The 11th Mosque visited today was the Auckland Park Mosque, in the suburb of Auckland Park. Auckland Park is famous for hosting the SABC and the University of Johannesburg, Formerly RAU which is walking distance away and serves the needs of the community, University and commercial complexes nearby. Auckland Park is seperated from Mayfair by a form of hill where one can see the prominent Sentech Tower. It is also a neighbourhood which has only recently seen a surge in Muslims moving in.
A friend once joked that after building a Mosque there is a silent call for all people living in Mayfair to climb over the mountain and move in. At first glance, the Mosque has a traditional structure of a dome and a minaret and includes a Madressa . What struck me was the shape of the dome. Normally it is round like a cap, this dome seemed pointed. I must confess that I have not seen this sort of shape before on a Mosque, but it does make it look unique. Upon entering the Mosque, one could easily observe that the Mosque was recently built by the smell of the Musalahs similar to the smell of a new car but moreso, it has a funky appeal to it. An example would be the Mimbar, it has a shiny gold colour and the Moulana's area alongside is made of plastic, similar to the chairs you see at some funky restaurants in Melrose Arch and Cape Town. I visited this Mosque during Zohr and most of the people I observed were young dudes from the University situated close by. Communication was a bit difficult as most of these dudes were talking Accounting, whether they have articles in future and whether they going to pass or flunk exams. I am sure at night, it would have been a different experience with more people from the suburb attending. Overall, this visit was a refreshing experience in terms of architecture and appeal.