CIOM Open House Reaches to Open Hearts

Bloomfield–May 15–The CIOM reached out to non-Muslims across Southeast Michigan with open houses in more than 10 mosques.

At Bloomfield, approximately 100 to 150 non-Muslim guests came to visit, according to Dr. Fadi Demashkieh.  “The morning was better,” he explained, because there had been a movie in the morning and a presentation and question and answer session which featured the predictable questions usually asked by non-Muslims, jihad, and women in Islam.

“Their impression was very positive,” he explained.

Edie Broida, of WISDOM, an interfaith women’s group, said that she was “overwhelmed with the beauty and excitement here today–I learned so much.”

Rasha Massarani, who volunteered at the event on behalf of the Muslim Unity Center, compared the event to previous years, saying that “it wasn’t bad this year… [the visitors] were not comfortable when they came but they were comfortable when they left–that is our main goal.”

The CIOM’s Chairman Ghalib Begg expressed a lot of satisfaction with the event, especially because of the recognition by Governor Granholm of CIOM’s efforts to reach out to non-Muslims through the event. 

“12 mosques are participating,” he said.

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