the Outreach Committee at ICN.
The ceremony was followed by a welcome address by Mr. Shoaib Khadri (President), Islamic Center of Naperville.
Khadri, said “This is our sixth Open Mosque Day In this Islamic Center. The main purpose of the Open Mosque Day is to introduce ourselves and our Muslim community, our religion, our culture to other community from different faiths and backgrounds. Our door is open for everyone during the whole year, but today is a wonderful special day.”

The Senior community member Ashfaq Hussain Syed said, “Our Open House to Promote Message of Harmony, Peace aims to promote better community relations and reduce misconceptions about Muslims, Build Bridges between all the religion and community”.

Shaikh Rizwan Ali, an Imam & religious Scholar at Islamic Center of Naperville, said our ICN Mosque and Interfaith team hold the open house to provide answers to anyone with concerns or questions and removed Negatives Images about Muslims community, Islam & Prophet Muhammad.
According to the organizer Khan said, “The aims of the event is to open the doors of our Islamic center to our neighbors, families, friends and colleagues of different faiths give them an opportunity to visit our mosque”.

All the visitors and guest was encouraged to come by and ask any questions if they have about Islam. Several volunteers answer all the Questions. During the event, there were tours of the mosque and several presentations about Islam and Mosque.
Visitors were asked to remove their shoes and taking a seat only inside the mosque prayer room during the time of tour of the mosque. During open mosque Visitors had great an opportunity to meet the Imam (Religious Scholar) and discuss any topics with him, observe afternoon congregational prayer, get a tour of the mosque. The several women got henna on their hands and tried on a hijab, there were a few booths where visitors get own name written in Arabic calligraphy. A special segment & feature was this year was e Feedback Wall Several guests write down comments. According to the ICN visitor desk nearly 800 visitors were registered.

Mayor Steve Chirico of Naperville was the Chief guest of the event During an interview he Said “I feel ICN Mosque like my home. ICN are going Great job to Build our Community stronger and stronger”. Police chief, Elected officials, Judges, Councilman, Alderman, Community Leaders, Air India Managers also join the event.
Short presentation tour of the mosques was conducted by several members of ICN. They gave several tours in the groups of visitors in the building and explained about Mosque and the prayer time. During the presentation, the floor was opened to the guest audience for a panel where questions concerning Islam, its practices and Zohar prayer were observed. Many types of food were served at the event. Most of the food was Middle Eastern, Arabic, Indian, Pakistani and American

The program was very well organized, prestigious and enjoyed by the attendees and will be remembered. More than 80 volunteers were behind the successes, according to Ashfaq Syed.
Islamic Center of Naperville was established over 25 years ago with a few families and today there are over several thousand families with professionals in many fields. Naperville community, mostly people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Africans and Arabs. The Open Day Mosque was an informative day and the guests departed with offering huge thanks to the ICN for hosting the wonderful event in Naperville.