1. Why has the show been organized as a competition?
To get people involved, we wanted the Muslim Ummah to help decide who would be
the Model Mosque; we wanted the show to be interactive and the only way to do
this was to format it as a competition. Also we wanted the Muslim youth to be
involved in this show; we figured that if we made a show that was entertaining
as well as educational then this would help get our youth more involved in
their local mosques. By organizing it as a competition we have made Model
Mosque more appealing and entertaining to our target audience Insha-Allah. As
regularly stated on the show “All mosques in this competition are already
winners”.
2. How does the competition work?
The competition will start with 16 mosques competing against each
other in the knockout rounds. The public will vote for the mosque
they want to progress to the next round. The 8 mosques with the
highest amount of votes will go through to the quarter final
stage.
The quarter final stage will consist of 8 mosques. A draw will be
made by our judges to determine the 4 match ups. The public will
again cast their vote. This will decide which mosques go through
The semi final stage will consist of the 4 remaining mosques. They
will all fight it out for a place in this years final, to be held at
GPU in April 2010.
3. How did you select the final 8 contenders?
Over 800 applications will be sent to the General Secretaries of the main
mosques in England, Scotland and Wales. This will then be followed up with
more detailed telephone interviews of Mosques that satisfied the criteria.
From these interviews we will then select the best 16 mosques that fit the
criteria.
4. My mosque appears to satisfy all the criteria, why was it not included?
Where there is more than one mosque in any given area that satisfies the criteria
we will selecte the one that best fits our criteria. For example in previous
series there have been several mosques in the Birmingham and Bradford areas that
satisfied our criteria, but we only allowed one mosque from each area to give the
competition a national feel and to allow a chance for mosques from areas that were
less densely populated by Muslims. Also all internationally funded and "super
mosques" are not included, as this is a competition based on rewarding the
local community’s achievements. Super mosques have huge budgets and are
therefore not on a level playing field to a local mosque in terms of what they can offer
the local community. We hope to launch a new competition in the near future that
will only apply to "super mosques".
5. What will the winning mosque receive?
The winning mosque will receive a one hour special documentary on
Islam Channel to show what a Model Mosque looks like; this will be
a knowledge management production with the aim of sharing best practice
and winning policies with other mosques in the UK.
The final will be held at GPU 2010 in front of more than 20,000 people.
6. Who will judge the final of Model Mosque?
The final at GPU will be judged by our panel of Judges. They will be prominent Muslim figures in the community.
7. I have a suggestion to improve the show, who can I talk to?
We appreciate any feedback or suggestions you have, this show was made to serve
the Muslim viewers so your thoughts on the show are important to us. Please
e-mail any suggestions to modelmosque@islamchannel.tv,
leaving your name and contact details, one of our researchers will then contact
you to discuss
8. I wish to be an audience member for Model Mosque, how do I apply?
Send an e-mail titled “audience” to
modelmosque@islamchannel.tv.
One of our researchers will then contact you to book you onto the show.