August 1, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 21,1423

LONDON, July 31: British Queen Elizabeth here on Wednesday visited a mosque for the first time as a gesture of goodwill to the Muslim community of Great Britain.

The visit by the Queen comes only a week after police stormed a mosque in Midlands to forcefully remove an Afghan couple, whose asylum bid had been refused.

The Queen took off her shoes to enter the mosque and spent some time in the prayer hall.

“We are British Muslims and she is our Queen,” said Jawaid Ishaq, the executive member at the Scunthorpe Islamic Centre.

“Her visit is not only a tribute to the 5,000 Muslims living in the Scunthorpe area, but also to the 3.5 million Muslims living throughout the UK,” he said.

The Queen was presented with a copy of Holy Quran — with translations in English.