 Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Welcome to this very important series, if I do say so myself, about the various ways in which we can unite in our diversity as a Muslim community, as a Muslim ummah, as well as in the diversity of humanity to benefit and appreciate each other's strengths. In many of the previous episodes, we have been exploring diversity within the Muslim community and how to better bring people together and integrate people who may sometimes be marginalized or on the sidelines. However, in today's episode, we are going to be looking at ways we can maximize interactions in a special circumstance. And that circumstance is when you have visitors to the mosque. Yes, indeed, you have visitors to the mosque. What do you do? What are they thinking? What are they there for? Do we want visitors at the mosque? No, really. Do we really want visitors at the mosque? The answer to this question is really going to vary a lot from person to person and place to place. And I can confidently say the answer is both yes and no. I know some very lovely, welcoming, generous communities which really represent the prophetic teachings and the ethics of Ahl-e-Bayt, a.k.a. in their hospitality, their generosity, the kindness. They really go out of their way to make visitors to the mosque feel welcome. And then there's the other places, which we're not going to talk about right now. But what can we do to try to make sure visitors to the mosque have a positive experience? And in particular, I'm not talking about new Muslims. I just want to make this clear. Don't look at a white person or a black person or any other person who's different and assume they're a visitor to the mosque. You know, I'm sorry to say, but it gets a little bit insulting when people ask you if you're there to convert to Islam or if you're there because you're a news reporter or whatnot because they assume you're not a Muslim because you look a bit different. Okay, and soap box. So I'm not talking about people who are actually within the Muslim community. I'm talking about people who are genuinely simply visiting the mosque because they want to be there for some reason. And maybe they're just curious. I mean, sometimes I pass by temples and so forth and I'm curious. I don't usually go in because I feel a bit shy, but I'm curious about what goes on. They might be there for a school project, a university project. Maybe they just simply want to learn more about Muslims for whatever reason they have. They are at the mosque, but not necessarily thinking of converting. And these are visitors to the mosque who may not necessarily know a lot about Islam. They may want to know the basics of Islam. So how do we facilitate their experience? One general rule of thumb to keep in mind is that the mosque is among the houses of Allah. It is a house of worship. And so just as we would welcome people into our houses and treat them within our houses, it is also always a good rule of thumb to welcome visitors to the mosque in the same way. So what do we do when people come over to our houses? We might invite them to sit in a certain place because they might not know where we want them to sit. Similarly, someone who comes to the mosque and is the first time might be looking around with that sort of wide-eyed, confused look, not knowing where to go here or there. So you welcome them in. You give them some direction, some invitation. We try our best to make people feel comfortable when they visit our houses. We try to talk about subjects that are of interest to them. We don't ask them a lot of intrusive and nosy questions. Well, we all know people who ask intrusive and nosy questions, but we don't do that because we want people to be comfortable. But we ask them polite questions to show a polite interest in them. But we know there's a certain limit beyond which we don't necessarily interrogate. Many times when people come to our houses, we offer them food and drink. This is, after all, basic hospitality. And alhamdulillah, masha'Allah, our community is known for its hospitality. A little food and drink at the mosque doesn't hurt if it happens to be available for the visitor, especially if there's tea. After all, tea is very important in some of our circles. And these are all things that can help make people feel appreciated and valued. I saw an article recently about Open Mosque Day in the UK. And it was interesting how this news writer was writing about having biscuits and tea at the mosque as if this is something really very special. I mean, biscuits and tea are very widely known and eaten in the UK. And yet having them at the mosque was somehow significant. So that's also a way that you can make people feel comfortable. Now, sometimes there are expectations for people at the mosque or the Islamic Center or the house of worship of Muslims, whether it's actually consecrated sharia-wise as a mosque or it's just a building that people use for worship. You might have expectations about dress code, for example, removing shoes, where to sit. Okay, things not to do when you want people to take off their shoes. I'm embarrassed to say that this happened to me once because I genuinely didn't know that this outer area of the mosque people removed their shoes because it was a bit messy. So I figured you took off your shoes afterwards. Someone came up to me, looked at me, and said, she's English and she doesn't know. That is not how you ask visitors to the mosque, which I was not, by the way. I was a person coming to the menjulis. That's not how you ask visitors to the mosque to remove their shoes or to put on a headscarf or maybe a coat or something which is appropriate. The best way to make requests of visitors is simply to do it in a matter of fact non-judgmental procedural sort of way. So you don't get tense, you don't get uptight, you don't get into the haram sister or haram brother. You assume people have a good intention and to be honest, 99% of the time when people visit the mosque they're going to be very accommodating. They're going to want to do whatever is comfortable for everyone else. They're not going to have a problem with things like wearing a headscarf temporarily or wearing a long sleeve coat unless maybe it's very, very hot or something. But in general, they will want to follow the rules of the building out of respect if they're going there voluntarily. So the easiest thing to do is just to explain people that this, this, this is the expectation inside the mosque. And for example, if there's a headscarf expectation for ladies simply to have a nice pretty headscarf to lend for their use. In fact, some people will find it fun to try out these things. And by communicating our requests nicely, politely and in a very calm tone of voice, it makes it a very natural thing. You don't embarrass the person. You don't put off the person. And it makes the whole experience very smooth. After all, you know, there's a fine line. People don't like to be told what to do in terms of commanding. But we do like it when people explain expectations because it helps us to fit in and not stand out. So another thing you would do if someone were visiting your home and it's also good when they are visiting the mosque is to engage in polite conversation. So you don't leave them by themselves just to sit there morosely in a corner especially if the services are in a language they don't understand. But at the same time, you don't want to be overbearing and affix yourself to someone as if you have taped yourself to them or glued yourself to them because that can get a little bit awkward. And also for a visitor to the mosque, something they will appreciate is meeting a variety of people in the community because every person is going to express their experience as a Muslim, the perception of Islam, what Islam means to them differently. So if they meet one person, they're going to get one view and one experience. If they meet 10 people or 20 people, they're going to come out with a much richer view. So most likely they will enjoy meeting a variety of people. So do not feel hesitant to introduce a visitor to the mosque to a variety of people in order to make them more comfortable there and to maximize their visit. Now, of course, religion can be a sensitive subject of topic of discussion. Now, one would presume that if someone who is not a Muslim is visiting a mosque, quite frankly, even if they are a Muslim and visiting the mosque, one would assume that there is some innate interest in religion and they may be indeed interested in discussing religion. So it's important to find, again, that balance. Generally, it doesn't come over well when people feel like we're trying to convert them. You know, the auntie or the uncle at the mosque who comes up with the Ahmed Deirat books and says, so this is why Christianity is wrong and Jesus wasn't crucified on the cross and the Bible is wrong and Islam is right. That doesn't always go over well. One can be a bit more subtle than that. However, if someone is interested in discussing inter-religious polemics, by all means do so in a respectful and polite manner. But again, as an interfaith discussions in general, the best thing you can do is simply present the message. This is what we believe with respect to the Holy Quran. We believe it's an unaltered scripture. We believe it's the word of God. We believe it's a message for all human beings. Some people may genuinely not know that Islam, as Muslims we believe Islam is for all peoples. They may associate it with certain cultures or languages, ethnic backgrounds and so forth. They may not know that Islam is a world religion practiced in virtually every country. So there are many things we can share about Islam. According to the interests of the visitors, that will help them again to gain a richer experience. Now, you may have visitors to the mosque at any time. It's like at your house. You never know when people will drop by. Sometimes they've been dropped by at one in the morning. Right? You never know. But it is nice also to schedule certain times to have visitors at the mosque, these open house days. Because it does make people a bit more comfortable to come and visit. As I was saying, sometimes I am curious about what people do in their churches or their houses of worship. But I don't usually go in just because I do feel a little bit intimidated, you know, me and my head scarf and so forth. But if someone is having an open day where they have maybe some presentations prepared to explain the basics of their faith or guides and so forth, then it is a lot less intimidating. So of course, while we should be ready to have visitors to the mosque at any time, then the less having programs like this can also do a lot to help make people feel comfortable within the mosque. And inshallah, all of you will have a good experience interacting with the people you meet in the mosque. I can think of several repeat visitors to the mosque actually who really after a while they start to feel like part of the community even though they're not Muslims just because they do have an interest in Islam and I would say again and 99% of the people who come to visit the mosque are polite and respectful and always remember that the number one example is the holy prophet. Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi as well as the imams and they brought so many people to Islam just through their kindness and their generosity in dealing with all people. The prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi in particular he used to give so many gifts to people who were not Muslim and this is not bribery Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi but he was just very generous with people that this would soften their hearts towards him or the imams also they would give so much to people whether they were in need or even to their enemies that these people would also be attracted by that. For example, Imam al-Qadim alayhi wa sallallahu alayhi it said that there was someone now the widow who used to be very insulting to him call him names, abusive such that some of his followers even you know they wanted to beat up on him maybe even God forbid slay him and they almost said no this is not how we're going to deal with him. So what transpired is the imam ended up giving this man a great sum of money and the man was shocked Ibn Rasulullah I've been calling you this and that and doing this and that so you're giving me money but this of course is the al-Qadim alayhi wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallallahu and after that he became a supporter of the imam it's like we have in English we have a proverb the proverb in English is you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar I apologize for the use of bugs and the metaphor but nonetheless it does work and you know you get out your jar of honey that's where the flies come and visit they don't go usually and visit the bottle of vinegar and it's the same thing with people if you are harsh with people you mean to people then generally this will repel them but if we are kind and generous then insha'Allah this will attract people both to ourselves and also insha'Allah to the teachings of the holy prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallallahu and of course this is a Quranic principle as well wassalamu alaykum ar-Rahmatullahi wa barakatuh