Oslo mosque invites anti-Islamists to coffee
Norwegian convert Yousef Assidiq has invited the anti-Islamist organization SIAN to come and drink coffee with congregation members at an Oslo mosque, tweeting "Dialogue, baby!" when the RSVPs began tumbling in. He tells The Local why it is time for a coffee break.
Assidiq sent out the invite to the organization Stop The Islamization of Norway (Stopp islamiseringen av Norge - SIAN), hoping they would accept and come for coffee on July 20th at the Galgeberg mosque in Oslo.
"I realized that we have to take their fear seriously,"Assidiq told The Local on Tuesday.
"They are genuinely scared that we have some kind of plan to take over and that our intention in society is to break it down and oppose the values of liberal Western democracy."
On Monday he tweeted that several SIAN members had already told him they were interested in attending the informal chat, but that he was still waiting for an official response from the organization's leader.
"I hope that meeting them face to face and showing that we take their concerns seriously and opening our mosques for them(...)will at least get us a little closer as humans," Assidiq said.
SIAN's leader, meanwhile, said he was hoping for more than a lecture in what Islam stands for.
"Our initial response is that SIAN is very grateful (for the invitation), because it means we get the chance to explain what we stand for," Arne Tumyr told NRK.
"If their intention is to give us a monologue about Islam, we'll see what happens."
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Assidiq sent out the invite to the organization Stop The Islamization of Norway (Stopp islamiseringen av Norge - SIAN), hoping they would accept and come for coffee on July 20th at the Galgeberg mosque in Oslo.
"I realized that we have to take their fear seriously,"Assidiq told The Local on Tuesday.
"They are genuinely scared that we have some kind of plan to take over and that our intention in society is to break it down and oppose the values of liberal Western democracy."
On Monday he tweeted that several SIAN members had already told him they were interested in attending the informal chat, but that he was still waiting for an official response from the organization's leader.
"I hope that meeting them face to face and showing that we take their concerns seriously and opening our mosques for them(...)will at least get us a little closer as humans," Assidiq said.
SIAN's leader, meanwhile, said he was hoping for more than a lecture in what Islam stands for.
"Our initial response is that SIAN is very grateful (for the invitation), because it means we get the chance to explain what we stand for," Arne Tumyr told NRK.
"If their intention is to give us a monologue about Islam, we'll see what happens."
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