Hawzah News Agency (London - UK) -  The St Thomas's Road mosque is hosting its second "autism hour" event from 10.30am to midday on Sunday.

The shindig is hosted in partnership with the National Autistic Society and will include a guided tour of the mosque, a documentary on understanding special needs from a religious perspective and a designated quiet space.

Mosque chairman Mohammed Kozbar said: "Unfortunately, many places of worship do not have children with autism attend because it's not easy to calm them. Not that they don't want them to come but maybe because they don't have the facilities.

"Some are runners, some scream - you have to provide a special quiet room or area. We are trying to make other places of worship aware of these things. Islam and other religions encourage us to show kindness to [autistic kids] and their families and they have the right to come and enjoy themselves like everybody else."