a bunch of my pals ahve been passing around a very nice sermon by a pastor at some church service in Ohio. The lady spoke very eloquently about islam and hopefully it helped some ppl challenge their biases and incorrect info and assumptions. It also served as a very visual reminder that while the extremists were all going anti, that it was not something everyone went by.
I think its a wonderful thing and have suggested to some local groups/masajid here that they too should record their jummah and/or eid khutbas and make it available..some centers have websites, streeam the khutba if you like, for several reasons, non muslims can see them and understand people better, muslims who cant go to jummah..e.g. ladies at home with small kids can still hear the khutba..i mean after all it is supposed to be meaningful, uplifting, educational, etc etc. so lets make it available..plus it is a nice thing to be able to refer to, its basically mini lectures.
let me know what you think, and whether it is something you want to share as a concept with your local masjid as well.
secondly, I have asked the centers to have a visible button of do you want to visit..and provide info about well u can stop by anytime, or if you want to have someone meet you and be your guide, let us know with your contact info here and we can schedule it. i know we are always open to visitors but they dont know, and they dont know how .. do u call someone do u u just show up..so make it easy for people.
lastly I said do a video tour of the masjid and the prayers available as well.
what else do you think can be done using centers websites to share more and make it easy?
Re: recorded khutbas, virtual tours and easy visits
I think the following would be great to put up on the centres' websites (if they aren't already available):
1: A tour of the Masjid/Islamic Centre explaining what the different areas are for e.g. the wudu area, space for females, the prayer rooms, event rooms, classes etc.
2: Video tutorials on how to properly perform ablution and offer namaaz e.g. how to do sajdaa properly (for men & women).
3: Free literature in the form of ebooks, pdf files, video/audio lectures etc.
4: Audio podcasts or videos of recorded khutbaas.
5: Perhaps a blog/forum built into the main website where the local community can discuss the recent activities, give suggestions/feedback, or general gupshup.
Re: recorded khutbas, virtual tours and easy visits
Good suggestions X2.
On a similar note, Muslim community can have a central website that has links to all those Islamic centers. In the long run, those links can be categorized as regions so a non-muslin from Florida can benefit from it by getting in touch with his local Islamic center while another non Muslim can do the same in Chicago.