Over the past 15 days, I have visited 15 Mosques in Johannesburg. This was an extremely humbling experience to see that no matter where you went, everyone at the same time stopped what they were doing during the day to practice Salaah. I have learnt several things.
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The last Mosque visited on this journey was the 6th Avenue Mosque in Mayfair. Again, naughty me, this was the first time I had ever visited this Mosque despite regularly passing by. This Mosque was recently built and follows the traditional Mosque structure of a dome and minaret.
Further enhanced on 8 February 2016, based on comments from a reader.
When I first moved to Johannesburg, I remember going to Fordsburg and seeing people raising flags on lightpoles in advance of some form of celebration. My first port of call was to ask my family member as who these dudes were. The answer given was that these are people who form part of the "Green Turban Brigade". The lucky thirteenth stop on our journey was the Houghton Mosque. This Mosque, commenced construction when I first moved to Johannesburg and was billed as being a gift to Muslims of South Africa from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Between the time I moved to Johannesburg, it must have taken about 3-5 years for the Mosque to be completed.
The 12th stop on this journey was the SAMA Mosque in Mayfair. This Mosque forms part of the SAMA School Complex in the said area. This Mosque was built before the Nizamiye Mosque in Midrand and represented the first Turkish designed Mosque in Johannesburg that I know off. One cannot but commend the Turkish Community. Despite having only a recent presence in the country, they seem organised, united and were able to build at least two schools and two Mosques in Johannesburg within a very short space of time.
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.
The tenth mosque to be visited was the Hamidia Mosque, commonly referred to as the Newtown Mosque. It is quite strategically located, alongside the Oriental Plaza as well as in close proximity to the Johannesburg CBD. Newtown over the years has experienced its fair share of urban decay, but the Mosque has stood by, always looking neat and beautiful.
Masjid Ur Rahma, commonly referred to as the Greenside Mosque is situated on the border of the suburbs of Greenside and Emmarentia. These suburbs share commonality with Northcliff in that these areas were historically "White" areas and has seen a surge in Muslims moving into the neighbourhood over the past few years.
The Northcliff Masjid, is based in the Northcliff suburb and has been recently constructed. In the same location a Jamaat Khana once existed, ordinarily giving rise to the construction of the Mosque when enough money was collected. Northcliff was historically a "white" area. This area together with the suburbs alongside it over the past 10 or so years has seen a surge in the number of Muslims moving in.
The Mohamadaan Mosque, commonly known as the 23rd Street Mosque. At first glance from the outside, the complex looks to be in bad physical shape. As one can see, alongside the main Mosque building is another structure with no roof and seems decayed. It has been like this for the past 6 years that I have driven past or visited.
The sixth mosque visited was the Nizamiye Turkish Mosque in Midrand. Midrand, historically has not had a lot of Muslims residing within it. However, the development of various commercial and residential complexes has seen an influx of Muslims into the area both currently and certainly in the years to come.
The fifth mosque visited was the Owais Qarni Islamic Centre in Robertsham. The centre resembles a Jamat Khana, however it does offer Muslims 5 times daily salaah, together with Jumma on a Friday, it therefore serves the need of members of the community and has been included.
The fourth mosque visited was Masjid Al Huda, based in Robertsam. Robertsham, like Mayfair was previously a ¨White¨ area during the apartheid era. This community consisted mainly of people following the Christian faith. Following the abolishment of the Group Areas Act, Robertsham saw a significant influx of Muslim Indians from Lenasia in the South West of Johannesburg, together with economic migrants from other provinces,
The third mosque visited on this journey was the Mayfair Jumma Masjid. Many years ago, I can remember as a kid, people would tend to joke that this Mosque was termed, the Mayfair Sun. Sun represented a major luxury hotel group in South Africa. This came as no surprise, it is situated in the Crown Mines area of Johannesburg alongside Mayfair.
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