{"id":110251,"date":"2025-02-21T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=110251"},"modified":"2025-02-19T22:56:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T11:56:27","slug":"open-day-promotes-respect-and-understanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/open-day-promotes-respect-and-understanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Open day promotes respect and understanding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT&#8217;S Islamic community opened the doors of its mosque for Victorian Open Mosque Day last Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Islam is the second-fastest growing religion in Australia, and it is estimated that more than 4 per cent of the Victorian population is Muslim.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative aims to open the community&#8217;s hearts and minds and promote mutual understanding.<\/p>\n<p>The day included presentations about the significance of women in Islam, salah or the ritual prayer of Muslims, and Ramadan, which is a month of fasting, prayer and reflection.<\/p>\n<p>Event organiser Aasiya Furniturewala, who spoke about women in Islam, said it was important to clarify common misconceptions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People when they see you wearing a hijab \u2026 think that you might not be educated,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/openday2_02380-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The event included free children&#8217;s activities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can guarantee if you walk around here everyone has a PhD or Masters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The other [misconception] is that women are backward in Muslim culture, and they don&#8217;t have enough rights, but it&#8217;s so beautiful in Islam culture that it gave women a right 1400 years ago to own property, to study, to get knowledge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Islamic Society of Ballarat has occupied the Canadian-based site since its opening in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>The celebrations also included food, children&#8217;s activities and question-asking opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Furniturewala&#8217;s work colleague Dionne Heagney attended the open day and said it was important to learn about diverse cultures.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/openday3_03149-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Azra Alavi and her daughter Zahra with hand-stitched clothing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t get to experience many cultural things and it&#8217;s to be able to see and experience what Aasiya brings to the community,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To be able to be all inclusive at work and for all of the community is important, for me to have more of an understanding helps me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms Furniturewala thanked the community for its support and open mindedness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s so refreshing because I went around asking people and they are so open to be here,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s so overwhelming.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT&#8217;S Islamic community opened the doors of its mosque for Victorian Open Mosque Day last Saturday. Islam is the second-fastest growing religion in Australia, and it is estimated that more than 4 per cent of the Victorian population is Muslim. The initiative aims to open the community&#8217;s hearts and minds and promote mutual understanding. The [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/open-day-promotes-respect-and-understanding\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":110257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-110251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Open day promotes respect and understanding - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ballarat\u2019s Islamic community hosted an Open Mosque Day, promoting respect and understanding with presentations, food, and cultural activities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/open-day-promotes-respect-and-understanding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Open day promotes respect and understanding - 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