The head of our Employment Law Department Yunus Lunat was at the centre of a prestigious visit to his Batley area last week, in his role at the Mount Pleasant Islamic Trust. The Medina Mosque in Batley welcomed the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Ingrid Roscoe, and her Deputy Lord Lieutenant colleagues as part of National Inter Faith Week, and the unique event left a very favourable impression.
Over four hours were spent at the Mosque, including a tour of the Madressa Supplementary School, witnessing late evening prayer, a presentation and lecture, and a question and answer session followed by dinner.
Given that the Lord Lieutenant’s official title is ‘Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for the county of West Yorkshire’, this was received as a royal visit by the Mosque, and Her Majesty’s representative spoke of the educational benefit she gained from the visit, which was described as an “eye-opening experience”.
The Lord Lieutenant, whose father served in India during the Second World War, talked enthusiastically about the visit afterwards with travelling companion Roger Marshall, the Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. The Lord Lieutenant remarked that the visit “filled in so many blanks in our partial education and left us with great admiration for all that happens at the splendid Medina Mosque”. A personal letter to the Medina
Mosque following the special event also highlighted the exceptional warmth and kindness shown towards all that attended and the Lord Lieutenant openly stated she felt “humbled” by the evening’s events.
It was felt that the awareness and friendship evening was a huge success and the perfect contribution from the Mount Pleasant Islamic Trust to National Inter Faith Week, as an example of personally invited guests from different faiths cordially greeting, socialising, accepting and educating each other.
