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Mosques Open Their Doors To Tackle Prejudice

Mosques across Britain have opened their doors to visitors for the second national Visit My Mosque day, described by organisers as an attempt to reach out beyond "hostile headlines".

The Muslim Council of Britain says 80 or 90 of the UK's estimated 1,500 mosques took part, more than three times as many as last year.

Some mosques offered tea and refreshments, while others welcomed visitors with piles of leaflets.

The event follows a rise in anti-Muslim prejudice, with the number of Islamophobic incidents in London trebling after the Paris attacks in November last year.

At the Islamic Cultural Centre in London, the vicar of a neighbouring church welcomed the initiative.

Revd Anders Bergquist said: "There's a great deal of misunderstanding and certain amount of prejudice out in our culture about our Muslim friends.

"I think it's really good that they invite us in to see who they are and what they do."

At the Makkah Mosque in Leeds, visited by Prime Minister David Cameron three weeks ago as he called on Muslim women to learn English to help counter extremism, there were few visitors.

Those braving the cold wind in the city centre said they were not interested in visiting a mosque, with one shopper insisting she was more concerned about replacing her broken vacuum cleaner.

Imam Qari Asim shrugged off the low attendance and accepted that his worshippers will have to try harder to engage with non-Muslims.

"There is a fear on both sides and that should be of huge concern to anyone, an attack on any community is an attack on all of us," he said.

"We are all in it together and only together can we defeat extremism."