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What happens when you combine a mosque and the general public? Glorious food, festivities, and friendship are what happen. Mosques across Georgia opened their doors for the second annual Visit a Mosque Day - and it was a hit!

Visit a Mosque Day is an initiative started in response to growing Islamophobia. It creates a platform for growth and understanding between the general public and the Muslim community.

So what exactly is Visit a Mosque Day? As summed up: On March 11th, 24 Mosques opened their doors to the public - from the surrounding Atlanta area to savannah and Macon. (See full list of participating mosques here.

Guests were welcomed by mosque community members. Mingling and friendships were the natural result.

Some mosques offered presentations and Q&A session for people to freely ask any and all questions they had about Islam and Muslims.

There was food - lots and lots of delicious varieties of food that showed off the diversity of Muslims within Islam.

A tour of the Mosques led visitors through praying areas, libraries, and various entities.

Mosques offered activities including: trivia games, a ‘no questions off the table’ session, temporary henna tattoos, try on a hijab, have your name written in Arabic calligraphy, learn Arabic in minutes, and more!

Nearly 1,500 people across Georgia participated, making this event much larger than projected.

It gained much attention from the community and media, as shown here, here, here, here, here,here, and here!

The best thing to result from it all? The amazing outpouring of friendship, community and understanding took the cake (or baklava)!

“Thank you so much for a wonderful event! I enjoyed meeting everyone… Thank you for the little booths, the take-home items, the Koran, and the hijab. I look forward to meeting with some of you again!”

“What a wonderful and informative event. Thank you again so much for hosting this!”

“This was a very important event and I know that it makes me hungry to learn more, understand more and be part of bridge building.”

“Great info! Very enlightening and timely with the current political climate.”

“Thank you for creating an opportunity for us to observe, ask questions and learn! This was very informative!”

Visit a Mosque Day brought together people of different religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds to share conversation, ideas and friendship. Through this event, bridges were built and steps toward inclusivity were made.

Thank you to all who participated in making #VisitAMosqueATL Day such a success! We are looking forward to a great event next year.

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