The Ahmadiyya Muslim community started out in the basement of a small house in Burnaby in the mid 1960s.
Now prayers are said in a new $8-million mosque in Delta, the largest in B.C.
But their message of “love for all and hatred for none” — and their willingness to open their doors to the public — has not changed.
On Sunday, the mosque was open for tours and a presentation on the prophet Muhammad by the women of the congregation.
But really, the mosque is open all the time to anyone who wishes to learn about Islam, says Umar Farooq Chaudhry, secretary of communication for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at.
“We get visitors all the time,” Chaudhry said during a Sunday tour of the men’s prayer room.
The Ahmadiyya community has been reaching out to the public for decades. They have given presentations on Islam in the past at the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University and the Vancouver Public Library.
On Oct. 29, the mosque at 9570 River Rd. will host an interfaith symposium with Jewish and Christian leaders.
Chaudhry noted the congregation of a local Lutheran Church is planning to attend Friday night prayers this month to learn more about Islam.
“We have more in common than differences,” Chaudhry said. Whether Christian, Islam or Judaism — they all teach non-violence, he said.
It’s just that people with political motives hijack religions for their own gain, he said.
On Sunday, Bruce Edmunds from the New Life Christian Fellowship in Surrey came for the tour along with three women from his church.
He’d never been to a mosque.
“We’re all about acceptance,” he said. “Their message is peace and acceptance. You can agree on that,” he said.
