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”.

The competition consists of 8 mosques competing against each other. In the 1^st round (quarter finals) the mosque will play each other in 4 separate matches. The presenter will ask the representatives of the mosque 5 set questions. The audience will vote for the mosque they think is the best. The winner will go through to round 2. The mosques will be reduced from 8 to 4. In the 2^nd round (semi finals) the winners will again play each other, this time they will be at the mercy of audience questions about their mosques. The audience will again vote for their winner. The mosques will be reduced from 4 to 2. The 2 winners will then go head to head in front of our panel of judges at the GPU in November 2007. (see also About the Show)

We sent out 1000 questionnaires to the General Secretaries of the main mosques in England, Scotland and Wales. We then followed this up with more detailed telephone interviews of Mosques that satisfied the criteria. From these interviews we then selected the final 8 mosques. (For more info please go to Model Mosque Criteria and Background)

Where there was more than 1 mosque in any given area that satisfied the criteria we selected the one that best fit our criteria. For example there were several mosques in the Birmingham and Bradford areas that satisfied our criteria, but we only allowed 1 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” were 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”. (see also Background)

The winning mosque will receive a 1 hour special 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.
In addition the winning mosque will receive a £35 000 consultancy project from our strategic partners Emica Consulting (www.emica.co.uk) This prize consists of training and funding proposals which will add major value to the winning mosque and help it develop several long-term projects to further increase its contribution to the local Muslim community it serves. This prize will benefit Insha-Allah the whole of that area’s community, Muslim and non-Muslim and take the mosque onto the next level in terms of its long-term development and services.

To vote on Model Mosque you simply text the word “vote” and the name of the mosque you want to vote for. Send this to 60060. Please check our current status section of the website to see which mosques are still eligible for you to vote for.

The voting system is organized and powered by our strategic partner’s myadhan.com (www.myadhan.com) They have secure computer systems in place which will allow hourly reports of the voting and ensure integrity in terms of security and manipulation of the voting system. We partnered with myadhan.com for both their expertise in this field and also to ensure that an independent 3^rd party would be able to verify and count the votes.

The final at GPU will be judged by a cross selection of 10 panel members. They are all prominent Muslim scholars and umbrella bodies that between them can represent the entire British Muslim population.

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